Why engineering grads in Singapore earn just S$3,000

Frustration bubbled to the surface on June 29 when a Redditor voiced disbelief that his friend—a mechanical engineering graduate—was earning just S$3,000 a month. The job? Half-day Saturdays, mostly clerical work, and a fixed bonus of S$1,000. Hardly the launchpad one might expect after years of technical education.

The real sting wasn’t just the paycheck. It was the role’s irrelevance to engineering. No design work. No technical mentorship. No pathway to grow. The Redditor wondered: was this a case of corporate stinginess, or had the private university degree stacked the odds against his friend?

Redditors wasted no time weighing in. Some urged the graduate to seek a job aligned with his training. Others took a darker view—suggesting that this wasn’t an outlier, but a reflection of what many private uni grads in mechanical engineering face at the entry level.

“Mechanical engineering options here simply suck, that’s the sad truth,” one user said flatly. Others echoed the sentiment, describing how they’d moved into software or embedded systems just to escape stagnant pay and limited roles. The salary data doesn’t contradict these stories—but it doesn’t tell the full story either. Glassdoor lists average monthly salaries for mechanical engineers in Singapore at S$4,000 to S$5,000. Jobstreet puts it at S$3,600 to S$5,000. Indeed.com lands closer to S$4,115. In theory, that should offer some comfort.

Yet on-the-ground experience tells a different tale. Pay is shaped not just by title, but by what the job actually entails. Large defense contractors or MNCs might hit the upper end of that range, but entry-level roles in SMEs often don’t. And when the job scope skews administrative, the compensation tends to follow. What upset many in the thread wasn’t the number alone—it was the trap it represented. A graduate stuck in a non-technical role struggles to build the experience needed for a technical future. In effect, the clock on their engineering career starts ticking backward.

One other factor haunted the thread: the idea that a private university background might have played a part. In Singapore, this is still a loaded issue. While the government formally recognizes private university degrees, employer biases haven’t caught up.

It’s an open secret that hiring managers lean toward NUS, NTU, or SIT grads—particularly in engineering. A diploma from a private institution, fairly or not, may signal weaker academic credentials or less rigorous training. No hiring manager will say this out loud. But implicit bias often doesn’t need a microphone. It operates in résumé filters, recruiter assumptions, and compensation bands. Combine that with a lack of strong internship experience or brand-name employers, and even capable grads can be overlooked.

“Holding a degree doesn’t entitle you to a certain salary,” one commenter wrote. “It’s what you can do—and whether someone’s willing to pay for it.” That’s true in principle. But in practice, the game is still tilted by prestige and proxies.

Beneath the outrage, a second conversation unfolded—this one about exits. Several users shared how they pivoted out of mechanical engineering into better-paying, higher-growth roles in tech and automation. Some went back to school. Others took bootcamps or short courses to reskill.

Their advice wasn’t subtle: get out early, before you get stuck. Mechanical engineering may still be a backbone field, but many of its traditional roles—CAD, mechanical design, maintenance—are viewed as low-margin and low-growth. Meanwhile, hybrid domains like robotics, embedded systems, or mechatronics are commanding higher salaries and stronger demand.

Shifting paths isn’t seamless, though. It demands time, risk tolerance, and sometimes capital. The deeper problem? Once a graduate is pegged as an “admin engineer,” every month that passes makes it harder to reposition. The first offer, in effect, sets the tone for the next few years. If it’s a mismatch, recovery becomes a multi-step process.

Implications:

1. For Employers: Compensation Sends a Message

A S$3,000 offer for a degree holder doing clerical tasks isn’t just misaligned—it’s self-defeating. Salary isn’t only a cost center. It’s a statement of how a company values talent. And when that statement signals low expectations, it attracts exactly the wrong kind of morale. SMEs don’t always have the budget to match MNCs, but they do have one card to play: job quality. Clear learning curves, exposure to real technical work, and supportive team environments go a long way. Strip that away, and salary becomes the sole differentiator—and the company often loses that game.

2. For Grads: The First Role Is a Trajectory Setter

There’s a lot riding on that first job. More than just a paycheck, it’s a signal to future employers about what kind of work you can do—and how seriously you were taken. For mechanical engineers, especially, it’s hard to build a portfolio of relevant projects unless the role demands it. A mismatch early on can set you back years. That’s why university career offices and internship coordinators need to move beyond placement rates and focus on relevance and developmental fit.

3. For Policymakers and Industry Leaders: Fix the Leak in the Pipeline

Singapore has big ambitions in advanced manufacturing, aerospace, and energy. But if the entry points into these sectors are seen as low-reward or stagnant, young talent will keep drifting elsewhere.

SkillsFuture, SGUnited, and various government upskilling initiatives are steps in the right direction. But structural change needs to go deeper. Are SMEs incentivized to create true engineering roles, not just technical-looking placeholders? Are graduates from diverse educational backgrounds getting support that’s tailored, not one-size-fits-all?

If the mechanical engineering field becomes known more for disappointment than opportunity, that’s not a student failure—it’s a systems failure.

A single Reddit post shouldn’t shake an entire industry—but this one hit too close to home for too many people. It spotlighted a long-simmering issue: the gap between what engineering graduates expect and what the job market delivers, especially for those outside the elite track. Yes, technical roles should be earned, not assumed. But when entry-level jobs don’t provide the tools, scope, or runway to grow, it’s hard to blame graduates for jumping ship—or never boarding at all.

The sad truth is that Singapore doesn’t have a talent shortage in engineering. It has a relevance crisis. Capable young engineers are ready—but the system doesn’t always meet them halfway. If the economy wants to remain a hub for innovation and industry, it must do better than clerical jobs in engineering’s clothing. And it must start by paying—and placing—talent like it matters.