Printed Circuit Design & Fab - December 2007 - (Page 16)

DESIGNER SALARY SURVEY The 2007 PCB Designer SALARY SURVEY The survey suggests the U.S. designer resource is aging at an excellerated rate, so we need to ask, “Where is the next generation of PCB designers?” by KATHY NARGI-TOTH We have just completed our annual salary survey. The results from a number of perspectives were very predictable. Our audience and, therefore the people who responded, are on average two years older than they were last year indicating that there has been no significant young engineers joining the ranks. In 2007, the designers who participated made on average over $10,000 more than their 2006 counterparts. This jump can be attributed to a slightly different mix in the respondents versus 2006. There were a higher number of more experienced and older designers responding this year versus last year as our average age increased by two versus the anticipated one year. We weren’t quite sure how the numbers would track compared to previous surveys as we did a few things a bit differently TABLE 1. Averages at a glance Overall average age – 46 U.S. average age – 48 U.S. base salary – $78,678 Outside of U.S./overseas base salary – $48,268 Percent males – 87% Salary increase in the past year – 74.3% Same job as last year – 92.2% Laid off in the past year – 5.2% Non-managers with no direct reports – 73.5% Do not have CID certification – 67.4% than we have in the past. First, we limited the audience to only a few thousand designers who were picked at random. In the past, we have sent the survey to a much larger portion of our design readership, so it was our first design survey using a smaller, random sample audience. Also, we left the survey open for only two weeks. In the past, we have left it open for responses from four to six weeks with multiple reminders to participate. This year after the initial e-mail blast notifying the selected designers about the survey, it remained available for two weeks with a follow-up reminder a few days before the survey closed. The questions were similar to those from previous years. We removed a few questions and reduced the mandatory response so that there were 48 mandatory questions in total. Those designers who responded where offered an incentive in the form of a chance to receive a three-day technical conference pass to either PCB East or PCB West in 2008. Over 500 designers responded to some parts of the survey, and 230 completed the entire mandatory portion of the survey and were tallied in the results presented below. The percentage of responses was 4.6% – actually up from 2.7% in 2006. About 10% of the readers surveyed answered some of the questions, but a large percentage did not answer all of the 48 mandatory questions, so their answers could not be included in the results. Education versus Experience One question often asked by designers is what type of education is needed to help you be more successful and achieve higher rewards as a designer. It was interesting to look at the DECEMBER 2007 16 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Printed Circuit Design & Fab - December 2007

Printed Circuit Design & Fab - December 2007 Contents Our Line Market Watch Around the World Happenings ROI 2007 PCB Designer Salary Survey Interconnect Strategies Positive Plating RF Design Ad Index Noise Reduction Supply Chain DfM Off the Shelf Marketplace The Signal Doctor

Printed Circuit Design & Fab - December 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.