I was just wondering, what could be approximately the salary for an engineer in Poland. I know it can depend a lot, but let's say, someone who has a master degree from a top western European university, is fluent in several languages and has work/study experience in 5 countries, including Poland.
While i'm engineer myself i can try to tell You how it looks (more or less). First it depends where the future work is located - large city like Wroclaw,Warszawa or a small one like Kielce. Obviously the bigger cities have more opportunities to find well-payed job, but don't get to excited. Sometimes You can be quite shocked when the large company from a big city offers You 2.000 PLN for a start. If i were You i would avoid large concortiums (form example Volkswagen in Poznan). Maybe it changed during the time,but like 4-5 years ago it was disaster. The second thing - master degree in science doesn't make You god or something, but on the other hand - none of my friends (engineers) had a big problems finding a decent work. Foreign languages - that's Your key to find something interesting. Most of the polish engineers doesn't speak any language, while most of the polish companies have strong connections with the EU clients - keep that in mind. Third part - i assume You're quite confident with the 3D design & engineering software (catia,inventor,solid)? And last but not least - salary. With Your qualifications i'd say 3000 - 10000 PLN. It's hard to say really (You didn't tell us how many of work exp.do You have).
Oh..and i forgot to mention.I'm polish so I don't know how a potential polish employer finds a foreigner as his engineer. But don't worry,keep trying, i think You have good chances to find something which suits You :)
You can be quite shocked when the large company from a big city offers You 2.000 PLN for a start
Seriously? that salary is a joke! I can understand that people who had studied social sciences or have a mickey mouse degree can work for that, but an engineer?. Anyone in Poland who has an engineering degree should not accept to work for that, by this way, the companies will be forced to rise the salaries. However, it seems to me that poles are used to work for low salaries. I understand that the prices in poland are lower than in western europe but the relationship between salaries/prices in poland is even lower. Some salaries in Poland seem only meant to survive.
With Your qualifications i'd say 3000 - 10000 PLN
10000 PLN, then after taxes it would be approximately 7000 PLN. I still consider it low.
Anyway, thanks for the info. I will see what happens when I start some applications, but I am not willing to accept anything below 9000 PLN netto. Otherwise I will eventually move to Switzerland, or Germany.
Seriously? I can understand that people who had studied social sciences or have a mickey mouse degree can work for that, but an engineer?
Unfortunately, this is how it works. When i finished my studies in 2005/06 i had a big problem finding a job. Believe it or not, but it took me 5 months to finally find one,and the salary...1150 PLN netto. Damn joke, but i had 2 options - take it,or still remain unemployed. You can only imagine how i felt - 5 years of studies for nothing..bus drivers had better salaries (with all respect to those people). I even had a plan of moving to Germany or Uk. After 2-3 years of working in the same company i ended up with salary 3500-4000 PLN netto. That's why i decided to open my own business..but anyway if You're expecting 9000 PLN netto..damn, that's gonna be extremely hard. Let me put it this way - with 5-6 years of work experience, 1 or 2 languages (lets say intermadiate lvl), solid works/autodesk mastered - average salary in Poznan would be 3000 - 6000 PLN netto (maximum) - based on my friends salaries.
Hmm...prices in Poland lower than in western Europe? I have to disagree...
but I am not willing to accept anything below 9000 PLN netto.
Then you're not going to work here.
Poland is more "open" than other countries when it comes to climbing the career ladder (your university or school doesn't matter so much here) - but the trade off is a much lower salary in the beginning.
And again - why the hell would anyone pay 9000zl for a foreigner who doesn't have significant experience and doesn't speak Polish?
I've encountered a few of your type - you expect a high salary in Poland, but you don't actually have the experience and knowledge to get it.
Hmm...prices in Poland lower than in western Europe? I have to disagree...
The prices are generally lower in Poland (food, rent), than let's say in Germany. However in several things they are about the same or even higher (cars). But still, the polish salaries seem to be a joke. With unemployment money in Germany, one can live much better than with the 1150 PLN starting salary in Poland. Not taking into account the great infrastructure that it is available over there.
I have seen job offers in Poland which don't require polish skills of 60000 euros per year in international companies. This salary is a standard german salary for an engineer starting his career. However the purchasing power in Poland will be greater. And by the way, do you know me? Are you sure I have not significant experience? or doesn't speak polish?
I've encountered a few of your type - you expect a high salary in Poland.
A lot of my type? . Let's say, we know how much we are worth and we won't accept to be paid less than that. Currently I get around 7000 PLN netto (I could get much more if I were in the Norway where I got my degree but for personal matters I decided not to stay there), but this is for a project only and from time to time I need to travel to Poland. However I am not paid directly in Poland. Now also because of personal matters I would like to settle down in Poland and find a job there. I have gotten better job offers in western europe with higher salaries than what I expect to earn in Poland, I understand that the salaries are lower in Poland but not THAT low as everyone mentions. Anyway, I will have to see how the things turn out but I am still enthusiastic and positive :) and the minimum I could accept to settle down in Poland would be 9000 PLN netto.
9000 netto will allow you to live comfortable life in PL just about everywhere outside Warsaw yet, in Warsaw, you can count on higher salaries
yet, as been pointed out, 'I am engineer' is very ambiguous. for example, software engineer that is types the code is something between 2000-5000 range. But software project manager - 5.000-15.000, so as you see, differences are huge. It depends of what you can do, experience, city, impression during interview... simply everything
absolutely, dream on as they say in the movies... but understand this person may have earned 5 times as much where he comes from and to earn 3000zl is a bit below the belt..A lot of people cannot understand low income for professional occupations, but you have to understand everyone in Poland has a degree in some form or other...
Dreamers are welcome everywhere even in Poland....
You polish guys are in general quite pessimistic about everything. And I don't know if you say it seriously, or you want to make other people feel that it is IMPOSSIBLE (that word that I constantly hear from polish people) to earn a decent salary in Poland. It is not impossible, that you guys are not able to achieve it , it doesn't mean that others cannot.
I found already a good job and I get paid much higher than the minimum I was expecting to work for in Poland. I contacted an international company abroad, asking them for employment in Poland, under working conditions/salaries abroad and voila, a western european salary while living in Poland :) f*cking nice!
I would not hire him. For the really good ones, the money is secondary - what they're actually work on always comes first. Notice, he does not really want say what kind of engineer he is, as if it's all the same. Probably some tool hack.
No way, i have a friend who is an engineer for Capgemini in Krakow , he works like mad and makes peanuts.( he says) however they provide a gym + some benefits (private healthcare).
Lets see if my comment sees the light of day, for the sparky history of seeing them removed in anger. 6,000 is what i got paid in Poznan 5 years ago, working for a mobile phone company. One thing I noticed working there was that workload was only sporadic, training was poor to nonexistent. I had come from working in that field abroad, and had a lot to offer that company. But possibly because of being an expat and being good at my job, instead of being offered real work, or at least training the team of locals in what they would need to learn for the job, I ended up told to sit quietly and browse internet,or go to inspect h/w in the field. Eventualy the downward career spiral made me leave, only 7 months later. Sad really. My intention was to stay in Poland for good. Still its possible that mine was an isolated experience. One tip i could give is get managers names and try to meet them in person. It can only help. Very best of luck!
I work as system Engineer - My Salary is like 7,000 USD per month. Recently, i was thinking to move poland or some other european country to work there but after reading this - seems over there people are stuck in 1-2K USD.
Hi, I am considering to open a R&D center in Poland. However, I am looking for experienced analog design engineers. If you are interested, please contact me. Thanks duc.montpellier@gmail.com
Or if you know a good electronic or engineering recruitment firm, please let me know. Thanks. Duc
