Yes and no.

After going around for a bit, I realised that not everything can be learnt easily, even generic skills like stakeholder management or project management. Of course, it is easier to learn those than technical skills like IT or Portfolio Management or Treasury or Risk, but it is still a skill that not many has.

U can look around u, how many Project Owners or HoD has good stakeholder management or timeline management skill? In project implementation, it is possible to do away with the PMO role, but how many Project Directors are capable of dual-hatting as PMO as well? Probably 1 or 2 out of 10? And those are usually outstanding HoDs themselves as well.

So I think ur situation is not as dire as u made it out of, but I wouldn't say that u don't have a point.

Edit: forgot to mention, process knowledge is also a skill which despite being easy to learn, still takes time

This post has been edited by DoomCognition: Nov 7 2021, 09:39 PM

that's for ur sharing
well, just hope that I can succeed an interview soon, and someone appreciate my value

This post has been edited by gundamsp01: Nov 7 2021, 10:54 PM

Oh it's sorta ok right now but I'm afraid I may not have the IT chops to become a CTO or CIO so I'm not sure if lateraling into Finance might be a good option down the line (my degree was in Finance)... sigh not sure where the path leads

Ah idk yet how many people are gonna directly reporting to me cos i just joined not long ago hahaa. we go on project basis

This post has been edited by flying_manatee: Nov 7 2021, 10:12 PM

Dayum, hopefully I can reach that amount of salary one day.

Any advice or maybe you could share any lesson learned for us.

one more thing, since u were recently promoted, why are u looking out so soon? i know ur anxiety, but i think there is still some room to grow in terms of salary.

Those who post here are those who are either (1) Lying or (2) those who care about their career more than average.

That's why u see a higher than average trend here. Those who don't care about their career won't bother to come here.

In terms of salary, i think I reached the limit for my rank after promotion for any significant increase, yearly increment is what I can see for now (next level will be my manager's rank, which most only get this in their 40s and being extremely high profile and high visibility in the bank)

i have been looking out since 1 year+ ago. Several reasons to be frank,
- messy management issue. (major factor)
- more of an executor (PMO) which is what i dislike.
- things became mundane, only repeated redundant documentation and typical people issue in projects.
- leaving the country (personal reason, though for now, i think switching job in the country is what i can aim for short term).

This post has been edited by gundamsp01: Nov 8 2021, 01:00 AM

Determination , hard-work, and working on things that interest me, and a large dose of luck to get an opportunity.

For example, my degree was in electronics but I liked networking and programming and spent most of my time doing that. I worked on Linux at a time when it didn't work right out of the box. First thing you did was make sure the modem worked, then you tried to get the graphic drivers to compile, and then the sound card drivers. Sometimes it took a week just to bring up the computer to a fully working state with GUI and sound after classes, but I learned a lot of debugging and that is extremely useful in my work. I guess time and effort I put in at that stage didn't seem useful, but looking back, it probably got me to be able to debug problems much better than my peers.


For my current job, there was also a slice of luck involved. They wanted to hire my friend, but he didn't want to move to KL. He recommended me but I was happily teaching at that time and rejected it. 6-7 months later, a recruiter called from that company. I was unhappy with some things at work, and decided to speak to the director. He started talking about optimisation of hybrid and multicore architectures, which I was working on as well. He liked me and referred me to the hiring manager in US. I requested for 15k after the interview, he offered almost 20k with very generous RSUs and annual bonus. Guess it was the right place at the right time. However, I was also prepared for it because I spent extra time after my normal classes teaching interested undergrads programming, which kept me sharp, I worked on consultancy projects for companies, and I spent time reading and doing hands-on work in cutting edge things.

Why not try internal job posting? You mentioned that you currently work in a bank doing projects, if you have done projects for other countries before, I am sure it will be easier to look for a job in another country internally as you have the network rather than looking externally.

Anyway, it still doesn't resolve the old style management issue that i was talking about, as the problem came from the global management side.

This post has been edited by gundamsp01: Nov 8 2021, 08:18 AM

Job Title : Project Executive
Job Desciption : Reporting
Age : 31
Years spent in company : 1
Company : MNC (China State Own)
Industry : Construction
Tenure : Contract
Employment Level : Executive
Experience before joining (years) : 3yr+
Highest paper qualification/ education background : Mech Eng Degree
Location : KL/Sel
Average Working Hours Per Week (incl lunch hours): 40

Monetary Payout
Basic Salary + Fixed Allowance : RM4500
Contractual Bonus (months): Nil
Performance, Variable Bonus & Commissions (months) : Nil

Benefits (where relevant) : Nil
Health Benefits : Nil
Transport Benefits : Nil
Mobile / Internet / Gadget Benefits : RM100 on mobile fee
Flexi Working Hours : Nil
Other Benefits : Nil

After seeing posts in this topic, I believe my pay is kind of low.

I previously was a project engineer for M&E services in construction. However, being a project engineer has very long working hours with no OT pay. That's why I changed into current job, which I only follow office hours. However, I don't feel like I learning anything or improving myself throughout the year, my job are simple, collect report from the projects team then report to HQ in China. Also I don't see any better opportunity in this field (construction project engineer), most of them offer sub 5k salary and request working follow site schedule with no OT pay (construction site mostly work 7 days a week)

I recently considering transition into Data Scientist/Engineering. I have understanding in programming in statistic, I will take a bootcamp soon, and then try to apply jobs in this field. I hope I can at least get my current salary/slightly lower, not sure is it possible. Any sifu here can give me more guidance here? Thank you very much.

Job Title : Senior M&E Engineer
Job Desciption : managing site work and development project
Age : 33
Years spent in company : 2
Company : P&C
Industry : construction
Tenure : permanent
Employment Level : manager
Experience before joining (years) : 7
Highest paper qualification/ education background : degree
Location : KL
Average Working Hours Per Week (incl lunch hours): 54

Monetary Payout
Basic Salary + Fixed Allowance : RM8000
Contractual Bonus (months): 1 mths
Performance, Variable Bonus & Commissions (months) : +- 2 mths

Benefits (where relevant) :
Health Benefits : insurance
Transport Benefits : mileage claim
Mobile / Internet / Gadget Benefits : only rm70
Flexi Working Hours : no
Other Benefits : no

im not sure if im underpaid but certainly now I'm doing managing role with multiple projects. my company doing both contractor work and also developer. boss are ok with my performance (i wont put satisfy) and willing to explore if ever better offer

This post has been edited by kobehua: Nov 8 2021, 03:13 PM

Don't worry too much about it as I have seen generalist PM earn up to RM40k a month without much focus on a subject matter. In actual fact, your experience with your bank itself and being a PM does make it a subject matter.

Successful people never stop learning and improving.

Your area of expertise is not common and you are working at US MNC, but still, from teaching to receiving 20k offer.

Thank you for sharing and hope to see more updates from you.

Job Title : civil structural engineer
Job Desciption : design building structures
Age : 30
Years spent in company : 4
Company : MNC
Industry : Construction
Employment Level : Junior exec?
Experience before joining (years) : 1
Highest paper qualification/ education background : Master
Location : KL/PG
Average Working Hours Per Week (incl lunch hours):45-55

Monetary Payout
Basic Salary + Fixed Allowance : RM4.8k
Contractual Bonus (months): 1 month, stopped since covid
Performance, Variable Bonus & Commissions (months) : -

Benefits (where relevant) : medical, dental
Health Benefits : -
Transport Benefits : -
Mobile / Internet / Gadget Benefits : -
Flexi Working Hours : -
Other Benefits : wfh most of the time since covid

Looking for next avenue but am wondering how much more I can demand, as the average pay in construction industry (for consultants especially) is quite low?

not high not low just average, construction industry is dead

Dear everyone. I'm kinda new here and i believe found a suitable platform to ask this.
[SIZE=7]

Job Title : Data Analytics Engineer
Job Description : Optimize production process
Age : 27
Years spent in company : 1 month
Company: MNC based in Europe
Industry : Gas chemical
Tenure : Permanent
Employment Level : Exec/ Senior Exec
Experience before joining (years) : 3
Highest paper qualification/ education background : MEng Chem Eng
Location : KL
Average Working Hours Per Week (incl lunch hours): 45 hours

Monetary Payout
Basic Salary + Fixed Allowance : RM 5120
Contractual Bonus (months): Minimum 20% from total annual salary
Performance, Variable Bonus & Commissions (months) : Varies but standard.
Benefits (where relevant) : Standard.


Am I in the good salary range given those my previous experience year and industry background.
Thanks for your time. Really appreciate all sifus' insight.[SIZE=7]

Sounds like you work for HSBC

My update after 2 years

Job Title : System Developer
Job Desciption : Maintain/enhance system based on client's requirements
Age : 26
Years spent in company : 3.5 Years
Company : Local Company
Industry : IT
Tenure : Permanent
Experience before joining (years) : 0
Highest paper qualification/ education background : degree
Location : KL/PJ
Average Working Hours Per Week (incl lunch hours): 42.5

Monetary Payout
Basic Salary + Fixed Allowance : RM5600
Contractual Bonus (months): -
Performance, Variable Bonus & Commissions (months) : -

Benefits (where relevant) :
Health Benefits : RM 2000/Year Medical/dental . Insurance RM40k/year
Transport Benefits :
Mobile / Internet / Gadget Benefits : -
Flexi Working Hours : -
Other Benefits :

Pretty good increment in 2y. What language do you code in?