Dear Serious /k,
Salam and hello to everyone. Please bear with me as this would be a wall of text from me.
I'm 38 years old with plus minus 12 years of experience in manufacturing industry (mostly automotive) but my salary is still below RM5k/month. Married with 2 kids (6 yo and 4 yo). My wife is fulltime housewife but she currently doing a dropship agent for muslimah apparel and she teach kids at our neighborhood "mengaji" Al Quran. Basically her income is around RM300-RM500 depends on her sale on that month.
I didnt have a degree but I have a diploma in mechanical engineering from local university.
I would breakdown my work experience below :-
1- Japanese MNC. Role as Technical Assistant 2009-2011. Starting salary RM1460, left after two years with last drawn salary around RM1700.
2- Korean MNC, 2012-2018. Role as QC Executive with starting salary RM2200 left 6 years with last drawn salary around RM2800. Married my wife while I'm still working at this Korean MNC.
3- Local Cinaman Company, 2018-2018. Role as QC Engineer with starting salary of RM3000 left before confirmation due to toxic management. My wife and I welcomed our first bon son while I am working at this company.
4- Singapore Cinaman Company, 2018-2019. Role as QA Engineer with starting salary of RM3200. Left as I received better offer nearby my hometown at Negeri Sembilan.
5- Japanese MNC, 2019-2022. Role as QA Engineer with starting salary around RM3500. Last drawn salary RM3800.Have to left my job here because I have to take care my late mother as she was seriously sick at that time. During this time I work as a Foodpanda Rider (Bekal) as I need the flexibility even the salary is not sufficient. I used most of my savings just to survive and sadly my mother passed away December 2022. My wife and I welcomed our daughter while I'm working here.
6- Local Cinaman Company, 2023-2023. Role as QC Executive with starting salary around RM4500. Left as i got a job offer nearby my home. I live in Seremban 2, this local cinaman company is at Kampung Pandan KL. Daily travel 140km with my bike from Seremban 2 to KL. Plus this was not a permanent just a contract job.
7- Japanese MNC 2023-2024. Role as Warranty Engineer with starting salary around RM4000. Left this company without my consent due to conflict with the management as I feel the KPI they set to me is impossible to achieve.
8- Local Cinaman Company. 2024-currently working here. Salary around RM4500. This is typical cinaman company that you literally have no work life balance (need to do remote job even after working hour). No other benefit.
Last week I received a job offer from Taiwan MNC with a basic slightly lower than my current company but with a much better package (allowance, epf contribution higher, medical etc etc). Basically I made up my mind and I accepted the job offer as previously they are Japanese MNC but the Taiwanese tycoon bought the majority of the share. Based on my observation they still implement Japanese working culture that I already familiar with.
I know most of you would suggest to learn new skills or maybe get a degree to so that I can demand the salary more with my experience. So I would like to ask serious /k which skills that is currently have the most demand in the market that I can learn and maybe use it so that it can be my side income. So far my wife and me, we didnt have any plan to get another kid plus we are getting old.
After working around 15 years, I am well verse in ISO 9001, IATF16949, 5 core tools of IATF and I have green belt in 6 sigma (which I didnt fully utilize all this while Im working).
Thank you for reading and thank you in advance for the suggestions.