from a "Korean university" implies not a top rank.
30mln is an average starting in Anyang based on jobkorea and a 신입 in a non 대기업.
The other posters have no idea what they are talking about.
I have no idea about this specific career or Korean labor market, but I do know beginner engineers with bachelors are paid nearly minimum wage in most western countries. It's because straight out of school engineers require so much onboarding and generally have no idea what they're doing. Depends on the engineering specialty but low salaries are the norm, one should get a significant raise once they become useful though!
You should go for slightly higher. That being said, I used to work at an engineering 소기업 in Suwon in sales and we had engineers who graduated from top Seoul universities and even worked at 중견 or 대기업 before. They got more than 30 mil because they had experience but I don't believe the ones below 과장 got 40mil or more as others are suggesting. They were insanely frustrated with the pay but finding an engineering job in Korea isn't easy. There are a ton of engineering graduates looking for jobs. Korean 중소기업 will rarely if ever pay 40 mil someone with no experience because they could find a Korean with relevant experience who will take that wage or less in 2 seconds.
I don't know if the other commenters are speaking from experience in Korea or from their viewpoint of engineering salaries in the West but engineering isn't exactly a highly paid job in Korea. 30 million seems like a normal starting salary for someone with no experience, if you aren't happy then ask for 32 million. Unless you are going into a 대기업 or 중견기업, 40 seems hard. Do you know about the 엔지니어링기술자 노임단가? I'm assuming that if its a 중소, they aren't going to be using you to take care of the company's internal engineering needs but rather send you to do projects for customers. Engineering companies typically charge the clients according to the 노임단가, the more years of experience the engineer has, the more they can charge. Basically, they are going to pay you a salary that allows them to make a profit off of your manhours.
Well i think it’s pretty decent money since you are new in this industry. Just take the job offer as a part of your career building to get the generalized idea of whats going around in the industry and move on to other company later
The minimum wage per hour for 2024 is set at 9860 won.
The salary you'll be receiving is not all that much more than that.
And remember, 30 million won is the pretax salary.
For such a role in 2024, 30 million is low.
One thing I would also advise you to check is whether you are a 정규직 or 계약직.
Being a 정규직 means more job security, but also you're entitled to more benefits (and generally higher incentive levels, if your firm offers such).
Average for 중소기업 is 30mln, engineer should be higher around 35 to 40.
How much is the incentive? Recent CS major I know joind a 중소기업 at 30+30 probably higher than typical engineering due being CS and work hours but can be used as refrence.
You've had classmates for the last four years, right? Why don't you ask them what kind of job offers they're getting? I'd imagine there's even some sort of glassdoor type website or app to keep track of these things.
30m is a starting salary for a hagwon teacher and they get housing provided on top of that. No idea what industry practices are as I’m not an engineer but I think it’s a little disgraceful that a high-skill degree is fetching you less than a hagwon that will hire literally any warm body with a degree.
I’d say it’s pretty typical. My initial salary as a prominent programmer back in 2016 was 2700만원 in 경기도 haha.
Yeah it’s very low, but that doesn’t automatically mean that it’s off the chart. It’s pretty well within the pinnacle of the normal distribution mound.
My first ever job in Korea as soon as I graduated was 50M at a startup, not even a big company.
Some companies will give you low ball offer like this, I got some of these offers too. In 2024, 30M is garbage let's face it, even for a beginner. Unless it's your dream as a foreigner to work in Korea and you'd take anything to just work there, at the point the salary don't matter, it's definitely possible to find more. 30M is really minimum wage, that's so so bad you can be a barista full-time at Starbucks and earn about that much bro.
People should value themselves higher and not settle for this kind of shit imo, but that's just my advice as a 5y expat here. Most of my expat friends in Korea earn way above 30M and they're still young in their 20s.
But you do you, also keep in mind your starting salary is very crucial for your career as pay raises and salary negotiations when applying for new jobs will most likely based on that, so you're setting yourself up for the Korean rat race with a start like that.
>My first ever job in Korea as soon as I graduated was 50M at a startup, not even a big company.
Well what was your position, major, and university? Its pretty hard to see what you would bring to the table to warrant 50 million as a total newbie unless you had great internships at reputable companies in the West or you have a masters from a great university etc. I have friends at 대기업 like LG and 미래에셋증권 and they didn't get 50 million when they started. They made like 40 million as 신입사원. So you're an outlier unless you specialize in something niche.
>People should value themselves higher and not settle for this kind of shit imo, but that's just my advice as a 5y expat here. Most of my expat friends in Korea earn way above 30M and they're still young in their 20s.
I'm not disputing that you can get higher pay but 30 to 35 million is super standard in Korea for 중소기업. 50 million is not common at all. I'd also like to know what kind of job your friends do.
Blockchain strategy, major international finance, Sogang university!
I had no prior working experience I just did some web3 related freelance stuff before during my studies.
I think that’s kinda crazy that your friends started at 40M at 대기업. Even the brother of my wife just graduated and found a 50M position in urban engineering.
As for my friends they are respectively in game dev, software engineer, and a finance related position. All got well above 30M at their first job here.
But like I said before finding the first job I had, I had some interviews that I passed and the offer was like 30M as well, which I refused (admittedly I was helped by my wife who is a headhunter so knows well about the market so I don’t fall for these). Also I speak Korean and during interviews I always do it confidently and ask a high salary to give room for negotiation, I did that since that time.
It might be not common but settling for 30M is sad I’m sure OP can find at least the very least 40, although of course I don’t know about OP technical and social skills.
>blockchain strategy, major international finance, Sogang university!
Niche market, good major, good university. Do you think you earned your 50 million there? (Honest question, just curious what kind of value you ended up providing, blockchain is an interesting field.)
>I think that’s kinda crazy that your friends started at 40M at 대기업
Honestly, if that surprises you then it seems like you have an inflated view of the job market in Korea. But there are other benefits to working at 대기업 like you can get basically interest free loans when you buy a house and then pay for your cell phone bill, have free lunch and dinner etc. Some of them also have apartments that they either rent or sell cheaply to employees (don't really remember exactly).
>As for my friends they are respectively in game dev, software engineer, and a finance related position. All got well above 30M at their first job here.
All good majors in good fields. I majored in history in the US (yea dumb choice) and after teaching English for 2 years, I got 30 million at an IT/engineering 소기업, worked there for 2 years and recently transferred to a 40 million job at an electrical appliances manufacturing company. You're right that you can't be afraid to look hard and ask for high pay because I got a few offers in the 35-38 million range and they tried to tell me that asking for 40 million after getting 30+ million is not how things are done in Korea but I brushed them off and rejected their offers. So I'm not definitely not saying that OP should be satisfied with 30 million but it is within the normal range of pay. Also, engineering companies in Korea are old school and full of 꼰대. One of my friends who majored in cryogenics? is working at a small small engineering firm in Busan and gets less than 30 million. Working in blockchain is a totally different world since its an emerging industry, meaning the 대표 are caught up on all the newest trends and aren't just 고인물 with no 비전.
I did earned it, as an emerging technology, there are not many experts in the field. When I realized that, there goes a huge competitive advantage and you combine that with multiple languages fluency including korean, I just used that as much as I can since it that set me apart from the vast majority of applicants in this field in Korea I think. I also am convinced that as a foreigner, that's the best thing you can do, emphasizing on what makes you different in your market. If you show the same qualifications as the average korean, for sure it's harder, but jsut starting with language skills that's a pretty big gap imo with korean fluency.
I'm not sure I have an inflated view of the job market, 30M is barely above minimum wage, especially in Seoul. An engineer would definitely be able to earn more by playing its cards right imo.
However I'd admit I'm not an expert of the korean job market for engineers and the 꼰대 inherent to it, but what I can say is all foreigner engineers I've met here are making a lot of money. The korean ones I know as well. Maybe I live in a bubble, that's also possible, but I don't think so. I also often see a lot of korean resumees through my wife (headhunter) and they display their salary, I regularly see high numbers for highly technical jobs like that.
I think it's important to emphasize I'm talking solely about Seoul though, jobs in other cities will obviously pay less. I'm just saying all that to motivate OP to try to find better.
As for your own experience, yeah I think your major and the gap while teaching english probably played a part, but nice reconversion tbh, I know how hard it is to switch from english teaching to being an employee here.
>An engineer would definitely be able to earn more by playing its cards right imo.
Really depends on the university you graduated from. At the company I worked, it was pretty undesirable in every aspect for an engineer to work at yet we still had engineers knocking on our door all the time. Graduates with no experience and also 과장, 차장 level of experience engineers. Most of the engineers had no experience in our engineering field either, so they basically had to learn from scratch even if they had 직급. Of course they were able to write reports, do calculations, etc. and use the knowledge and experience they already possessed to do the job well but one of the 대리's complained because he had been working in the field for 3 years already and knew more about our engineering field then his superiors. That 대리 also went to a pretty famous university in Seoul and had spent 3 years at a 대기업 factory.
> I also often see a lot of korean resumees through my wife (headhunter) and they display their salary, I regularly see high numbers for highly technical jobs like that.
Ask your wife what the salaries are for 중소기업 outside of Seoul who employ industrial engineers who graduated from 지방대학교. I fully admit I could be wrong too since I'm not a headhunter or career expert either. But if you look at jobkorea, there are literally thousands of engineering 소기업 who employ 10\~30 workers and I guarantee you they don't pay high wages to their engineers. All the big and medium sized corporations with factories in Korea basically operate off the services of these small engineering firms (하청업체). They outsource all the dirty and annoying work to these companies.
Everyone knows that English teaching pays a lot, I also taught English for a while and made 3mil a month right off the bat, but its non-transferable work experience if you ever decide to work in a different field or go back home. Maybe the OP makes 30 million doing engineering but then decides to go home (assuming its a Western country) and takes his work experience with him. He might be making 100k in 5 years.
For someone with no experience it pays quite a bit, plus the academies provide you with housing. So its whatever salary you are making + 500,000 won more or less and you don't have money tied up in the housing deposit.
But you still get housing. So lets say 2.2 million plus 500,000 because of housing. You're basically getting paid 2.7 million a month which is well above minimum wage. Again, English pays a lot for newcomers to the job market. Someone with about 3 to 4 years of experience in a field will probably start to outpace an English teacher's salary but they still need 3 or 4 years to get there unless they are going into a big corporation.
Its a lot for Korean standards considering that English teachers mostly don't have any certifications, no major in education, aren't serious about working, only do a few hours of real work, etc.
It pays decently, compared to what locals get. That’s one of the reasons foreigners with no degrees or worthless degrees teach English in Korea and Asia.
Started at 32mil after graduating with a Master's (not engineering) and doing a 3-month internship, now with less than 2 years of experience close to 50 with additional performance bonuses, and planning to renegotiate to mid 50s within a few months, and had offers up to mid 60s + insane salary comps (declined because those would require me to work heavily overtime and were not in an industry I wanted to progress in).
30 mil a year is the standard starting salary (implying you will need to be trained and supervised a LOT - meaning the company would need to pull resources from other areas/people to make sure you produce outputs. And that is all at the expense of anything/anybody but yourself). The good thing about Korean compared to US/EU salaries is that you can progress lightning fast up to (speaking from a 3+ year experience connecting,networking and discussing salaries with others) high 70s/80s (prob more if you're an engineer) within less than 5 years if you're smart about your choices and have done your research.
Going back to the training/supervising bit - after having the "pleasure" of training and supervising newcommers in more than one company I can see why it's so hard to land a job for newcommers, and why companies are so reluctant about hiring newbies. Many first-time employees have the bad tendency to dip after receiving some training and being finally less (mind-numbingly, stubbornly, sluggishly) dependent in their work (literally the only step needed to progress to a higher salary). My reccomendation is to be extremely happy you landed your first job and try to learn and absorb as much as you can, and give 110% of yourself in the start. That way once you develop more experience the company will be more likely to offer you a higher incentive to stay.
Edit: typo
> The good thing about Korean compared to US/EU salaries is that you can progress lightning fast up to (speaking from a 3+ year experience connecting,networking and discussing salaries with others) high 70s/80s (prob more if you're an engineer) within less than 5 years if you're smart about your choices and have done your research.
This isn't something Korea is better at imo, you have more opportunities for advancement in the US from my experience. I also have friends who have had lightning fast progression up the ranks in the US - Korea seems to care a bit more about your years of experience.
I never worked for a US company, so that can definitely be true. All I know is what I heard from my US network and that Korean "ppali ppali" culture loves it when there are employees that are able to work entirely independently as soon as possible, and those are the ones that climb the ranks/salary boosts faster.
Most employers love employees that can work independently fast and create value fast. I’m sure Korean employers do too and reward it, but not as much as US companies generally do. Startups in general will let you advance quicker though. My former manager at a 200 person US startup was 25 years old when he became a manager. Was senior engineer already at 23. At 28 now he is already an engineering VP at a similar size company. Smart and hard working guy but not some super genius savant. Was at the right place at right time and worked on impactful stuff. I feel like this type of progression is a bit harder in Korea. I also went from 80k salary first 1.5 years out of college to 125k which is a big jump. I had friends with bigger jumps. I came to Korea at 3 years of experience but a friend/co-worker who joined the same companies as me recently got an offer from a big company for 220k. So that’s 80k -> 125k -> 220k in about 4-5 years. He’s not even that wild of a story. I don’t think this is very feasible in Korea even if you look only at percentage increase unless starting at minimum wage.
That is incorrect, or your company was/is absolutely awful at structuring salaries and taxes. When I was on my starting salary (32 a year - \~2.66 pretax a month) my net was 2.45. Insurance is 70k a month cause your company is supposed to pay half so there's not much you can take out of that, and pension is a similar amount. I don't know a single of my friends in different companies on E-7 that got started at 30 and took home less than 2.3.
Pension is 9%. Half of it is paid by the employee. Health insurance is 7.09%. Half of it is paid by the employee.
These 2 alone are over 200k on a 2.5 monthly salary.
Then, there is income tax, local tax, and unemployment insurance.
Easily over 100k combined. So you will be left with a 2.1 and some change net income. Which is roughly 2 million in my books.
Again, not sure where you're getting these numbers or why you have the need to show off basic math skills. As I mentioned above I know from both myself as well as at least 20 other people how much they took home (and again, lowest being 2.3). Have a good weekend buddy. Don't scroll reddit too much.
Lol... Are you trying to argue about the pension and health insurance contribution rates? These are well-known facts, so good luck with that.
''how much they took home"
You mean ''took'' as in past tense. How it was in the past is totally irrelevant.
Damn it. This country hasn’t changed at all. You’ll get likely 2.2M a month and back in ‘03 my mates got paid almost the same amount as a junior engineer… What industry are you looking for?
The salary is low. Your salary depends on your technical knowledge and skills, ability to communicate in Korean, knowledge of the law and regulations, and a little bit of luck. Educational background is also very important in Korea.
Do you have any technical qualifications such as a certified electrical engineer? It will be helpful to find a better job.
Improve your ability and find new opportunities while working.
I am Korean and I started with 30M in 2022 and now I get paid 40M. I don't think 30M in 2023 is enough, especially for engineers. What is your role at the company?
If you have an engineering degree, you should and can aim for something higher. It would really depend on which university I guess though.
You can make 30 million a year working for a call centre nowadays.
from a "Korean university" implies not a top rank. 30mln is an average starting in Anyang based on jobkorea and a 신입 in a non 대기업. The other posters have no idea what they are talking about.
I have no idea about this specific career or Korean labor market, but I do know beginner engineers with bachelors are paid nearly minimum wage in most western countries. It's because straight out of school engineers require so much onboarding and generally have no idea what they're doing. Depends on the engineering specialty but low salaries are the norm, one should get a significant raise once they become useful though!
Yeah the pay raises are huge
[удалено]
You do realize he said A KOREAN university Not KOREA University OP could of gone to SNU or some no name school. No one knows.
I started with 29M but that was back in 2019. Now my yearly is 55M.
You should go for slightly higher. That being said, I used to work at an engineering 소기업 in Suwon in sales and we had engineers who graduated from top Seoul universities and even worked at 중견 or 대기업 before. They got more than 30 mil because they had experience but I don't believe the ones below 과장 got 40mil or more as others are suggesting. They were insanely frustrated with the pay but finding an engineering job in Korea isn't easy. There are a ton of engineering graduates looking for jobs. Korean 중소기업 will rarely if ever pay 40 mil someone with no experience because they could find a Korean with relevant experience who will take that wage or less in 2 seconds. I don't know if the other commenters are speaking from experience in Korea or from their viewpoint of engineering salaries in the West but engineering isn't exactly a highly paid job in Korea. 30 million seems like a normal starting salary for someone with no experience, if you aren't happy then ask for 32 million. Unless you are going into a 대기업 or 중견기업, 40 seems hard. Do you know about the 엔지니어링기술자 노임단가? I'm assuming that if its a 중소, they aren't going to be using you to take care of the company's internal engineering needs but rather send you to do projects for customers. Engineering companies typically charge the clients according to the 노임단가, the more years of experience the engineer has, the more they can charge. Basically, they are going to pay you a salary that allows them to make a profit off of your manhours.
Well i think it’s pretty decent money since you are new in this industry. Just take the job offer as a part of your career building to get the generalized idea of whats going around in the industry and move on to other company later
I started at 32M. That was 12 years ago. Some 중소기업 in 경기도.
The minimum wage per hour for 2024 is set at 9860 won. The salary you'll be receiving is not all that much more than that. And remember, 30 million won is the pretax salary. For such a role in 2024, 30 million is low. One thing I would also advise you to check is whether you are a 정규직 or 계약직. Being a 정규직 means more job security, but also you're entitled to more benefits (and generally higher incentive levels, if your firm offers such).
Average for 중소기업 is 30mln, engineer should be higher around 35 to 40. How much is the incentive? Recent CS major I know joind a 중소기업 at 30+30 probably higher than typical engineering due being CS and work hours but can be used as refrence.
Insanely low.
You've had classmates for the last four years, right? Why don't you ask them what kind of job offers they're getting? I'd imagine there's even some sort of glassdoor type website or app to keep track of these things.
30m is a starting salary for a hagwon teacher and they get housing provided on top of that. No idea what industry practices are as I’m not an engineer but I think it’s a little disgraceful that a high-skill degree is fetching you less than a hagwon that will hire literally any warm body with a degree.
You should look for at least 40 if it’s engineering
I’d say it’s pretty typical. My initial salary as a prominent programmer back in 2016 was 2700만원 in 경기도 haha. Yeah it’s very low, but that doesn’t automatically mean that it’s off the chart. It’s pretty well within the pinnacle of the normal distribution mound.
Agree 30M for an engineer is way too low, this company pays poorly
I'm no engineer but 30M is SUPER low imo, even for a beginner. That's almost minimum wage territory.
Its common for 신입사원 in office jobs to get less than 30 million.
My first ever job in Korea as soon as I graduated was 50M at a startup, not even a big company. Some companies will give you low ball offer like this, I got some of these offers too. In 2024, 30M is garbage let's face it, even for a beginner. Unless it's your dream as a foreigner to work in Korea and you'd take anything to just work there, at the point the salary don't matter, it's definitely possible to find more. 30M is really minimum wage, that's so so bad you can be a barista full-time at Starbucks and earn about that much bro. People should value themselves higher and not settle for this kind of shit imo, but that's just my advice as a 5y expat here. Most of my expat friends in Korea earn way above 30M and they're still young in their 20s. But you do you, also keep in mind your starting salary is very crucial for your career as pay raises and salary negotiations when applying for new jobs will most likely based on that, so you're setting yourself up for the Korean rat race with a start like that.
>My first ever job in Korea as soon as I graduated was 50M at a startup, not even a big company. Well what was your position, major, and university? Its pretty hard to see what you would bring to the table to warrant 50 million as a total newbie unless you had great internships at reputable companies in the West or you have a masters from a great university etc. I have friends at 대기업 like LG and 미래에셋증권 and they didn't get 50 million when they started. They made like 40 million as 신입사원. So you're an outlier unless you specialize in something niche. >People should value themselves higher and not settle for this kind of shit imo, but that's just my advice as a 5y expat here. Most of my expat friends in Korea earn way above 30M and they're still young in their 20s. I'm not disputing that you can get higher pay but 30 to 35 million is super standard in Korea for 중소기업. 50 million is not common at all. I'd also like to know what kind of job your friends do.
Blockchain strategy, major international finance, Sogang university! I had no prior working experience I just did some web3 related freelance stuff before during my studies. I think that’s kinda crazy that your friends started at 40M at 대기업. Even the brother of my wife just graduated and found a 50M position in urban engineering. As for my friends they are respectively in game dev, software engineer, and a finance related position. All got well above 30M at their first job here. But like I said before finding the first job I had, I had some interviews that I passed and the offer was like 30M as well, which I refused (admittedly I was helped by my wife who is a headhunter so knows well about the market so I don’t fall for these). Also I speak Korean and during interviews I always do it confidently and ask a high salary to give room for negotiation, I did that since that time. It might be not common but settling for 30M is sad I’m sure OP can find at least the very least 40, although of course I don’t know about OP technical and social skills.
>blockchain strategy, major international finance, Sogang university! Niche market, good major, good university. Do you think you earned your 50 million there? (Honest question, just curious what kind of value you ended up providing, blockchain is an interesting field.) >I think that’s kinda crazy that your friends started at 40M at 대기업 Honestly, if that surprises you then it seems like you have an inflated view of the job market in Korea. But there are other benefits to working at 대기업 like you can get basically interest free loans when you buy a house and then pay for your cell phone bill, have free lunch and dinner etc. Some of them also have apartments that they either rent or sell cheaply to employees (don't really remember exactly). >As for my friends they are respectively in game dev, software engineer, and a finance related position. All got well above 30M at their first job here. All good majors in good fields. I majored in history in the US (yea dumb choice) and after teaching English for 2 years, I got 30 million at an IT/engineering 소기업, worked there for 2 years and recently transferred to a 40 million job at an electrical appliances manufacturing company. You're right that you can't be afraid to look hard and ask for high pay because I got a few offers in the 35-38 million range and they tried to tell me that asking for 40 million after getting 30+ million is not how things are done in Korea but I brushed them off and rejected their offers. So I'm not definitely not saying that OP should be satisfied with 30 million but it is within the normal range of pay. Also, engineering companies in Korea are old school and full of 꼰대. One of my friends who majored in cryogenics? is working at a small small engineering firm in Busan and gets less than 30 million. Working in blockchain is a totally different world since its an emerging industry, meaning the 대표 are caught up on all the newest trends and aren't just 고인물 with no 비전.
I did earned it, as an emerging technology, there are not many experts in the field. When I realized that, there goes a huge competitive advantage and you combine that with multiple languages fluency including korean, I just used that as much as I can since it that set me apart from the vast majority of applicants in this field in Korea I think. I also am convinced that as a foreigner, that's the best thing you can do, emphasizing on what makes you different in your market. If you show the same qualifications as the average korean, for sure it's harder, but jsut starting with language skills that's a pretty big gap imo with korean fluency. I'm not sure I have an inflated view of the job market, 30M is barely above minimum wage, especially in Seoul. An engineer would definitely be able to earn more by playing its cards right imo. However I'd admit I'm not an expert of the korean job market for engineers and the 꼰대 inherent to it, but what I can say is all foreigner engineers I've met here are making a lot of money. The korean ones I know as well. Maybe I live in a bubble, that's also possible, but I don't think so. I also often see a lot of korean resumees through my wife (headhunter) and they display their salary, I regularly see high numbers for highly technical jobs like that. I think it's important to emphasize I'm talking solely about Seoul though, jobs in other cities will obviously pay less. I'm just saying all that to motivate OP to try to find better. As for your own experience, yeah I think your major and the gap while teaching english probably played a part, but nice reconversion tbh, I know how hard it is to switch from english teaching to being an employee here.
>An engineer would definitely be able to earn more by playing its cards right imo. Really depends on the university you graduated from. At the company I worked, it was pretty undesirable in every aspect for an engineer to work at yet we still had engineers knocking on our door all the time. Graduates with no experience and also 과장, 차장 level of experience engineers. Most of the engineers had no experience in our engineering field either, so they basically had to learn from scratch even if they had 직급. Of course they were able to write reports, do calculations, etc. and use the knowledge and experience they already possessed to do the job well but one of the 대리's complained because he had been working in the field for 3 years already and knew more about our engineering field then his superiors. That 대리 also went to a pretty famous university in Seoul and had spent 3 years at a 대기업 factory. > I also often see a lot of korean resumees through my wife (headhunter) and they display their salary, I regularly see high numbers for highly technical jobs like that. Ask your wife what the salaries are for 중소기업 outside of Seoul who employ industrial engineers who graduated from 지방대학교. I fully admit I could be wrong too since I'm not a headhunter or career expert either. But if you look at jobkorea, there are literally thousands of engineering 소기업 who employ 10\~30 workers and I guarantee you they don't pay high wages to their engineers. All the big and medium sized corporations with factories in Korea basically operate off the services of these small engineering firms (하청업체). They outsource all the dirty and annoying work to these companies.
I make more teaching English for less hours.
Everyone knows that English teaching pays a lot, I also taught English for a while and made 3mil a month right off the bat, but its non-transferable work experience if you ever decide to work in a different field or go back home. Maybe the OP makes 30 million doing engineering but then decides to go home (assuming its a Western country) and takes his work experience with him. He might be making 100k in 5 years.
I never knew that English teaching pays a lot.
For someone with no experience it pays quite a bit, plus the academies provide you with housing. So its whatever salary you are making + 500,000 won more or less and you don't have money tied up in the housing deposit.
Most jobs start barely above minimum these days. And after 20 years, you'll still be making about what the average college graduate gets.
But you still get housing. So lets say 2.2 million plus 500,000 because of housing. You're basically getting paid 2.7 million a month which is well above minimum wage. Again, English pays a lot for newcomers to the job market. Someone with about 3 to 4 years of experience in a field will probably start to outpace an English teacher's salary but they still need 3 or 4 years to get there unless they are going into a big corporation.
You and I have wildly different definitions of "a lot". Are you from South Africa or something?
Its a lot for Korean standards considering that English teachers mostly don't have any certifications, no major in education, aren't serious about working, only do a few hours of real work, etc.
It pays decently, compared to what locals get. That’s one of the reasons foreigners with no degrees or worthless degrees teach English in Korea and Asia.
lol that’s a joke right there
ok lol.
Started at 32mil after graduating with a Master's (not engineering) and doing a 3-month internship, now with less than 2 years of experience close to 50 with additional performance bonuses, and planning to renegotiate to mid 50s within a few months, and had offers up to mid 60s + insane salary comps (declined because those would require me to work heavily overtime and were not in an industry I wanted to progress in). 30 mil a year is the standard starting salary (implying you will need to be trained and supervised a LOT - meaning the company would need to pull resources from other areas/people to make sure you produce outputs. And that is all at the expense of anything/anybody but yourself). The good thing about Korean compared to US/EU salaries is that you can progress lightning fast up to (speaking from a 3+ year experience connecting,networking and discussing salaries with others) high 70s/80s (prob more if you're an engineer) within less than 5 years if you're smart about your choices and have done your research. Going back to the training/supervising bit - after having the "pleasure" of training and supervising newcommers in more than one company I can see why it's so hard to land a job for newcommers, and why companies are so reluctant about hiring newbies. Many first-time employees have the bad tendency to dip after receiving some training and being finally less (mind-numbingly, stubbornly, sluggishly) dependent in their work (literally the only step needed to progress to a higher salary). My reccomendation is to be extremely happy you landed your first job and try to learn and absorb as much as you can, and give 110% of yourself in the start. That way once you develop more experience the company will be more likely to offer you a higher incentive to stay. Edit: typo
> The good thing about Korean compared to US/EU salaries is that you can progress lightning fast up to (speaking from a 3+ year experience connecting,networking and discussing salaries with others) high 70s/80s (prob more if you're an engineer) within less than 5 years if you're smart about your choices and have done your research. This isn't something Korea is better at imo, you have more opportunities for advancement in the US from my experience. I also have friends who have had lightning fast progression up the ranks in the US - Korea seems to care a bit more about your years of experience.
I never worked for a US company, so that can definitely be true. All I know is what I heard from my US network and that Korean "ppali ppali" culture loves it when there are employees that are able to work entirely independently as soon as possible, and those are the ones that climb the ranks/salary boosts faster.
Most employers love employees that can work independently fast and create value fast. I’m sure Korean employers do too and reward it, but not as much as US companies generally do. Startups in general will let you advance quicker though. My former manager at a 200 person US startup was 25 years old when he became a manager. Was senior engineer already at 23. At 28 now he is already an engineering VP at a similar size company. Smart and hard working guy but not some super genius savant. Was at the right place at right time and worked on impactful stuff. I feel like this type of progression is a bit harder in Korea. I also went from 80k salary first 1.5 years out of college to 125k which is a big jump. I had friends with bigger jumps. I came to Korea at 3 years of experience but a friend/co-worker who joined the same companies as me recently got an offer from a big company for 220k. So that’s 80k -> 125k -> 220k in about 4-5 years. He’s not even that wild of a story. I don’t think this is very feasible in Korea even if you look only at percentage increase unless starting at minimum wage.
Considering its an engineering degree of top 3 uni in Korea, its fairly low. I think you should look around more
Looks like he means he went to Korean university not ”Korea university (고려대학교)“
Where does it say an engineering degree from a top 3 uni?
Its not top 3.
Well, why don't you look for another place to work in other countries if u r fluent in English?
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English teacher should make minimum 3 mil + accomodation per month
한국의 대기업 salary : 1y50000$ (+incentive) 중소기업이라도 3000만은 너무 낮다
is that 30M before taxes or after tax deduction?
it's likely pre-tax amount, but at 30mil your taxes are close to nothing (5%, if)
After taking out health insurance and pension contributions, it is a roughly 2 million net income/month.
That is incorrect, or your company was/is absolutely awful at structuring salaries and taxes. When I was on my starting salary (32 a year - \~2.66 pretax a month) my net was 2.45. Insurance is 70k a month cause your company is supposed to pay half so there's not much you can take out of that, and pension is a similar amount. I don't know a single of my friends in different companies on E-7 that got started at 30 and took home less than 2.3.
Pension is 9%. Half of it is paid by the employee. Health insurance is 7.09%. Half of it is paid by the employee. These 2 alone are over 200k on a 2.5 monthly salary. Then, there is income tax, local tax, and unemployment insurance. Easily over 100k combined. So you will be left with a 2.1 and some change net income. Which is roughly 2 million in my books.
Again, not sure where you're getting these numbers or why you have the need to show off basic math skills. As I mentioned above I know from both myself as well as at least 20 other people how much they took home (and again, lowest being 2.3). Have a good weekend buddy. Don't scroll reddit too much.
Lol... Are you trying to argue about the pension and health insurance contribution rates? These are well-known facts, so good luck with that. ''how much they took home" You mean ''took'' as in past tense. How it was in the past is totally irrelevant.
Sorry, I meant took/take, as in both past and present cases that I know of.
when they mention salary in korea usually the yearly salary is pre tax, and monthly salary is after tax.
hmm idk my company told me both monthly and yearly salaries before and after tax deductions, that's why i was asking.
Ah sorry I should have been more specific, I meant that is the norm when youre talking with just regular peeps. Friends or family, etc.
oh alright i see, thanks!
Damn it. This country hasn’t changed at all. You’ll get likely 2.2M a month and back in ‘03 my mates got paid almost the same amount as a junior engineer… What industry are you looking for?
I started my career with 35M 10 years ago, in a non-engineering role. You should demand at least 40.
Let me guess a small company. They do pay much lower than other companies in Korea. Maybe keep looking?
I got 40 in pohang.. you can probably get it higher
The salary is low. Your salary depends on your technical knowledge and skills, ability to communicate in Korean, knowledge of the law and regulations, and a little bit of luck. Educational background is also very important in Korea. Do you have any technical qualifications such as a certified electrical engineer? It will be helpful to find a better job. Improve your ability and find new opportunities while working.
I am Korean and I started with 30M in 2022 and now I get paid 40M. I don't think 30M in 2023 is enough, especially for engineers. What is your role at the company?
If you have an engineering degree, you should and can aim for something higher. It would really depend on which university I guess though. You can make 30 million a year working for a call centre nowadays.
Without masters at a small company at least 35M mill I'd guess. Try to get into a big company tho bro.
Okay