Engineer Is Fuming After The Hiring Team Changes His Promised Salary Of $40,000 To An $8/Hour Contract On The Interview Day
It’s a well-known fact that the career world can be challenging and exhausting. Firstly, you spend ages studying and getting a qualification in your chosen profession. God forbid, halfway through, you realize that it’s not something you truly want to do, so you jump into more debt while changing your path. The time comes, you finally graduate, and everything becomes progressively more concerning since it’s your first time leaving the education system – therefore, you have to figure things out on your own.
Time flies by, and you’ve applied to dozens of companies. Finally, there’s some experience on your checklist, however – you’re married now, and the responsibilities have doubled in size, so you go out of your way to find a company that will offer decent pay. But then you bump into a rather unhealthy business that starts it off with a lie:
This is the story of Reddit user WaterFidec. He used the antiwork subreddit to share all the troubles he has faced while finding a job as a mechanical engineer. Now, the post received a “maybe fake, but we like it” tag – thus, we can’t be absolutely sure that the story wasn’t sugar-coated for entertainment purposes. Nevertheless, it received over 67K upvotes and almost 9K comments where people engaged in a fiery debate about the whole situation.
More info: Reddit
This is the story about how a company wanted to lure in a potential hire with a fake salary
Image credits: Doc Searls
The OP shared an odd story about how the organization that he potentially wanted to work for informed him about the yearly salary he would be making as a mechanical engineer. However, when he arrived to an interview, the pay was heavily cut, to say the least.
Organization offers $40,000 a year but magically cuts it to $8 an hour during the interview
Image credits: Reddit
The OP starts out by explaining that he’s a proud owner of an engineering degree and that one day, he received a phone call from the company that he presumably applied to. The hiring team explained to the OP that he would be making $40,000 yearly, and by the looks of it, he was delighted about the potential offer.
The interview day came; however, the team ended up having completely different numbers in their proposal. It was said that the contract would start at $8 for the duration of 9 months. And then eventually, they might consider those $40,000.
Image credits: Reddit
Nevertheless, OP connected the dots and realized that when they were previously discussing the pay, the hiring team mentioned a project that would last approximately from 8 to 9 months.
Naturally the OP asked the interviewers if the contract was based purely on that project, to which he received an awkward silence and a crystal clear lie.
Image credits: Reddit
The OP clearly didn’t like the fact that he was lied to straight to his face, so he decided to forwardly ask the hiring team if they would be able to survive on $8 an hour. Moreover, he made sure to add that they’d also be paying him for his experience and skills – not only for the work.
But one of the interviewers decided to voice his concerns and reminisce about his past with chicken eggs, which could only be assumed was done to somehow persuade the OP into accepting the offer. To that the OP wondered if the man was implying that him designing for their company would be worth only a few bucks more than getting chickens’ waste off of their eggs.
Image credits: Reddit
After getting kicked out of the interview, our OP started to question his whole reality. He revealed that he and his wife were in an agreement to never have kids, purely because of how expensive everything is.
He also shared how unbelievably overpriced mobile homes are, as his mother-in-law’s costs quarter of a million and requires $45,000 as a down payment.
Image credits: Reddit
After contemplating about life and its expenses, the OP began thinking that if the engineering degree and a bunch of loans don’t actually matter in the career world – maybe he would get experience at a fast food restaurant, since the starting pay is a whole dollar more than at the engineering company.
Things like that happen, as you never truly know if years of studying will pay off or if you’ll end up like our OP. Moreover, it’s an everyday practice, where companies ask for years and years of experience in order for you to be able to apply to a certain position, and people that just graduated have a hard time finding jobs that relate to their degrees which quite often leads them to similar stories.
What do you think about this situation?
Fellow online users were equally shocked with the OP’s situation
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To that recruiter, I would say: you were paid minimum wage in 1970 for that job, and that $2 an hour then is worth about $14 an hour today. So yes, you are valuing that engineer's work LESS than that of your job as a chicken egg cleaner in your youth.
Oh 2$ an hour 50 f*****g years ago? When you could buy a brand new car for a couple hundred bucks? When a nice house was 20 grand? That guy was a piece of s**t.
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I have a hard time believing any of this story. All of the details seem very off. OP never mentions what the degree is in or where they worked before (remember, they have experience and skill). Also, no one who has one just vaguely says they have an engineering degree and someone wants to hire them to design some unspecified something. This story was clearly fabricated for internet points
He commented on the original post it is in Mechanical Engineering
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I don't buy it. I know Engineers, the lowest starting salary at the lowest paying specialty in the US is 53K, average is starting at 65K. And that is from a non-elite university. 40K is what a technician gets paid (starting at 35K on Average, where after 10 years is usually earning 70), maybe his alleged degree is a Technicians Degree (which is an associate degree) not a Bachelors. Or he went to a non Abet certified school where there are ones that offer "engineering degrees", but if not Abet certified one cannot work as an Engineer in the US because they dont have a legit Engineering degree.
Average teacher salary in Alabama is around $50K. No mobile home is worth $250K, especially in Alabama. A lot of this story doesn't add up.
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I live in Nebraska, which is among the lowest paying states in the country, and even here I wouldn't accept less than $60k for an entry level engineering position that required a degree.
Both wages sound wrong. What year was this and what state? Minimum wage is higher than $8 in at least half of the states. And I made more than $27,000 as a starting teacher 25 years ago (started at a little over $30,000). Most states start in the $30,000s or above for a teacher. I'm often shocked by the low pay for teachers in other states. I meet teachers from all over at conferences and such every year. I'd be floored by $27,000. That's some tiny district with no union.
Move to Norway. You’d get a lot better, and even without jobs you could afford both apartment and having a kid. It shouldn’t be much of a problem for you getting jobs here being a teacher and an engineer. Free healthcare and everything. And people complain about socialism in the US. 😝
If it were so simple to just move to another country and get a job there the way I would move to another state, without all this citizenship BS, I would have done so in a heartbeat ten years ago. But for some reason most countries have a problem with people just suddenly deciding to live there.
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A teacher and an egineer would be paid very well in Germany (lot's of international shools in Berlin)
I'm a high school drop out, I make over $70k a year without OT... engineers here (Illinois) make way more than I do... $40k seems very low.
Cool... I have a B.S. in game design and development. The degree is useful for the videogame industry(graphics programming, engine development, etc.), front-end web developers, back-end web developers, etc. I make around 40k/yr before tax. I work as an independent contractor so that means I actually have to pay more taxes than usual too (companies pay half of their employees' FICA taxes... and contractors aren't considered employees). I graduated in 2020 and my friends in more traditional programs such as software engineering, computer science, mechanical engineering are in the same boat (or worse tbh) than me. This is anecdotal, but it's my experience. Idk how common it is though. Maybe we all just got really unlucky. Anyway, my main point is that you're really lucky. I can't even imagine getting a job that pays more than 50k with my B.S. and neither can most of my friends. 2020 was a s**t year to graduate in.
Load More Replies... Wow! An Engineering degree in my country, you'll never be out of work and the wages are very comfortable. Join the right company and you'll travel the world for free.
This story is 100% fake. Lowest paid specialty in the US in Engineering starts at 53K, average starts out at 65-67K a year. Other details dont add up either.
Load More Replies...
A mobile/manufactured home can be worth $250k if the land is included. If it's in a park with lot rent, then it is lucky to be worth $90K. Location can also affect pricing dramatically as can the amount of lot rent.
Um yeah. I work in A&E, and $40K starting salary for an engineer is an absolute joke. More like $75K. That is probably what the recruiter is being paid by the company, and they are trying to pocket the difference.
Pleaseee, it's in a fkn village....even the fkn manager cleaned chicken eggs before....$40G is about right there i suppose
No degree, HVAC techs start at $20. Hr. Get a trade. Plus no student loan debts.
Where is this dude living that mobile homes are going for 250k, small dirty apartments are 1400/mo but engineers are only making 40k yearly? I live in a fairly affluent suburb of Chicago and you can even find 3br houses for around 275k here and even an entry level fast food joint pays minimum 12/hr.
Most likely, the Reddit post this article was based off of was a completely made-up fantasyland story where somebody was REAL bored one day and decided to spin a giant yarn just to get a rise out of random Redditors (and that now has taken off and started a life of its own). If this IS real, however, I am sure glad to hear they didn't offer the Redditor the job. And the Redditor should be REAL glad they didn't. Why? I glanced over the other comments, and while I absolutely agree most likely the Redditor is trying to pull some legs, nobody is addressing the 600-ton elephant in the room. So, does anybody really believe they would honestly pay the engineer the agreed-upon $8? The whole thing sounds like a phony setup like one of those Nigerian "send-us-money-and-we'll-pay-you-more" scams. I would bet the company - if real - would have constantly found ways to avoid paying him possibly even the $8/hr while forcing him to work mandatory unpaid overtime (think 12 hour days for 6.5 days a week). I am willing to bet that they would have reneged on everything and anything even mentioned in the initial "interview". In addition, even the $8/hr paychecks would only come every other pay period. In personal checks. And blatant disregard of laws including safety, testing, etc. (What, you think labor laws are the only kind of law such a worthless company would disregard?)
I wonder what type of engineer he is. Good software engineers often start at $120k or more. Geography means nothing anymore since so much is remote. If you're an Android dev and interested, dm me. 😀
Why republish an obviously fake post? It's like the Russian Bot that wrote it doesn't even understand American culture. (In SOME cultures, a Mechanical Engineer is merely a machine operator with the sort of specialized training you get in a community college tech program.)
Retired USMC O6, Have PhD. Tried several time to get a teaching position. In my local school system. I rejected them. I looked up the teacher doing the interview(s), Downloaded her theisis. Made corrections and graded it. Was offered a position right then and there. She asked when I could start. I pulled out that graded theisis. whith a lot of red marks. I said as soon as this is graded. Gave her the copy. That was roughy 5 years ago.
Yeah these jackasses are so out of touch. Now I grew up poor so even an insulting pay package is good money. While in college, I took some kind of apprenticeship with some bigshot firm. I was paid like $10 an hour, assembling or deploying power supply and junction boxes. It's dangerous work and you need to be able to read schematics and understand what the heck they did on-site. They charge clients $120 an hour for my time. That's how much i would get paid for a week of part-time work lol. But it did pave the way for a better job though.
Wahwah. Look I am glad you know your worth. But look at it from the companies perspective. If they have to resort to paying off the street pay(no education) to keep themselves in the black they probably won't be around much longer. Don't whine it's a job that didn't work out move on with yourself and wtf does you mil wanting 250k have to do with anything. The trailer probably has plenty f land adjacent so it is probably that much. I bought a 3 bedroom house on a $14.00/hr paycheck back in 09. Prioritize your spending then figure out what you can and can't afford.
Almost like there is an entire reddit post behind this article that is completely left out and that you didn't read...
Load More Replies... Some of the comments seem not that right ... 60 k a year, gross, is pretty decent for an engineer, and practically impossible when starting. I currently make 42 k a year, gross, and I'm not on my first job, neither am I dumb or incompetent or so ... a raise is within sight, but requires some rearrangery, therefore I am not sure on this right now. 60 or 80 k is what a real expert, someone coming up with solutions out of the ordinary, sure is worth, ... but ...engineers aren't the people there is much of a lack of - companies can easily find more than one fit and qualified employee per job if they wanted, and have been employing criteria way besides the actual job for decades now, sometimes even in my favor, sometimes against ... companies need to start acknowledging that, although engineers usually don't earn poverty wages, our cost of living also got a pretty huge up - we're nowhere near rich, usually.
100% this! I think a lot of these comments are basing their takes off of what the system was like when they first entered the workforce. No one wants to acknowledge the fact that things have been getting worse and worse every single generation.
Load More Replies... There is no way this is real. I took a $40k/year job right out of college as an EIT in 2000. That was average back then. Starting jobs now are almost twice that. Lack of specifics and the $250k trailer in Alabama (unless it's in downtown Mobile or Birmingham, I'm calling BS) tell me someone is just flat-out lying. I'm in Louisiana, BTW, so I'm pretty familiar with the engineering market in AL as I do a lot of work there. I'm an ME.
And people keep wondering why workers are revolting. You can only treat people like that so long. And this seems like a fairly new phenomenon. I've been at the same job for 25 years, but none of the ones I worked before ever did a bait and switch.
Sounds like a case of someone who doesn't want to relocate. Everyone deserves a living wage but we don't have a wand to make that happen right now soooo relocate to another state or area that will either pay you more or cost if living is lower to your earnings. I have relocated 3 times for work and to leave over inflated areas. It's not easy but my quality of life has been better each time and my friends who sound like this OP are the ones who will never leave where they are from.
I recently seriously considered spending all of my savings on an RV and moving on to my dad's property for 6 months, because I can't find d**k all to live in where I am. And then be cremated because the chances of me surviving that shithole a second time is a million to one.
I don't believe this for one flat second. Here's an instance where Bored Panda actually wasted my time with a nothing post.
they need to move. there are plenty of opportunities but not where they are
The only place on this planet I know of where a mobile home is worth $250k is in the Florida Keys, and there are no engineering jobs there, but plenty elsewhere. And I think the correct response in this current market would have been something along the lines of.... "It's $40k per year, plus a sign on bonus. Keep going and there will be an annual."
To that recruiter, I would say: you were paid minimum wage in 1970 for that job, and that $2 an hour then is worth about $14 an hour today. So yes, you are valuing that engineer's work LESS than that of your job as a chicken egg cleaner in your youth.
Oh 2$ an hour 50 f*****g years ago? When you could buy a brand new car for a couple hundred bucks? When a nice house was 20 grand? That guy was a piece of s**t.
Load More Replies... I have a hard time believing any of this story. All of the details seem very off. OP never mentions what the degree is in or where they worked before (remember, they have experience and skill). Also, no one who has one just vaguely says they have an engineering degree and someone wants to hire them to design some unspecified something. This story was clearly fabricated for internet points
He commented on the original post it is in Mechanical Engineering
Load More Replies... I don't buy it. I know Engineers, the lowest starting salary at the lowest paying specialty in the US is 53K, average is starting at 65K. And that is from a non-elite university. 40K is what a technician gets paid (starting at 35K on Average, where after 10 years is usually earning 70), maybe his alleged degree is a Technicians Degree (which is an associate degree) not a Bachelors. Or he went to a non Abet certified school where there are ones that offer "engineering degrees", but if not Abet certified one cannot work as an Engineer in the US because they dont have a legit Engineering degree.
Average teacher salary in Alabama is around $50K. No mobile home is worth $250K, especially in Alabama. A lot of this story doesn't add up.
Load More Replies... I live in Nebraska, which is among the lowest paying states in the country, and even here I wouldn't accept less than $60k for an entry level engineering position that required a degree.
Both wages sound wrong. What year was this and what state? Minimum wage is higher than $8 in at least half of the states. And I made more than $27,000 as a starting teacher 25 years ago (started at a little over $30,000). Most states start in the $30,000s or above for a teacher. I'm often shocked by the low pay for teachers in other states. I meet teachers from all over at conferences and such every year. I'd be floored by $27,000. That's some tiny district with no union.
Move to Norway. You’d get a lot better, and even without jobs you could afford both apartment and having a kid. It shouldn’t be much of a problem for you getting jobs here being a teacher and an engineer. Free healthcare and everything. And people complain about socialism in the US. 😝
If it were so simple to just move to another country and get a job there the way I would move to another state, without all this citizenship BS, I would have done so in a heartbeat ten years ago. But for some reason most countries have a problem with people just suddenly deciding to live there.
Load More Replies... A teacher and an egineer would be paid very well in Germany (lot's of international shools in Berlin)
I'm a high school drop out, I make over $70k a year without OT... engineers here (Illinois) make way more than I do... $40k seems very low.
Cool... I have a B.S. in game design and development. The degree is useful for the videogame industry(graphics programming, engine development, etc.), front-end web developers, back-end web developers, etc. I make around 40k/yr before tax. I work as an independent contractor so that means I actually have to pay more taxes than usual too (companies pay half of their employees' FICA taxes... and contractors aren't considered employees). I graduated in 2020 and my friends in more traditional programs such as software engineering, computer science, mechanical engineering are in the same boat (or worse tbh) than me. This is anecdotal, but it's my experience. Idk how common it is though. Maybe we all just got really unlucky. Anyway, my main point is that you're really lucky. I can't even imagine getting a job that pays more than 50k with my B.S. and neither can most of my friends. 2020 was a s**t year to graduate in.
Load More Replies... Wow! An Engineering degree in my country, you'll never be out of work and the wages are very comfortable. Join the right company and you'll travel the world for free.
This story is 100% fake. Lowest paid specialty in the US in Engineering starts at 53K, average starts out at 65-67K a year. Other details dont add up either.
Load More Replies... A mobile/manufactured home can be worth $250k if the land is included. If it's in a park with lot rent, then it is lucky to be worth $90K. Location can also affect pricing dramatically as can the amount of lot rent.
Um yeah. I work in A&E, and $40K starting salary for an engineer is an absolute joke. More like $75K. That is probably what the recruiter is being paid by the company, and they are trying to pocket the difference.
Pleaseee, it's in a fkn village....even the fkn manager cleaned chicken eggs before....$40G is about right there i suppose
No degree, HVAC techs start at $20. Hr. Get a trade. Plus no student loan debts.
Where is this dude living that mobile homes are going for 250k, small dirty apartments are 1400/mo but engineers are only making 40k yearly? I live in a fairly affluent suburb of Chicago and you can even find 3br houses for around 275k here and even an entry level fast food joint pays minimum 12/hr.
Most likely, the Reddit post this article was based off of was a completely made-up fantasyland story where somebody was REAL bored one day and decided to spin a giant yarn just to get a rise out of random Redditors (and that now has taken off and started a life of its own). If this IS real, however, I am sure glad to hear they didn't offer the Redditor the job. And the Redditor should be REAL glad they didn't. Why? I glanced over the other comments, and while I absolutely agree most likely the Redditor is trying to pull some legs, nobody is addressing the 600-ton elephant in the room. So, does anybody really believe they would honestly pay the engineer the agreed-upon $8? The whole thing sounds like a phony setup like one of those Nigerian "send-us-money-and-we'll-pay-you-more" scams. I would bet the company - if real - would have constantly found ways to avoid paying him possibly even the $8/hr while forcing him to work mandatory unpaid overtime (think 12 hour days for 6.5 days a week). I am willing to bet that they would have reneged on everything and anything even mentioned in the initial "interview". In addition, even the $8/hr paychecks would only come every other pay period. In personal checks. And blatant disregard of laws including safety, testing, etc. (What, you think labor laws are the only kind of law such a worthless company would disregard?)
I wonder what type of engineer he is. Good software engineers often start at $120k or more. Geography means nothing anymore since so much is remote. If you're an Android dev and interested, dm me. 😀
Why republish an obviously fake post? It's like the Russian Bot that wrote it doesn't even understand American culture. (In SOME cultures, a Mechanical Engineer is merely a machine operator with the sort of specialized training you get in a community college tech program.)
Retired USMC O6, Have PhD. Tried several time to get a teaching position. In my local school system. I rejected them. I looked up the teacher doing the interview(s), Downloaded her theisis. Made corrections and graded it. Was offered a position right then and there. She asked when I could start. I pulled out that graded theisis. whith a lot of red marks. I said as soon as this is graded. Gave her the copy. That was roughy 5 years ago.
Yeah these jackasses are so out of touch. Now I grew up poor so even an insulting pay package is good money. While in college, I took some kind of apprenticeship with some bigshot firm. I was paid like $10 an hour, assembling or deploying power supply and junction boxes. It's dangerous work and you need to be able to read schematics and understand what the heck they did on-site. They charge clients $120 an hour for my time. That's how much i would get paid for a week of part-time work lol. But it did pave the way for a better job though.
Wahwah. Look I am glad you know your worth. But look at it from the companies perspective. If they have to resort to paying off the street pay(no education) to keep themselves in the black they probably won't be around much longer. Don't whine it's a job that didn't work out move on with yourself and wtf does you mil wanting 250k have to do with anything. The trailer probably has plenty f land adjacent so it is probably that much. I bought a 3 bedroom house on a $14.00/hr paycheck back in 09. Prioritize your spending then figure out what you can and can't afford.
Almost like there is an entire reddit post behind this article that is completely left out and that you didn't read...
Load More Replies... Some of the comments seem not that right ... 60 k a year, gross, is pretty decent for an engineer, and practically impossible when starting. I currently make 42 k a year, gross, and I'm not on my first job, neither am I dumb or incompetent or so ... a raise is within sight, but requires some rearrangery, therefore I am not sure on this right now. 60 or 80 k is what a real expert, someone coming up with solutions out of the ordinary, sure is worth, ... but ...engineers aren't the people there is much of a lack of - companies can easily find more than one fit and qualified employee per job if they wanted, and have been employing criteria way besides the actual job for decades now, sometimes even in my favor, sometimes against ... companies need to start acknowledging that, although engineers usually don't earn poverty wages, our cost of living also got a pretty huge up - we're nowhere near rich, usually.
100% this! I think a lot of these comments are basing their takes off of what the system was like when they first entered the workforce. No one wants to acknowledge the fact that things have been getting worse and worse every single generation.
Load More Replies... There is no way this is real. I took a $40k/year job right out of college as an EIT in 2000. That was average back then. Starting jobs now are almost twice that. Lack of specifics and the $250k trailer in Alabama (unless it's in downtown Mobile or Birmingham, I'm calling BS) tell me someone is just flat-out lying. I'm in Louisiana, BTW, so I'm pretty familiar with the engineering market in AL as I do a lot of work there. I'm an ME.
And people keep wondering why workers are revolting. You can only treat people like that so long. And this seems like a fairly new phenomenon. I've been at the same job for 25 years, but none of the ones I worked before ever did a bait and switch.
Sounds like a case of someone who doesn't want to relocate. Everyone deserves a living wage but we don't have a wand to make that happen right now soooo relocate to another state or area that will either pay you more or cost if living is lower to your earnings. I have relocated 3 times for work and to leave over inflated areas. It's not easy but my quality of life has been better each time and my friends who sound like this OP are the ones who will never leave where they are from.
I recently seriously considered spending all of my savings on an RV and moving on to my dad's property for 6 months, because I can't find d**k all to live in where I am. And then be cremated because the chances of me surviving that shithole a second time is a million to one.
I don't believe this for one flat second. Here's an instance where Bored Panda actually wasted my time with a nothing post.
they need to move. there are plenty of opportunities but not where they are
The only place on this planet I know of where a mobile home is worth $250k is in the Florida Keys, and there are no engineering jobs there, but plenty elsewhere. And I think the correct response in this current market would have been something along the lines of.... "It's $40k per year, plus a sign on bonus. Keep going and there will be an annual."
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