I wasn't sure where to put this post, but I believe this info can save plenty of aggravation to the people who are considering certain engineering professions
(Russ can move it, if it is in a wrong place)

From my experience in (discrete) electronics / electrical engineering and also observations at several chemical companies, where I was servicing equipment and doing installations of electrical equipment, these two professions are probably the lowest-paid (statistically, of course)

Salary of an engineer is determined by what he is doing most of his time, pardon for stating the obvious.
Engineers in (discrete) electronics are spending plenty of time putting together pre-production prototypes. Most of that work involves basic metal-working tools and electronics assembly; and since at this stage there is no production documentation, only engineers can do this work.

As a contrast, prototypes for mechanical or optical devices are built using the same technological processes, as for the final product. (engines, electrical motors, refrigerators, optical instruments, to name just a few)
This makes plenty of difference, and in these professions engineers stay engineers at all times, getting engineering wages. And when they are on a factory floor, they are there in a SUPERVISORY CAPACITY.

But when an engineer tinkers with a sheet-metal chassis, drilling and filing and mounting components and connecting wires, this is a laborer's job and nobody pays engineering salary for it.

A pilot chemical plant is also built by using the most basic tools and materials - knife, hack saw, chop saw, pliers, pipe clamps, tubing, "crazy glue" + similar stuff.
("Pilot plant" is a scaled-down version of a full-size chemical plant)

At one chemical company, where I was a frequent visitor, several engineers were busy for almost a year putting together a pilot chemical plant, doing menial work all day long, five days a week, with lots of pressure to do free overtime, getting paid like laborers.
And, of course, they ALWAYS get that salary, not just when they are building a plant.

Not all companies build pilot chemical plants, I used to work at one, in which the processes are done in reactors, all relatively low-volume, a few tons per "mix".

This is a long story, and I am sorry to disappoint the chemical engineering students or students of electronics. But if you get stuck with some sweatshop, which turns engineers into laborers with diplomas, you may well wish you studied a different profession.

Some of it is described at http://www.TuneMind.com/lowpaid.htm

Regards: Oleg