Getting laid off from Fluor Daniels in mid-april. I've been doing drafting for about 15 months in the piping dept. with a little bit of design work. Interested in all disiplines. Have associate's degree in drafting. Houston area please.

 

that sucks man sorry to hear, my dads girlfriend works for flour

 

I coulda probably helped ya out if you lived in the San Antonio area. Im a drafter for Pape-Dawson civil engineers and there hiring big time since weve got the toyota project. plus also maybe a few other places too but mostly civil

 

Just curious, what's the "average" pay for a drafter up in San Anto and Houston. I'm down here in the Rio Grande Valley and I get paid $23,000/year for doing residential homes but I also have experience in commercial like schools and government buildings. I've seen some as low as $17,000/year down here.

 

Well typically in a major city, your salary is gonna be a bit higher to allow for a higher cost of living. Entry level drafters in houston will usually be making a minimum of $29K/yr. After 2 yrs, maybe in the $34-$36K/yr. range. At the 10 yr. point you'll probably be in the $44-$50 range. I'm 23 and have been doing this for a little over a year. Guys around me in their 50's and 60's are making $35-$45 per hour. Multiply that by 2080hrs. for their yearly gross. They're holding off retirement for a few years because the bottom fell out of their 401K's back in the tech crash of '99-00.

80% of my coworkers are over 40 yrs. of age. So you can see that in the next 10-15 yrs. when these guys retire, there is gonna be a huge demand for a new generation of engineers/designers/drafters. Job security goes up, pay goes up. Your value to a company goes up if you know how to deliver the services.

The engineering business is what you call "hills and valleys" when things are good everybody has work. When things are bad, there is a long line at the unemployment office. This is my first layoff but I saw it growing up my whole life cuz my dad was/is an electrical engineer. Worked for Bechtel for 8 yrs. and then Brown and Root for 16. I know things will get better. Some of the guys I went to college with are going through this layoff with a bad attitude, throwing their hands up in disgust and finding a new career. Personally, I'm hanging in their for a cushy management job someday when I get into my mid-late thirties. Can't jump ship when the chips are down.....

But I digress......(sigh)

Visit this USA Today Job Info Center. They have a good calculator that can tell you about salarys for any job in any location of the US.

 

I'm also 23 but I've been drafting for about 5 years. I wonder if a move up state will be worth it? I've been thinking of moving maybe to Austin but not sure yet.
I know you'll be asking why I'm drafting but I'll be getting my bachelors in accounting this May. The reason I'm not working in accounting is cuz they just pay minimum wage at the cpa offices!!
I wonder if a career in drafting up there would be better than following an accounting life? I know I would like drafting better than accounting for sure.

 

Well do whatever makes you happy.
Ive been drafting (CAD hoping were all talking about computer drafting not table drafting) for nearly 7 years first doing aircraft electronics and then for the past 6.5 doing civil. I dont make nearly as much as I should for how long ive been doing this mostly due to the fact I was working for a really ****ty company for the past 6 years only got a raise once and worked for them from the very start of the company and busted my *** only to get fired due to BS politics!!! >
Anywho I digress. Where im at now ive only been here since late November and Ive already gotten a raise. Im not sure what to tell you about moving around for a new drafting job but were hiring where im at and they give bonuses for bringing people in, but my team could probably use you if you know alot about Development standards for Harlingen cause weve been slated for designing 2 shopping centers in harlingen
So let me know if your intrested my email is Cybershark_x@hotmail.com

 

Well living in the big city has it's ups and downs.

Bad:
Traffic,
crime,
car insurance rates (Harris county is highest in the state),
Housing cost can be pretty high closer into downtown and you get a hole in the wall place,
constant construction,
did I mention the traffic?
Oh ya and how could I forget the humidity that will bake you from Mid-April until about Halloween.

Good:
The night life (women/clubs on Richmond,westheimer),
Reliant stadium (Texans; Superbowl coming in '04),
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in February,
Minute Maid Park (Astros),
Compaq center (Rockets),
Hockey Team (Aeros)
Astroworld,
Houston Zoo,
Johnson Space Center,
Houston Raceway Park (Baytown),
1/8 Mile track in Sealy (west of Houston),
generally a wider spectrum of job oppurtunity.
Galveston is within an hour drive.
Lousiana Casinos are within a 3 hour-drive.
Cynthia Woods Mitchell pavillion in the woodlands (lots of concerts)


I grew up in this city. I would find it hard to pick up and leave. My wife's family is out in the Great Thicket area of East Texas, so we go out there every few months to unwind for a week amongst nature.

 

im a piper to, my mom is a recruiter for G.A.S and its just slow right now. she also told me that they are gonna pay 2.8 times our salary if we wanna go over to iraq after the war. good luck

vince

 

**** id do it for 3 times my current salary. Thats what nearly 100,000 a year

 

Guess what, I had a talk with my boss about my situation and he didn't want me to leave work. He said he would pay me what an accountant would get in an entry level job as I would have done. So I guess I'll be getting somewhere between $30-$35k. We're gonna talk more about the details next week.