Due to the digital transformation, engineers' earnings and the demand for their skills will increase

According to the 11th edition of the Antal Salary Report, the average monthly remuneration of engineers was PLN 10,611 gross, which means an increase by 10% compared to the previous edition of the report. In the case of engineering, there are significant upward trends in some specializations, compared to stabilization in others. As a result, wage increases in this area are moderate.

The pressure of salaries in the case of specialists in the field of design and electronics is very high - the increases can be as high as 25%. At the same time, small increases of 5% were recorded in many areas. Which engineering professions will guarantee attractive earnings and stable employment in the next few years? 

The most desirable candidates 

The most desirable specialists on the current market are engineers with at least 2 years of practical experience in working with a product, process, team. People who are dynamic, creative, show great initiative, innovate in action and follow technological trends, which they use in their current work, are appreciated. 

The needs of employers respond to the needs of today's market: 

• Creators of innovative products and solutions 

Employers are most often looking for design engineers – designers, in the field of broadly understood mechatronics, automation. Their task is to create new products based on new technologies. We are mainly talking about the creation of large- and small-size vehicles, used in near and long-distance transport using electric motors.

• Specialists in continuous process improvement 

R&D engineers, mainly from the field of chemistry and electronics, who work on the continuous improvement of the processes of manufacturing batteries for electric cars and, perhaps above all, on looking for solutions for the disposal of scrap material and used products, are worth their weight in gold.

• Initiators of modern infrastructure solutions 

Thanks to the knowledge and skills of RES engineers, new wind and water power plants, photovoltaic farms, heating systems for houses with geothermal water, etc. are being created. An employee of this industry is faced with the most modern equipment producing energy from renewable sources. 

• Integrator Automation - Robotics 

Specialists in automation and robotics, in the current structures are holistic experts who create and integrate concepts of automation of production processes, prototypes and optimization of the machine park, implementing the philosophy of 4.0 and 5.0. It is conceptual and research work, requiring constant search, testing and validation of solutions.

Employers are looking for visionaries, experts who are open, courageous, assertive, honest, enterprising. Often, soft skills are rated higher for the employer than the learned technical competences. I often hear, we are looking for a "man with passion" who does not want to be involved in a long-term monotonous project, but wants to have a real impact on shaping the modern product and process market – comments Katarzyna Sławińska, Team Manager, Antal Engineering & Operations. 

Salaries in engineering continue to rise 

Antal's research shows that the rates for specialists in the field of design, electronics, e-mobility, RES, broadly understood R&D, launching new projects are growing most dynamically. Manufacturing companies from the automotive, TSL, FMCG sectors are constantly creating new areas and directions of development. They follow galloping technology and do everything to apply modern solutions in their organizations.  

Employers in Poland are aware that the attractiveness of domestic specialists on foreign markets is very high. Therefore, they must prevent mass emigration of potential employees and even passive candidates on the market are strongly motivated by potential employers to cooperate. The main issue is: 

• Higher salary, 
  
• Flexibility as to the type of contract (employment contract, B2B) 
  
• Possibility of remote, hybrid work 
  
• Attractive bonus systems 
  
• Working in an international environment  
  
• Business trips 

For engineers and specialists with 2-4 years of experience, these are very interesting and attractive offers. The opportunity to work in an international environment is a great opportunity to develop and touch the latest technologies, work with the precursors of these solutions, creates the opportunity to be even closer to innovative products and processes - adds Katarzyna Sławińska, Team Manager, Antal Engineering & Operations. 

And what does it look like in numbers?  

The definition of a tender shall include, inter alia: 

• Number of active advertisements on portals, e.g. pracuj.pl 
• Number of active ads on LinkedIn 
• Number of advertisements on company websites
• Direct inquiries from employers or headhunters to the indicated candidates 
• Form of contact with the candidate: email, sms, telephone conversation, etc. 

E-Mobility and RES engineers are mainly sought after by a typical direct search, hence the number of official offers on portals is not yet large. Qualified candidates on the market from this area also do not yet have many. An ideal candidate, because he is the one who combines theoretical and practical knowledge. The topic is new, requiring training of the staff. The development of electromobility requires new competences that must be created, because e-mobility is an interdisciplinary phenomenon, combining the automotive, IT and energy sectors.

It is worth noting, however, that at most technical universities in Poland, there are already and are very popular fields of study related to e-mobility and RES.

Graduates of these faculties will certainly not have problems to find an interesting workplace in the future. Very often, as part of student internships, they cooperate with companies implementing modern solutions, and after graduation they become specialists in the group of experts. 

For which industries are the most urgent recruitments conducted? 

Experts in the field of automation, new projects, commissioning, or constructors, designers are a huge added value in virtually every industry; Pharmacy, FMCG, TSL, automotive. Technical competences, acquired qualifications and experience gained make these specialists bring the organization to a higher level of functioning. They search for and implement new solutions for industry that facilitate and accelerate production, as well as support its optimization. 

E-Mobility experts are needed not only in the automotive industry itself in the sense of production, but also in building an infrastructure base, i.e., public charging stations. Specialists in systems for billing car charging services, seat reservations at charging stations, testers and service technicians of electric batteries are also gaining in importance. 

RES experts are an invaluable support in the field of construction and construction of wind farms, wind farms, agricultural biogas plants, solar installations, heat pumps. They also work as designers, supervisors and sellers of selected installations of renewable energy sources, operators of process, control, information and logistics systems of renewable energy sources - wind farms or biogas plants. 

About the report 

The Antal 2022 Payroll Report was prepared on the basis of the payroll analysis carried out by 8,657 specialists and managers participating in Antal's recruitment processes in the second half of 2021 and the first half of 2022. 

These data were verified and extended with information from recruitment processes carried out by Antal consultants in 2020, as well as telephone interviews with employers and candidates. 

Download report: https://en.antal.pl/insights/report/antal-salary-report-2022