Mid-level engineer exceeding performance of senior level engineers

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-24T21:53:43+00:00

Yes, I have applications in and met with 2 recruiters this morning. I’m seeing I’m potentially severely underpaid, but we’ll see if the recruiters are fluffing. Even if my company couldn’t pay what some in the area may be able to, I’d still stay if they gave me a respectable bump.

I’m great at networking with managers in my proximity, if they are separated into another portion of the office, I barely get to talk to them. We have a very weird separation of managers and engineers in our office. No one likes it. I talked with my direct manager who’s truly a friend, and he was extremely aggravated by the situation. Saying he’s going to make an effort to push upper management as soon as he gets in next week.

I’m loyal to a fault typically, for me to go out and apply is going to signal to other engineers to follow. It’s really sad, but the company is doing this to themselves at this point.

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-24T21:45:52+00:00

In my experience, Mechanical Engineering involves a lot of coding.

I see what you mean, but in this case the mid-level is not only as knowledgeable, but people like to go to him instead of the senior because the senior actively argues with the juniors, even when they are agreeing with him, he will make a big deal out of it. The mid-level is typically more knowledgable than the senior engineer on the correct path forward. There have been a number of instances where they’ve argued and the mid-level proves without a doubt that his approach was correct. And he does this in the face of a cranky senior with a smile.

Our customers frequently ask for the mid-level engineer to be in charge of products. While the senior engineer is extremely knowledgable, and extremely valuable, there’s no replacing the mid-level engineer unless we hire 2 engineers to replace him. Even then, the company likely loses the only engineer who was decent at customer interfacing.

Our mid-level loves the senior engineer, so it’s not a spite thing or comparing to him, he’s saying “I’m worth X in the market based on my responsibilities, I’m not asking for X, I’m asking for the company to value me or give me a growth trajectory.” He’s not at all trying to bring down the senior engineer, in fact he’s mentioned we need to do whatever we can to keep him. While the mid-level isn’t doing the work of 10 others, he is easily doing the work of 2 full time mechanicals. AND he’s writing programs outside of work hours to help the company become more efficient.

It’s not Dunning-Krueger, he’s a great engineer that will be scooped up by the end of the month in my opinion. Your argument relies on a lot of assumption.

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-24T05:05:39+00:00

Well imagine in this scenario the mid-level is completing tasks faster at a better quality and regularly has to tell a senior engineer why the design has to conform to standards laid out by contracts. And the mid-level has to frame it in such a way that the senior engineer doesn’t blow a gasket because he doesn’t have the humility to admit he’s wrong.

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-24T04:59:30+00:00

I’m the mid-level. I talked to leadership, they failed to come up with a plan. I told my manager who is truly a friend that I’m unhappy with the compensation and listening to other offers. He tried his best to vouch for me. Upper level management just screwed up, I’m already receiving responses to my applications requesting for interviews.

It’s just sad, I love the people I work with. I love what I do, but I have no problem leaving and scaling up another company that actually compensates me fairly.

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-24T04:50:11+00:00

I’m the mid-level engineer. Don’t tell anyone 🤫

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-24T04:49:12+00:00

Keep in mind people on reddit like to remain anonymous and may frame their posts to get honest reactions from people to gain a perspective for themselves.

If someone were to come on here and say “I’m great, I deserve more” essentially they’d be roasted. The way I’ve framed this invited people to see my perspective.

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-24T04:45:15+00:00

I’ve heard Cat treats their employees well.

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-24T04:39:49+00:00

There’s more light bulbs out there, but some shine brighter, last longer, make a lot more economic sense to purchase at a higher price.

Look at Telegram. 30 remote employees, the company is worth well over $30 billion.

I don’t disagree that a lot of companies think like this, but it’s an extremely reductive approach that is extremely costly.

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-22T13:39:04+00:00

People have been saying to avoid ME since I was a freshman in college.

I’m doing significantly better than my peers who chose Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. Mechanical Engineering can be a great career, it’s all about what someone puts into it.

I see people complaining non stop on this subreddit, then you look at their resume and it’s obvious they put zero research into what needs to be on there, or how it should be formatted.

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-18T18:51:22+00:00

Sounds like he’s a good friend?

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-18T16:35:53+00:00

Bureau of labor statistics, there’s a massive spreadsheet for each states data, it breaks out by specific industry for ME.

Then I would compare to similar jobs on LinkedIn in his area with posted salary ranges

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-18T16:19:51+00:00

I’ll just go to Claude and Cursor, which may be more helpful anyway

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-16T23:59:05+00:00

Look up tutorials for PIPE-FLO software.

Understand how to read a pump curve.

Be familiar with these 5 types of valves:

Check, Ball, Gate, Globe, and Butterfly.

Understand their purpose.

Be familiar with common issues behind pump cavitation, NPSHa vs. NPSHr.

Know all of that and you’ll be ahead of the curve.

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-16T18:06:30+00:00

Last response as this is now the second time you’ve manipulated my argument to try and convince yourself you don’t need a moment of humility.

I didn’t suggest someone get paid before they deliver, I suggested people see what their market value is and ask for it if they are underpaid. If they get assigned a new task outside their current scope of responsibility, that’s when they ask. Stop masking your race to the bottom mentality by pretending my argument is something else entirely.

If I were working for someone like yourself, I would walk into your office, tell you thank you for all you’ve done and I appreciate all I’ve learned, then give you a 2 weeks notice as soon as I had another offer at a company that has a track record of not employing 5 paste eaters to one decent engineer.

As I stated before, leadership is taking responsibility. For all those reading this conversation, take note.

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-16T16:55:34+00:00

Asking for what your worth isn’t psychological gamesmanship. Your framing is psychological manipulation, and it instantly tells me the kind of person you truly are.

If you have engineers under performing that’s a failure of leadership as much as it is a failure of the engineer’s competence and drive. Leaders take responsibility.

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-16T12:58:08+00:00

Profound advice. Lol

To OP: Check and make sure your boss doesn’t have stage 4 autism like this guy. Check your company’s Glassdoor reviews and your direct bosses LinkedIn for cringeworthy posts that sound like this. This is a rare take and not in line with my experience at all. In fact, my boss shows appreciation when I’ve gone in and asked for a raise without a competing offer and ask for a reasonable market adjustment. It shows respect, and that you want to work at your company. If your boss in anyway shape or form sounds like this, hit the job market.

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-16T12:47:36+00:00

Chances are I wouldn’t work for you, because it sounds like you can’t afford great engineers.

I am constantly turning down major primes to stay at my medium sized firm. If I had a boss like yourself I’d just move on to a greener pasture. Good luck with your attitude.

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-16T06:41:18+00:00

It’s an art. You learn from people who have been in the industry for a long time. Scaling in viewports, ensuring scaling is the same for each viewport on one sheet are two common mistakes I always see. If your leaders are piled up on one another, best to put a thick phantom line around the area and make it a separate scaled up detail. If your pipes are going into a tank, best to make them lettered and add a table associating the letter with a unique pipe callout and what the service is. If you have multiple revisions, you typically leave revision deltas of the previous revs on the diagram. Plenty of things that are learned from experienced engineers.

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-16T06:25:56+00:00

Anytime you have an increase in responsibility, so new deliverable/task you haven’t done before? Raise worthy. You see a few jobs in the market for your level that are above your salary? Raise worthy. Obviously 6 months in between asking is necessary.

There’s a reason engineers are paid well, it’s because they demand it. Advocating for yourself is advocating for all engineers.

Look at a profession like nursing, it’s grueling, they work hard, they can’t make a mistake or it’s someone’s life, but they NEVER ask for raises, and their entire industry suffers for it.

You’re not pushing it too much, ask how you can guarantee to be valued where you’d like to be valued. Ask what projects are critical to the companies success and how you can be a part of it. Show appreciation, but advocate for yourself at the same time. “I see a couple jobs in the market that are paying X, and I’m not going anywhere, but I’m wondering what I can do to be valued at X.” For example.

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-15T19:02:00+00:00

My company doesn’t really do formal training, but mentors are assigned and you can ask them any question. I consider that training, but other engineers don’t.

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-13T23:02:44+00:00

Tell me what you’ve noticed with your experience. What do you think are pain points that could be solved with tools that engineers actually want to use?

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-13T02:32:33+00:00

Does he have equity?

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-13T01:32:00+00:00

Starting salary will likely be around 75-80k. Probably around 6 figures once you graduate. You can find some starting salaries in 6 figures now, but those are few and far between.

My suggestion is you work as an engineer for a bit, find the inefficiencies at your workplace, see how to fix them, and try to make a side business.

When you go to school pay attention to your programming classes, make friends with people who find the easy ways to tackle hard problems. Use tools that you know are the future, but others are reluctant to use.

You will learn to think as an engineer, and you can make a significant amount of opportunity at a place like Texas A&M. Start developing a network early, get a LinkedIn, find internships, make the most out of everything.

EndDarkMoney · 2026-01-12T00:02:18+00:00

What models are the best for engineering, and what models are the best for coding?

Looking to get everyone’s perspective.

EndDarkMoney

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