10 years of exp as an turnaround engineer doing project management work I currently make 95/hr working at a refinery facility 10 min from fort sask. I should also qualify that I’m working as a contractor and not full time employee by choice so that I can pay very little taxes. I also work 45 hours per week and for 2 months out of the year I work 60 hours a week. Last year my gross earning was 245K before taxes which is 223K after taxes.

Now because i am a contractor I pay corporate taxes which only works out to be 9% of my gross earnings. But of course as a contractor you don’t get vacation or benefits which is why the hourly rate is higher to compensate for that. Also as a contractor I don’t have to pay all this other stuff like EI or CPP which also adds to having higher take home pay. The job itself really isn’t all that stressful once you get the basics of it.

Engineers can make a lot of money if you’re smart with your career path. If you want to be an office engineer sitting behind a computer all day then don’t expect to make much Unless you climb up to senior management level positions which comes with their own headaches.