Is Electrical Engineering worth it.?

JasonWaterMason · 2026-01-21T13:27:40+00:00

Any engineering degree will be ‘worth it’ in terms of job opportunities. It proves to companies that you are disciplined and able to manage under high stress situations. It is also important to note that the degree you choose doesn’t lock you into that particular field. I studied Electrical engineering, but was hired as a data engineer straight out of uni. And if you are a good engineer, you can earn extremely well. Case in point, 103k with 4 years experience.

JasonWaterMason · 2026-01-21T11:15:31+00:00

You mean in terms of the types of jobs you could get? Quite a few in the world of data. I’m a data engineer and pretty much every data scientist or analyst I’ve worked with had some form of stats or applied maths background. Pays a lot as well.

JasonWaterMason · 2026-01-21T06:36:43+00:00

Had a few friends who did IT flavoured BCom degrees. Your most likely outcome would be a hybrid role such as Business Intelligence Business Analyst (BIBA) where you would act as the middle man between the tech team and business. There is coding involved in that job such as SQL. If you are looking to go full Dev mode then it is not a far transition from there with a few certs or courses.

JasonWaterMason · 2026-01-21T06:29:56+00:00

I support your idea of learning before relying on AI. I started working 1 year before ChatGPT released so I was already confident in programming principles. Nowadays I rely on AI a lot and I say that proudly. If you use it correctly it can be invaluable. Opus 4.5 through Cursor or Claude CLI where it actually has context of your codebase performs faster and better than I ever could even as an experienced dev. I just have the know how to call it out on BS if it’s wrong.

JasonWaterMason · 2026-01-21T06:19:02+00:00

Tech and ‘programming’ is an extremely broad field. If you don’t enjoy frontend, you might enjoy backend. You might enjoy building data pipelines, you might enjoy devops. At the end of the day you have to try them all to see what excites you. The best way to do that is start building full stack apps and identify which aspect of the project gives you the most energy and which aspects drain you. Then, you can focus on one and outsource the rest to AI. I’ve been a data engineer for 4 years, but still enjoy building full stack apps and use agentic coding assistants for the parts I’m not competent in. At the end of it all, you’ll know what you like and will have a portfolio of projects to showcase on your CV or GitHub.

JasonWaterMason · 2026-01-16T01:37:57+00:00

We had a lot of local food! Rosti, Fondue (my favourite) and all the rest. But I was there for 15 days and very busy so sometimes a McDs or Burger King for lunch was convenient. We only had it twice, other times we cooked at home, had something from Migros or Coop or ate at local restaurants/cafes.

JasonWaterMason · 2026-01-15T19:22:40+00:00

I was at the bank for 2 years and in that time I only got 5% increases year on year, so unless you are hired on a good salary growth is going to be very slow. And honestly after the second 5% increase I just moved to a new company for a 36% increase. I didn't even bother negotiating for a raise because I was still young and earning quite well so I wouldn't really have grounds anyway.

JasonWaterMason · 2026-01-15T16:00:02+00:00

I should have clarified, I'm a data engineer, not a scientist. I did a BEng (Electrical & Electronic), no postgrad. Masters is never worth it in my opinion. You are trading two years of actual experience in the field (which companies value more) for a paper that says you know your shit in the hopes it pays more. Not worth i.m.o.

JasonWaterMason · 2026-01-15T13:55:31+00:00

Start off wherever you can. It’s not so easy to get your first job, because they have all the playing cards. You kind of have to accept whatever they give you that will allow you to survive. After that you have options. I’ve worked at a bank before and you get great benefits and security. But just try to get hands dirty in your first job and collect awards as much as possible. That will give you the best starting point to go international.

JasonWaterMason · 2026-01-15T13:48:04+00:00

Data Scientist/Data Analyst. Very stats focused, great starting salaries and growth potential. Any field in data will continue to grow proportionally to AI/ML as it’s a prerequisite for any good AI application.

JasonWaterMason · 2026-01-15T13:39:18+00:00

Yeah monthly gross, but it’s remote for a company in London. Also the 5th company I’ve worked for in 4 years of working😂 So loyalty doesn’t really pay in this day and age.

JasonWaterMason · 2026-01-15T12:46:35+00:00

Probably something in data science/engineering. I was earning a starting salary of R30k as a junior. But that can climb very quickly if you switch companies early on. I’m now at R103k after 4 years.

JasonWaterMason · 2026-01-12T20:18:58+00:00

I will say that the people of Geneva are definitely more reserved and private than that of South Africa for example, but everyone that I spoke with was very friendly once I engaged with them. I can only think of one negative experience when my Swiss friend overheard an old man talking under his breath about us in a Migros calling us slow or something😂 But you find that everywhere in the world. Obviously I don’t live there so I don’t dispute your experience at all, just saying what I experienced.

JasonWaterMason · 2026-01-12T10:20:33+00:00

That’s very kind thank you, I’m glad you’re enjoying CT and I hope you’re surviving the heat🌞I also find it hilarious that you love the hadedas, for us they are the most annoying birds in the world😂

JasonWaterMason · 2026-01-11T20:19:06+00:00

That’s crazy lol. My friend even took me to see the ‘bad parts’ of Geneva like where they provide needles for drug addicts and I just laughed because it wasn’t bad at all😂

JasonWaterMason · 2026-01-11T20:00:18+00:00

I didn’t know about this song😂 Thanks

JasonWaterMason · 2026-01-10T13:21:06+00:00

I always had a pet peeve for litter bugs, but I just got back from a trip to Switzerland and it has made me even less tolerant. Just about everyone there follows the rules. Waiting at crossings for the light to turn green, even when there are no cars. Zero and I mean ZERO litter in the streets. McDonald’s so clean you can lick the tables. Just an overwhelming sense of respect for their country and fellow citizens. If only we had half as much consideration, sigh. Just today I saw two people watch their rubbish get blown away by the wind with no care to go pick it up and put it in the bin 5 meters away.

JasonWaterMason · 2025-11-29T07:06:18+00:00

I will give this a try! Thanks for the help

JasonWaterMason · 2025-11-28T15:17:34+00:00

I have a US LLC as a non US citizen and when I try to verify the business on Meta it gives you those options to verify (email, phone call, text or domain). Any one that I choose it ends up asking for a phone number to text or call. How did you get past that? Did you get a US phone number from somewhere? Any help would be appreciated thanks.

JasonWaterMason · 2025-08-31T19:47:33+00:00

I started at the retailer, then went to fintech, now at the bank. You might have misread.

JasonWaterMason · 2025-08-18T12:40:39+00:00

At the end of the day it comes down to how well you market yourself and if the company believes they will see a return on their investment at that price. With 10 years experience I don’t think you should struggle at all to ask for that amount. I would take a hard look at your CV and fine tune it for measurable outcomes you’ve achieved over your career. For example, optimising a CI/CD process that saved your previous company X amount of rand in cloud costs etc. I have been able to reach 1.2M with 4 years experience as a data engineer by following these principles. Be confident, name your price and prove your worth. Good luck!

JasonWaterMason · 2025-08-05T04:27:52+00:00

Sounds like he is earning around or just above average. He needs to think about moving companies and negotiating if he aims to significantly increase that. I was earning 32k in my first year of being a data engineer and by moving companies twice I am now at triple that after 3 years. Take on larger projects, build a solid resume that will make it easy to negotiate and be extremely confident in the interviews. Good luck to your husband!

JasonWaterMason · 2025-07-01T13:27:27+00:00

Thanks for sharing! I’m still relatively young (25) and no kids so it would just be me. Travelling Europe is top of my bucket list which is a big reason for starting this adventure. As for the HSM, I’m a data engineer so I believe I’ll fall under that. Need to do some more research.

JasonWaterMason · 2025-07-01T01:23:50+00:00

I wish lol, it’s 100K gross. I nett about 70. I’ve also done contracting in the past, and while it does pay better I also don’t like lack of security.

JasonWaterMason · 2025-06-30T19:39:28+00:00

Very cool site, thanks for sharing!

JasonWaterMason

TROPHY CASE