Anyone ever worked as a trainee CADD engineer/operator?

greythorne

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For degree holders and diploma holders who went through aceplp, are you both doing the same work? Drawing the same basic salary?

I have experience but those are not counted otherwise i would be commanding a much higher salary. The pay difference is not much, only about S$50.
 

greythorne

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errrr so what's the problem with using the money that the company earns from clients to pay us salary? Isn't that the way a normal company works - earn profit, use the profit to pay employees their salaries no? hahaha! At least, that's what I've seen in other companies.

Agreed. However the profit a company makes is not through a staff's salary. Company makes profits and use them to pay staffs salary.

You are working as full-time staff for the client but AcePLP gets a cut of what the client pays.
 

greythorne

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Anyway same work refers to the same job position I assume? well, with a degree and/or diploma definitely allow you to work at a higher level... But with a degree, did you want to start out at a drafter level?

Salary wise should be higher that what aceplp is paying at the moment...

Higher means? You can't expect 2.7k right? From what i know degree holder are given a basic of 1.2k.
 

iceberserker

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How much salary can you expect after 2 years as a trainee? 2 years on 1.6k is very depressing for a degree holder
 

FerreroForte

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Agreed. However the profit a company makes is not through a staff's salary. Company makes profits and use them to pay staffs salary.

You are working as full-time staff for the client but AcePLP gets a cut of what the client pays.

erm u get de basics fact wrong oredi. we work as fulltime staff for aceplp as trainee. aceplp give us assignment requires us to work onsite nxt 2 de resident engineer n project mnger. of course hv to, cos project muz complete fast n clients got no time to ding dong w u from aceplp office. unless u r work on aceplp in-house project, most de time u work outside when u r on de assngments.

hw can u possibly be a fulltime staff of de client if aceplp is going to put you in 3-4 assignments over 2 yrs???
 

FerreroForte

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How much salary can you expect after 2 years as a trainee? 2 years on 1.6k is very depressing for a degree holder

icerberserlker, as a trainee u learn a lot tt will helps u 2 grow as pro. look pass de pay but rather at de career prospect. 1.6k is after cpf deductions, is enuff, and 2 yr is not longtime, if u tink longterm investment. aceplp dun chrge u 4 de training, in fact, dey r ur paymaster! tink of it, u must pay ntu and nus for sch fee and its 4 yrs for engg degree!!!
 

kanzie88

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Not good

I am a civil engineering under grad graduating from NUS with second honours. I went for interview and the boss broke the pay structure down into a rather elaborate plan that attempts to convince you that the company is not making much from you. But essentally what is going to happen is you take back a pay no more than $2000/mth for two years (as in seriously after all the add ons)... 1250 is you base pay, another 300 based on your performance(they literally said if you dun slack, dun TALK to your classmates during worktime you are guaranteed that add-on)(problem is workhours for the first 2 months is literally 9am to 10pm 80% of the time) then they add on 60% of the pay you are going to get from the company they send you out to work. this amount is about 3.5k on average(ie you do the work worth 3.5k in that consulantcy firm) 60% of this amount is not add on simply but rather is offset by the base pay you get, the company cpf contribution, medical benefits they entitle you to). so 60% of 3.5=2100; 2100-1550=550; 550x60%(again they take 40% here, i dunno why)=330 and this 330 will add to your original pay of 1550 so 1880 then plus some other minimal add on and it ends up with $1950.

If you think about it if you are doing the work of 3.5k that means the company is taking 1.5k from you for 2 years which amounts to 36k. if you deduct 8k of course fee from them(the 8k is what they claim their courses are worth that they put you through in the first 2 months of training you get). that means the company is earning 28k from you. the company has about 200 ppl under them so 28x200=5.6 million turnover for company minimum every 2 years. That is not including the transfer fee every time you get employed by the consultancy firms and the firms pay aceplp.

So I have discussed how much they earn from you. while that is a result how much you lose, i I have yet to discuss how much you get to gain from this. Well you get a nice portfolio of projects that you have done and will increase your employability by a lot(or so they claim). Since this is a prediction, it is certainly a huge risk to take for a fresh graduate like me especially if you cant back out half way; you have to commit to 2 years or be liable for 8k of course fees. considering your pay is only 2k and you save 1k a month, you have to work for 16 months(67% of your contract duration of 24 months) so that you dun lose any money.

So while i really like the idea of being trained with essential skills and broadens my network, I dun like how the company takes so much of my pay and bonds me to 2 years with them(usually when you are bonded with a company, the company will pay you a nice hefty sum which you dun get here as well) in a life that is not guaranteed a bed of roses.
 

iceberserker

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I guess some will look at it as a fair trade off, you gain a lot of experience working on many different proects at different companies, got chance to really broaden your network.

What I would like to hear though is what ppl are doing and earning after they "graduate" from aceplp
 

BigMan123

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during interview, they will try their best 2 entice u 2 join. den they will send u a contract 2 ur email. den they will call u once a week 2 entice u 2 join again. lol. why? cus u r juz a money making tool 4 them. the courses don worth a cent. CAD books from any libararies will be much better tchers. if u quit, they will sue u until u drop. thats how they make $$.
 

kanzie88

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My 2 cents

The impression i have of this company is to make as much money as possible and everything else is secondary... when I see this trait in a company... its never a good idea to join such an organisation no matter how bright the prospect they paint it to be. You are essentially signing yourself off to work in a "sweat shop"... work non stop for low pay for extremely boring job(drafting) ... worse off than those kids working in foxconn in china making ipads and iphones... Yes every company purpose is to make money but not in this manner... not in a way that will cause you misery in those 2 years and to squeeze every single drop of sweat from you. I am glad I did not sign up to this company. I dun even know why they are getting so many awards for training engineers... They are more like taking advantage of them...
 

qqweeman

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Drafting and designing is tough but rewarding

Kanzie88, if you think that everything in this world just appears miraculously in front of you, then you have the symptom of the spoiled modern kid.

Our country is built by engineers, from civil to structural, to mechanical to electrical, and drafting is simply the foundation! Do you know how many people aspire to climb to become a design engineer but don't have the chance because of weak CAD fundamentals?

While you want things to be easy, at a snap of a finger, i can tell you that such will not happen in the Infrastructure and Construction sector.

My 2 cents. And I fully respect every single person who has spent so much effort to crafting the future of singapore... the trains, the buildings, the Sports Hub.
 

gellogal

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How can the company take advantage when everything you learn belongs to yourself?

Kanzie88, do you know that drafting is the cornerstone of engineering and a skill much appreciated by engineers all around the world?

If you think is boring, have you even done drafting? Everyone starts with basic skills and can lead to much farther and greater options in the construction sector.

Such narrowmindedness of yours reflects on a very low self-esteem which craves monetary and social recognition.

How can the company take advantage when everything you learn belongs to yourself?

work non stop for low pay for extremely boring job(drafting) ... worse off than those kids working in foxconn in china making ipads and iphones... I dun even know why they are getting so many awards for training engineers... They are more like taking advantage of them...
 
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