I make $45,000 per year as an Electrical Engineer, could I make more in Ukraine?

Question

I have just been told that wages in Ukraine are skyrocketing and that many people earn over $50 per hour. That would mean that I could make over $100,000 per year as an electrical projects engineer. I am a manager, procurement officer, designer, as well as an electrical engineer and test engineer for an automation company building conveyor belt systems for airports in the U.S. and I ONLY get paid from $45,000 to $55,000 depending on the work volume and bonus I get.

Please tell me, Is it really true, is Ukraine the land of MILK and HONEY as so many people say that it is?

Answer 1

no!! but if you took that money to Ukraine you would be pretty rich!!! lol

Answer 2

You've been... mislead.

And engineer in Ukraine makes $300-800/mo. And despite what some may tell you, $800/mo will not let you live like on $100,000 in Canada, considering current rent and food prices in Ukraine are on par with Canada and the US. All the fancy cars and homes you see around Kyiv are politicians and the rich Ukrainian businessmen.

The only thing skyrocketing in Ukraine is the inflation.

You were obviously talking to a translator who wanted to take advantage of "the rich westerner". You can get a good Ukrainian translator (in Ukraine) for $50/day, without additional costs.

For example, my wife's Ukrainian agency charges $0.05 per word for translating documents and charges $10 per hour for interpretation. They are considered "high end" there, and cater to foreign businessmen. One of my wife's best friends is an interpreter/translator for a major firm in Ukraine, and makes less than $6,000 per year, with 15 years experience.

--- Edit ---

You've been mislead. Interpreters don't make $1100/mo there.

The "official" translators (ones with a government notary on staff, that can produce certified translations) are only getting 50-65 UAH for one page certified translation (1 pages takes about an hour to translate, all over the world). That's still only $12-15 for an hours work. Ones without the ability to ceritfy get 12 UAH per page - $6 for an hours work.

You can find students of English who will take on translating and interpreting for much less, unless they have the "Westerners are rich" attitude. In that case they will try to charge US prices (which they do not get).

We have unemployed translators coming through our agency all the time, and most of them are not good enough to meet our standards. Trust me - it's not highly paid work in Ukraine.

As you spend more time in Ukraine, you will find that things aren't as rosey as the Western leaning government publishes. For example, the average wage in Ukraine is more like $300/mo across all Ukraine - while the government publishes an "average" of $1500/mo.

Answer 3

Do you speak the language ? Know about their electrical system(s) ?

  Not a good idea. People are dying to get out of there.

Answer 4

To answer your question simply..   NO

Follow the links below to current job openings in Kiev.  Some of the pay amounts look pretty impressive till you realize those are MONTHLY amounts, not weekly.  While I did not find an opening for an electrical there are several openings for mechanical engineers at an astounding $800 / month.  <-- sarcasm btw

I read the answers from your other question regarding paying the interpreter. The $180.00 / hour was the agency fee, not necessarily for the individulal interpreter.

Answer 5

This sounds astounding.  Poland imports Ukranian workers because it's own workforce leave their jobs as computer programmers to pick fruit in the UK. That places the Ukraine at the bottom of the European pecking order.  

I suspect that what you've been told is that the salary you earn in the Ukraine is equivalent (i.e. has the same spending power) as $100,000 per year in the US.  That probably translates to only a modest unimpressive sum when converted into US dollars.  We don't see floods of British, Germans, French climbing over each other to leave their own countries to work in the Ukraine.  We see the reverse in fact.

"I used to think I had a good life in Canada".  You still do, it's just your state of mind that's changed.  People who earn $70,000 a year are unhappy if their colleagues are earning $80,000 pa, while they "think they have a good life" if their colleagues are earning $60,000.  Maybe I'm wrong.  Maybe you are on the bold tail end of a mass reversal of traffic from Canada to the Ukraine, but I've always thought the traffic was in the other direction and besides, if there are easy pickings to be had over there, the place would be full of Brits (and every other nationality).

I can assure you that as far as the continent of Europe is concerned.  Everyone is trying to get into the UK right now, not the Ukraine and I suspect that London has more millionaires from the former USSR than Kiev.  It's just that the money you get buying a Porsche in the Ukraine gets you a mini over here.

$2 million for a house!!! Peanuts.  Lakshmi Mittal bought a house in London for $128 million.