Naval System Warfare Engineer or ICA Senior Officer?

• ghost866

  27 Jun 11, 14:58

  Hi everyone, currently I am being offered a position with the ICA as a senior officer and also a potential offer from the navy as a naval warfare system engineer (MDES scheme, start off with ME4).

  Between navy and ICA, which do you all think is more favourable, if I have interest in both of the mentioned careers?

  1. Nature of job: which one is more interesting or mundane?

  2. Career path: which one has better career advancement/prospect/opportunities? 

  3. Social life: Which one can offer me a more balance social/personal life?

  4. Pay: Navy offers a higher starting pay of about 1k more, but in the long run does ICA senior officers earn a decent amount? Not asking to be millionare, but sufficient to survive.

  Can anyone kindly advise? Hopefully I'll be able to get more opinions and suggestions before making a decision.  

  Thanks a lot and I appreciate your time. =)

• Delirious_prince

  13 Jul 11, 08:16

  Hi ghost866 I did consider both ICA and Navy NWSE before. 1. ICA is more on enforcement job whereas Navy is a defence related job. It really depends on your interest. You can say both will get to meet people from all over the world but more so for ICA, as you will be doing so on a daily basis (especially after you are posted to the airport :) 2. Career path also depends on whether you got 2nd upper. For MDES scheme, the only thing that 2nd upper gives you is a higher starting pay compared to those without. Whereas for ICA, you will start off as Assistant Superintendent - 2 grades higher than without. 3. Social life without a doubt it's ICA and that was the reason I decided not to join the Navy. With the Navy, the sailings may be up to 6 months. 4. Pay wise I would say that SAF does pay better, the progression in terms of pay is roughly the same for all civil service departments. Don't forget you have the EXCEL bonus and MASC if you join the MDES scheme. Hope the above helps
• ghost866

  20 Aug 11, 21:44

  Originally posted by Delirious_prince:

  Hi ghost866

  I did consider both ICA and Navy NWSE before.

  1. ICA is more on enforcement job whereas Navy is a defence related job. It really depends on your interest. You can say both will get to meet people from all over the world but more so for ICA, as you will be doing so on a daily basis (especially after you are posted to the airport

  2. Career path also depends on whether you got 2nd upper. For MDES scheme, the only thing that 2nd upper gives you is a higher starting pay compared to those without. Whereas for ICA, you will start off as Assistant Superintendent – 2 grades higher than without.

  3. Social life without a doubt it’s ICA and that was the reason I decided not to join the Navy. With the Navy, the sailings may be up to 6 months.

  4. Pay wise I would say that SAF does pay better, the progression in terms of pay is roughly the same for all civil service departments. Don’t forget you have the EXCEL bonus and MASC if you join the MDES scheme.

  Hope the above helps

  Thanks a lot for the info! I appreciate the input! =)