Hi all!
(Using a throwaway account here) I am a software engineer, working in a factory. My job is to write software that control the assembly-line tooling robots.
The problem is that, I am horribly underpaid. I make about $15,000, which is low even by our third-world standard. I have had a lot of trouble finding jobs here as well.
My question is: are there any good, well-paid jobs in the robotics market out there, or should I consider transitioning to another field, like web development?
I know a few very experienced engineers doing work in robotics. There's a fairly high variance in salary. Of those, the one I'm fairly certain clears >$200k does so largely through things like consulting and appearing as an expert in patent disputes. His day job is maybe half that.
You can make lots of money and do what you love, but sometimes the thing that pays the bills and the thing you enjoy aren't the same. You'll get better results if you work out an optimal solution for yourself, versus being wholly dependent on an employer to give you a single monolithic package - but it will also take much more effort, and likely many failures.
Lots of the ones doing work in industry are in areas like calibration and maintenance, vs. design and research. Part of the issue here is working out the specifics of what "decent paying" and "in robotics" mean to you.