Mumbai (18k) vs Surat (12k→15k) for Electrical MEP Design role, Which would you choose?

[Harish]

Hi everyone,

I'm 26 years old and I completed my BTech in Electrical Engineering in 2023. I'm trying to start my career in the Electrical MEP design field and I'm confused between two job offers.

Offer 1 – Mumbai (Mahim West)
Role: Electrical MEP Design Engineer (design calculations + AutoCAD work)
Salary: ₹18,000/month

Offer 2 – Surat (Adajan)
Role: Electrical MEP Design Engineer (AutoCAD drafting + electrical calculations)
Salary: ₹12k for the first 3 months → ₹15k after that.

So both roles are essentially similar Electrical MEP design roles, but the salary and city are different.

In Mumbai I would likely stay in Kurla in a shared PG which costs around ₹8k–10k, so the cost of living will be quite high and I might barely save anything.

Surat is much cheaper to live in, but the starting salary is lower.

Another thing that makes me question my decision is that if I went into a BPO/operations role right now, I can earn around ₹25k/month, which is significantly higher than these engineering offers.

So I wanted to ask:

• Which option would you choose — Mumbai or Surat?
• Is it normal to start at this salary level in the MEP industry in India?
• At 26, does this still make sense as a starting point?

Would really appreciate advice from people working in MEP / electrical design / construction consulting.

Thanks!

[Bhavana]

You have to start somewhere so it's fine . You will definitely require some additional support from your family because with this sort of salary you won't be able to make ends meet in both the cities . Assuming that you do get a little help from them , my suggestion will be Mumbai. You will struggle more there than Surat but you will learn invaluable life skills there and you can definitely grow quickly in your career there compared to Surat . All the very best .

[Lokesh]

Hey man, I want to know what you learned to get the role and looking at your passing year and when you got a job, it seems you have gap years. How did you explain that in interviews.

[Sanjay]

You will simply not survive in Mumbai with that salary, it will be horrible

It's better to stick to Surat