Are there any engineering jobs with 30 hour work week?

[chrisandmiss]

Hey guys, Im trying to plan out a future career.

So, im pretty good at math. I got an 800 on the math sat, with an 800 on the math 2 and the physics.
Because of this, Im smart enough to get into a pretty good masters program in engineering, or maybe a job in finance.

See, I looked into correlations between income and happiness, and after 70,000 dollars, there is no correlation. The only positive one after that was hours of free time.

So, thats what im trying to maximize, hours of free time, making more than 70,000 dollars.

Can anyone tell me anything that might help me out?

[TMFKAN64]

Fresh out of school, forget it. You are very unlikely to find a part-time or consulting position at all, and if you do, it is unlikely to pay more than $70K.

You need to have some sort of specialized expertise to find a job like the one you want, and that will take time to acquire. It *is* possible though.

[NanjoeBot]

You saw a statistic, based on who knows what, and now your trying to fit into it because its the key to happiness..?

[HyperSniper]

Fresh out of school, forget it. You are very unlikely to find a part-time or consulting position at all, and if you do, it is unlikely to pay more than $70K.

You need to have some sort of specialized expertise to find a job like the one you want, and that will take time to acquire. It *is* possible though.

Yeah, everything I've ever read talked to people about seems to be in agreement with this guy.

I've got a similar goal as you for my career, but I know it's not going to be a cakewalk to get there.

[Pengwuino]

This is a stupid question. Period.

Just live your life and do as well as possible. Most people hate their jobs but if you do something you like, you'll want to work 80 hours a week. If you get to a point in your career where being happy means to work less, you're in the wrong career and aren't doing what you like.

[HyperSniper]

I don't think this is a stupid goal to have. Some people have goals for their life that won't produce any income but still take up a lot of time.

[vanesch]

Can anyone tell me anything that might help me out?

Come to France :tongue2:

(but it's changing....)

[justinlj]

well... there will be tonnes of indians and chinese who are willing to do your work for 100 hours a week.

some of them dont really have an interest in engineering, but because of the culture and upbringing they have, they always forced themselves to work hard till they bleed.

[G037H3]

well... there will be tonnes of indians and chinese who are willing to do your work for 100 hours a week.

lower quality, maybe. keep in mind that those at the top in IT, for instance, are Americans and Europeans

working smarter is really more important than working harder

[Ryker]

lower quality, maybe. keep in mind that those at the top in IT, for instance, are Americans and EuropeansYeah, maybe at present, but this will surely change not in centuries, but in a couple of years' time.

[Pengwuino]

Yeah, maybe at present, but this will surely change not in centuries, but in a couple of years' time.

Why?

[Ryker]

Well, there's this prevalent view that people in Asia are only good for work that doesn't require intellectual efforts, but from what I've read in the papers, this is becoming less and less so. Schools there are making huge (financial, too) efforts to educate people, and with globalization bringing all of the technological advances to those countries, it is becoming easier not only for them to acquaint themselves with it, but also to make it a part of their daily lives. Thus, they are able to get to the same level someone from a developed country can in terms of "feeling at home" with technology, and therefore they can start working on not only copying said things, but also enhancing them and advancing knowledge pertaining to them. I mean, South Korea for one is already a great example of this, but just take a look at the sheer number of people in China and India flocking to universities. This alone produces fierce competition, but then couple that with those countries opening to the world and vice versa, which gives students and later on the working force a strong motivation towards improving their lives and earning a decent living, a motivation that I believe strongly surpasses those of us, living in more developed countries.

People there aren't dumb, and now they've started getting the intellectual, financial and other kinds of stimulations to actually prove that to the world at large.

[G037H3]

Asians have a different standard deviation for intelligence

like females, they're all closely clustered about an average

look into it if you don't believe me :D

but this is a little bit off-topic, so i'll provide OP with my insight:

The only surefire way to maximize free time and $ is to have a rarer specialized skill or talent that forces people to pay you more

30 hour workweeks for $70K a year are certainly possible in IT, but you're asking about engineering, so if I were you I'd go into a field where you can do something pretty specific, but that knowledge gives you the ability to do two or three other specialized things that few people have knowledge of.

[chrisandmiss]

This is a stupid question. Period.

Just live your life and do as well as possible. Most people hate their jobs but if you do something you like, you'll want to work 80 hours a week. If you get to a point in your career where being happy means to work less, you're in the wrong career and aren't doing what you like.

Dude, come on. I don't like "work" that's why it pays well. The only jobs i can see of "liking" are things like video game instructor, or entertainer at a circus....which, the reasons for not doing those should be obvious.

[chrisandmiss]

Asians have a different standard deviation for intelligence

like females, they're all closely clustered about an average

look into it if you don't believe me :D

but this is a little bit off-topic, so i'll provide OP with my insight:

The only surefire way to maximize free time and $ is to have a rarer specialized skill or talent that forces people to pay you more

30 hour workweeks for $70K a year are certainly possible in IT, but you're asking about engineering, so if I were you I'd go into a field where you can do something pretty specific, but that knowledge gives you the ability to do two or three other specialized things that few people have knowledge of.

Oh dude, I have looked into that. So has this guy steve hsu, professor of physics at oregon

http://infoproc.blogspot.com/2008/06/asian-white-iq-variance-from-pisa.html

Yeah, its an interesting topic, and at first looking at the blogosphere thats what spread around...but, data like sat scores, olympied winners(look at the winners of the math olympiad...though asians are 4 percent of the population, they make up about 70 percent of olympiad winners) they kinda dominate whitey(which is my race"

[chrisandmiss]

As for girls...yeah, the data supports that. On the math sat, guys make up about 2.5 times as many perfect scores, and 1.5 times as many perfect verbal scores, though we have similar averages

[chrisandmiss]

""Most people hate their jobs but if you do something you like, you'll want to work 80 hours a week""

Yeah, most people hate their jobs...because they are JOBS. Which is why I don't want to be just another commuter/worker bee all day.

[kramer733]

Why don't you trade stocks? That's seriously like a game and you make big bucks too.

[turbo]

You want low hours and high wages? You'll have to grind it out for a while and put in the hours and REALLY distinguish yourself. Then, you may be able to parley your reputation into a nice consulting position, and get people to pay you some serious money for not many hours of work. There are heavy down-sides to such a career, though, like having to travel and spend a LOT of time away from friends and family. Life as a consultant is not all beer and skittles.

[bassplayer142]

Obviously start your own business.

[Caramon]

Obviously start your own business.
Because running your own business will allow you to work 30 hour weeks? Get real.

[HyperSniper]

Because running your own business will allow you to work 30 hour weeks? Get real.

I'd say this is possible to, but certainly not for the first year or so. It probably won't be making $70,000 either if you're only putting 30 hours of work a week into it.

[mamerhet]

I found this thread way late.


I thought I would add that I have an engineering job with 30 hour work days if you are interested?

[Head_Unit]

I don't think this is a stupid goal at all. "JOB" is not a synonym for "LIFE" in any thesaurus I've seen.

Having a bit more free time for myself and my family is one (just one) of the reasons I went into teaching from engineering.

I doubt you'll find an engineering job that runs 30 hours a week in America, let alone for $70k. Heck, I doubt you'd find many engineering jobs that are *really* just 40 hours a week.

[NINHARDCOREFAN]

I have this job, I work Fri-Sun 8AM-8PM and get the other 4 days off with a full time salary and benefits (IT field). And needless to say, life is much more fun, when you have time and the freedom to pursue whatever interests you may have.