Is Engineering as Fulfilling as It Seems?

[russ_watters]

Well Russ. I go home and fire up my remote login client and start doing what I had been doing in the office.

Which is what, exactly? Are you literally sitting in front of the computer for 8 hours after getting home, minus the time spent eating dinner?

I find it pretty hard to believe.

Unless I was in the military (I was), got paid a ridiculous amount of money, or was in some dire straits, I wouldn't take a job that required more than about 50 hours a week of actual work.

 

[Danger]

This whole thread reads "work sucks". I don't want to find a job anymore :(

Are you saying that you haven't been signed onto a sled team already?

Nsaspook, when you're rich you don't have to have kids. That leaves twice as much for toys.

 

[nsaspook]

Nsaspook, when you're rich you don't have to have kids. That leaves twice as much for toys.

Well, even Bill Gates wanted a family to share the toys with and one of the advantages of being a older dad (55+) with younger kids (under 8) is that most things are paid off already and there is less pressure to work a job that requires 16hr days to pay the bills.

This might be slightly OT but delaying a family until much later than what's 'normal' really can increase your quality of life when you do decide to have kids.

 

[jim hardy]

Well, even Bill Gates wanted a family to share the toys with and one of the advantages of being a older dad (55+) with younger kids (under 8) is that most things are paid off already and there is less pressure to work a job that requires 16hr days to pay the bills.

This might be slightly OT but delaying a family until much later than what's 'normal' really can increase your quality of life when you do decide to have kids.

One has a lot more patience and wisdom at forty than at twenty.
And it doesn't hurt a kid a bit when other kids' younger parents call your dad "Sir", and he gets obvious deference at school on Parents' Night.

 

[Danger]

There can be downsides to it as well. When I was born, my father was 55 and my mother was 42. (She always told me that I was hatched from a rotten egg.) A couple of years later, they got married and we settled into some sort of traditional family. I always felt sorry or my dad, though, because although being in exceptional condition, it was a bit rough for him to do "dad" things in some cases. He had been a semi-pro baseball pitcher and catcher, and taught me that stuff. But by that time he was well over 70 and I inadvertently injured him a couple of time just playing catch. (And I'm no athlete by any means; a normal kid might have killed him.)

 

[russ_watters]

Yeah, and if someone finds a lost tooth in that house, you'll have no idea who'se mouth it came from!

 

[Kholdstare]

 

[nsaspook]

Scary.

 

[lisab]

Yeah, and if someone finds a lost tooth in that house, you'll have no idea who'se mouth it came from!

 

[Josh111]

You have to like what you do. Many engineers enjoy what they do. Don't go to engineering school just for the money.

Regarding the "Have No Life" idea, I find I enjoy my work life, but find that when I am away from work, my interests are not the same as many other non-technical people I know. I like to talk about ideas, innovative new products, where a given industry is headed. Others like to talk about football. That is not a reason to not want to be an engineer, though.

 

[jhae2.718]

I don't understand the problem.

Engineering = life. The stuff that happens in between doing engineering is boring sometimes, but hey, life isn't perfect, even for engineers.

This. Was three pages really necessary? :D

 

[Danger]

Yeah, and if someone finds a lost tooth in that house, you'll have no idea who'se mouth it came from!

Well, if it was plastic, it wasn't mine. As to which parent... different story.

when I am away from work, my interests are not the same as many other non-technical people I know. I like to talk about ideas, innovative new products, where a given industry is headed. Others like to talk about football.

You're hardly alone. That has nothing to do with being an engineer; it's because of having an active mind.
One of my best friends (ex-commonlaw-wife's niece's boyfriend and my neighbour) is a drywaller, ex-rigpig, with the social skills of a Tasmanian devil who has wicked number mojo and keen intelligence. He can spout off every statistic of every North American sport from memory, and has repeatedly (patiently) tried to explain stuff like off-sides and football penalties. Being Canucks, so close to the US, conversion between metric and Imperial measurements are frequently required here, and he can do those in his head. He also has educated me to a huge degree in the mechanical workings of oil rigs. At the same time, he loves to have me talk about stuff like quantum entanglement or black holes (to the extremely limited extent that I can do so). And his ears really perk up if I even mention "Scientific American".
Have you tried to wedge your interests into the conversations? Maybe ask one of the jocks about how the stats are calculated—before you know it, you'll have him talking math all night.

 

[Kholdstare]

ARRRGGGGHHHH, My head is just being split into two. Last two week I'm coming to office at 9am and leaving at 10pm. Fighting with millions of transistors and billions of metals is draining my energy.

 

[jim hardy]

ARRRGGGGHHHH, My head is just being split into two. Last two week I'm coming to office at 9am and leaving at 10pm. Fighting with millions of transistors and billions of metals is draining my energy.

Got you down, eh ?
Are you also fighting with interruptions and email and telephone and frustration from little details gone awry? I called those "Time Barracudas" because they eat up your day. I mounted a clock in an old stuffed barracuda for cubicle wall hanger.

When I got into a rut like that I realized I needed to change something. So i'd get to work around 5am and by the time everyone else arrived i'd have got a whole day's work done.
That good feeling of accomplishment started a positive feedback that broke the cycle of failure.

Nothing succeeds at 'getting you down' like that cold feeling of failure.
Nothing fails at 'getting you down' like that warm feel of success.

good luck, Khold. Become the best at whatever it is you do.

old jim

 

[Kholdstare]

You are old and knowledgeable Old Jim and I have deep seated respect for your knowledge. But I will not thank you for wishing me luck, for I do not need it. Actually, I need nothing to do what I do, and I do not want to be best at doing it. I will definitely be what I will be in the future.

 

[Danger]

I will definitely be what I will be in the future.

It's pretty hard to argue with logic like that...

 

[jim hardy]

You are old and knowledgeable Old Jim and I have deep seated respect for your knowledge. But I will not thank you for wishing me luck, for I do not need it. Actually, I need nothing to do what I do, and I do not want to be best at doing it. I will definitely be what I will be in the future.

Well,, okay.

I do thank you for your kind words though.

old jim

 

[xxChrisxx]

ARRRGGGGHHHH, My head is just being split into two. Last two week I'm coming to office at 9am and leaving at 10pm. Fighting with millions of transistors and billions of metals is draining my energy.

Work life balance upset?
Get a new job that suits your needs.