I’ve heard a lot of stereotypes about engineering being super time-consuming and isolating. Is that actually true? If you work or study in engineering (or a similarly intense field), how do you manage your time? Do you find it hard to maintain friendships, hobbies, or just have a life outside of work/school?
I’m genuinely curious, thank you.
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Mt first two years I averaged 220 – 260 monthly work hours depending on the project I was working on.
That did not include a 1 hour commute and me studying for a degree at nights.
I spent 1 hour a day with my significant other.
I’d go to the gym immediately after work and if needed I’d sleep for 3 or 4 hours to clean the house and meal prep.
Weekends were my time to study 8 hours a day + be with friends and family (also, more working out!).
It wasn’t too bad though.
I’ve always heard this too but honestly never experienced it. I’m sure some people do but that can happen at any sort of job.
Being an engineer is pretty awesome, I’d highly recommend it.
Bio-med engineer here. I average 65 to 70 hours a week. Work week is dedicated to just work, and sleep. Any extra time goes to my family and gym. Weekends are family time. With the exception of them, I have a minimal social life. I only have 1 friend a talk to and game with on a regular basis, which is in the weekend after family had gone to sleep.
But it’s the life I chose, and personally, I love it
Engineer here,
The work week is 40 hours monday-friday. 6 weeks of vacation. Requrement to work overtime is a failiure of leadership, And is in fact illegal to have to do where im from.
It can be stressful and demanding but the most important thing is to leave work at work. Menaning my time is mine, the company cellphone stays off when im not working.
Computers count? I work 8 hours and then go home. Sometimes a bit more, but sometimes I get out early on Fridays. It’s horrible, I know.
I’ve found that employers will take up as much of your time as you let them. You maintain a work-life balance by controlling how much you let them take.
It seems to be mindset related. Those that care less have good work/life balance. I mean it’s a pretty flexible job at some companies. Clock in/out as you please, do a half day, realize the weather is too nice one afternoon so piss off early etc. the issue is if you are any good at what you do, you can end up having to pick up the slack for people that really take the piss, have no work ethic and don’t care if their work even gets done let alone to any level of reasonable quality. The customer of the product then gets an unfair really raw deal with regards to warranties and product recalls.
So it’s easy to set yourself on fire to keep others warm, and that’s where problems can rise up. But ethics around safety, quality etc. I think are non-negotiables for the profession, so I don’t think I could ever change my approach to just coast like some others do.
Social life. . . .engineers can be kinda odd dudes, so some don’t have much of a social life. Work is where they at least feel useful and get some pseudo social interaction.
I’m in a demanding field (physics + engineering blend), and yeah—it can get isolating if you’re not intentional. The work doesn’t slow down, so the trick is learning to protect time for the people and things that recharge you. I’ve found that scheduling social stuff like it’s a deadline actually helps—otherwise it gets lost in the grind.
Also, quality matters more than quantity. I don’t need a big social life, but a few close friendships keep me grounded. Hobbies? Still figuring that out. Balance is real, but you have to fight for it.
It depends a lot on the field and job. Most of them are just 9 to 5 like any office jobs. Some positions are more demanding, and pay very well to match. You can make a typical $100k working 8 hours a day, or work 15 hours a day and make $400k doing important work.
The moment I leave the office I turn off my work phone and think about what I want to do. I felt like setting boundaries with work is important since without it we lose our time
I stop working when I reach my contractual hours, if the project is behind then the PM mismanaged it.
Lawyer in a very competitive field. The first years were very hard, but after establishing a name for myself and starting my own firm, most of the work is done by people working for me, with me keeping the best cases.
Engineering is not really life consuming, especially compared to legal work or other stuff where clients expect you to be on call 24/7.
it’s more of a way of life. I know of absolutely zero engineers who don’t have pet projects.
An accountant goes home and he’ll be just Steve.
Steve the engineer on the other hand goes home and will continue engineering on his own doohickeys and thingamabobs in the shed.