I want to be a mechanical engineer, but I’m a little worried about the stress of the job because I heard that is an incredibly stressful job. I was wondering if there’s any truth to this? I don’t do that well with immense stress…
That depends on a wealth of factors, including but not limited to your specific job responsibilities, your work environment, and precisely what stresses you out! I have had more jobs in my life than anyone should, and engineering (electrical, admittedly) has been one of the least stressful jobs I’ve known. It has certainly been less stressful than my wife’s stints as a teacher and curator!
To give you an idea, I have seen managers who ride their employees hard, making them very stressed, but I have also seen managers who were very helpful and relaxed, getting the job done without killing anyone. My first engineering position was so relaxed it outright annoyed me, but I was later overwhelmed at times by the intensity and stress involved in writing a technical proposal on a tight and inflexible deadline. And for me, the work has some stresses, but overall I find the job of engineering to be relatively relaxing - at the end of the day, I like doing math, especially when I can use it to actually do something.
Does that answer your question?
@cosmicfish Yes, it does. Thank you very much!
Most jobs (and I mean not just engineering jobs) will involve some kind of stress. A driver stuck in traffic with a tight delivery schedule will get stressed out. A salesperson trying to meet their boss’s sales goal will see stress. An engineer with a design review looming and lots of work to get done before will see stress. Kind of choose your poison type of game. But most of the time the driver won’t be stuck in traffic, the salesperson will meet that goal and the engineer will just keep working along.
I, personally, liked some stress in the job. It keeps me focused, lets me know the job is important, will usually get you recognition for completing the job, etc. Sure beats a mindless, boring job that the clock on the wall never moves fast enough for.