Is anyone else bitter about work? 37

[shadow401]

I don’t know if it’s the engineering field, Corporate America, or just me but does anyone really love being an engineer anymore? Sure, it pays the bills but is anyone actually excited to show up to work in the morning?

Most of the people I work with have become cynical and are more interested in making themselves look good then completing a project. Engineers, developers, government agencies, inspectors, contractor, and sub-contractors are all on different teams and only looking out for their own interests. Even within my own company different departments try to push each other down to appear more profitable. Lazy employees get promoted over hard working employees and it feels like some fundamental rule that we learned in kindergarten about being fair and doing what’s right has been lost. I used to love the though of becoming an engineer but after 7 years of the real world, I just don’t care anymore. Am I alone?

 

[TDAA]

Yes, my description was a bit idealized, but then found it funny how two people taking the side of why not to bitter about engineering were so quick to point out the short-comings of of a medical career.

It is just individual perceptions being shared. Also, from the first line of my post: "I am sure there is the same bitterness in other professions, but not to the degree there is in engineering. Personally, I blame the way "professionalism" is viewed for engineering." It goes back to the dead horse.

In my opinion, right now, there is a big push to "cut back" on a lot of things. For some it is salaries, for some it is hours or positions, and for most, the little things are gone too. The little things may not matter to a lot of people, but they do tend to boost overall moral. Chop that with "at-will" this and that and some "lucky to have a job", and you get bitterness. This is not just my view, I here it quite a bit from the people I have had working for me. It just sucks to hear it when you are in a "my hands are tied" middle management position.

 

[KENAT]

Why is it funny, so much of the whining above seems - to this not so bitter engineer - grass is greener thinking.

The call is often that "other professions have it so much better than us" etc. and that's part of why people are so disgruntled.

We'll, we were just trying to point out that maybe not everyone in other professions has it as much better than us as some here seem to think.

Anyone would think half the respondents above were a bunch of Poms.

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[zdas04]

I have to admit that I haven't read all of the drivel above, I started to then my gag reflex kicked in so I jumped to the end. I love what I do. This is my third career and I enjoyed the other two, but I love Engineering. Any day that I can't do Engineering (like when I have to do billing) I am less happy than when I'm doing Engineering. If you don't feel that way then you picked the wrong career and should get out of it.

The Engineers that I know that are passionate about their work have to deal with nonsense from people who hate their life and want to make sure everyone knows it. To the people who are "bitter about their work" I say "go the hell away and let the people with passion fix what is broke".

David

 

[KENAT]

Zdas, I'd been considering posting similar but was holding off, so thanks for saving me the trouble.

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[SNORGY]

True, but as every dog trainer knows...

A little bit of "bitter apple" is sometimes necessary to prevent the dogs from peeing on your stuff (or you, for that matter).

Not that I'd know...

Regards,

SNORGY.

 

[TPL]

zdas - good post

 

[mauricestoker]

I originally went to school on a philosophy scholarship. If engineers think they have a reason to be bitter, try being philosophical about washing dishes and eating dog food the rest of your life. As soon as I learned that mechanical engineers spend a lot of their time calculating head, I changed majors. Be grateful you are not spending your time in front of a cash register with picture of hamburgers, french fries and lung butter instead of numbers.

 

[ewh]

The creative aspects of my job more than outweight the frustrations that always seem to present themselves. When they do, refocusing on the problem, or life in general and how small that initial frustration is in reality, usually helps me overcome them. Life is too short to be so miserable.

"Good to know you got shoes to wear when you find the floor." - [small]Robert Hunter[/small]

 

[GMcD]

I don't think it's so much whining, as much as the older ones of us who have realized that they miss the old days when they did actual design and used their imagination and provided the best they could for a design/calculation/whatever.

As good engineers progress in their careers, they get more and more management tasks thrown in to the point where there is no time to do the detailed design, or have a clear hour to just sit down and come up with ideas and strategize. That now has to be delegated, and one loses some control over the process and eventual product.

Add into the mix the increased level of communication media - e-mails, cellphones, and the expectation from Clients and other management types that the senior people "need" to be on call and available to solve other people's screw-ups instantly. It's the general increase in overall workload, communications distractions, and all the other related irritants like building inspectors that have power and no responsibility, Architects and Clients changing things and expecting us to suck it up and work all night to make the deadline that someone else dreamed up in a place where everything works perfectly, and there were no changes; the corporate world general administration issues that suck up more time from the fun times (who wants to start a thread about Timesheet programs from hell...?) etc.

At this point in my career, I am entertaining a demotion to go back into more design roles and get off the management track. Some people can do management, I've learned I can't. The $$ aren't important if you work 60 hour weeks and spend what spare time on the weekend you have recovering/sleeping and not able to enjoy family and hobbies. For those of you that enjoy that kind of workweek, good for you, but don't use your own desire to work long hours as a measure of "success" or superiority. Those are measured many in many different ways.

I think a lot of the posts above have roots in the overwhelmingly high expectations people have of engineers, the corresponding low salaries and remuneration, the over-abundance of communication media we now deal with, and the lack of recognition of the efforts needed in today's world to get things done efficiently - we spend way too much time receiving, reading, forwarding, and dealing with e-mails with 200 page attachments that somebody wants reviewed "right away". Basically forcing us into a "fly by the seat of the pants - sound-bite" method of dealing with the huge amount of communications, and all the other people who got copied with the e-mail that now want to add their 2 cents worth.

 

[SNORGY]

GMcD:

Star.

I'm bitter about a lot of things at work, but I try to see the humour in it. I suppose if I ever got too fed up, I could go out and become an accountant or even (*GASP!*) an MBA if I wanted to become the corporate top-dog, immune to the pressure of being professional, billable, employable, or even remotely useful; but I guess I am not quite *that* bitter. The other way to look at it is, I suppose if I wanted to make more money than "#87", all I would need to do is pick up a hockey stick and go do what he does.

We make our choices. I guess for whatever perverse reason, I still choose engineering (perhaps, alas, somewhat stupidly). I guess there is just something magically satisfying in knowing how things work and, for whatever isn't known, being able to figure out how things work, and then turning that into something that works.

Regards,

SNORGY.

 

[mechengdude]

"Bitter at work" is just another way of saying bitter about life. Life is short, you and you alone are in conrol of your happiness and how you respond to the situations you are presented with in life. Count your blessing instead of being bitter.

 

[dgillette]

My post from earlier today vanished, but one of the main points was that no generalization is valid about whether engineers are justified in being bitter. Some, like me, have, by luck and/or skill, ended up in very good jobs more than once. I'm not bitter, and I should be slapped upside the head if I were. Others have gotten (dumped) upon, and I'd probably be bitter about it too if I were in their shoes.

I suspect one reason my first two jobs after college were good is that both consulting firms were run by PhDs who were really into their work and sought out the challenging projects for the fun of it (as well as the profit of course). They didn't want to crank out CBR tests or design slab-on-grade for residential construction.

 

[ScottyUK]

In a better mood than when I made my last post:

Engineering has given me some great friends who I've met through work, paid for a nice house, given me the ability to fix things most people have to pay others to fix, and I don't have to kiss ass all day just to hold down a job.

Engineering ain't so bad.


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If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!

 

[SomptingGuy]

Today was a day worth going in for. It rained on me on the cycle ride in. But the day was a mix of technical niceties, plus some head-scratching theoretical problems to work through and one or two OEM clients to assist through their problems (always good for the ego).

Not bitter.

- Steve

 

[TDAA]

dgillette has it right: there are some people that are in situations that make them bitter, now more than ever. It is not just a snap of the fingers that can make that change right now.

I wish I lived in the perfect world that some of you do, but I don't, and not all of us can.

Personally, I did not respond to this post to get sympathy, or to get told to suck it up. I did it to vent about how I felt 21 days ago. It was therapeutic for me, and answered the OPs question, as many others have: Yes, others are bitter about work, too.

To the people who think "go the hell away and let the people with passion fix what is broke" I say " you go the hell away stick your passion where the sun . . .". Just because people are bitter doesn't mean that they are not fit to be engineers. We are not all going to be happy 100% of every minute, hour, day, week, month, or year of our careers.

 

[KENAT]

Don't think I ever claimed I rode into work on a unicorn and parked underneath a rainbow every day.

There are plenty of my posts on here with tales of some of my employers shenanigans some of which display my obvious annoyance.

However, all in all I figure it could be a lot worse, most of the grass on the other side probably only looks greener and until I can find something more idyllic (I am looking) I'll try and keep the best attitude I can though sometimes I don't do that well. The 3.5-4X salary increase sure makes it better than my immediately previous position in retail.

There's a really annoying poem about attitude that I see posted here and there, it's a bit too lollipops & moon beams for my liking but maybe if will be of use to some of you bitter folks.

By the way, I rather like Bitter, better than lager and almost as good as Stout (better in some cases).

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[SomptingGuy]

Ah, bitter. I just hope the Red Lion is offering HSB tomorrow (Thursday is the new Friday).

- Steve

 

[TDAA]

KENAT, not really aimed at you.

We actually agree completely on two things:

I figure it could be a lot worse, most of the grass on the other side probably only looks greener and until I can find something more idyllic (I am looking) I'll try and keep the best attitude I can though sometimes I don't do that well.

I rather like Bitter, better than lager and almost as good as Stout (better in some cases).

I just am not sure how some can think "How dare you have a bad day, or not be happy with where you are right now? You are an Engineer!", when they have not walked a mile in the others shoes.

Yes, that poem is annoying, but it is right. My reactions , and thus attitudes, change frequently. I believe my latest reaction will be to stop posting to this thread, finish what I need to do, go home, and have a pint.

 

[KENAT]

High Speed Brainrot - yuck.

Not sure if Zdas' was posted at you or not TDAA, there's been some pruning of this thread, however their were some posts that sounded like the folks were so miserable (and intent on foisting that misery on others) they really would be better of elsewhere - even if it just meant at least they then wouldn't be dragging the rest of us down;-). Either way, suggesting he stuff it up his fundament & some of the pruned posts are/were in my opinion inappropriate.

Not sure I'd go as to say it's right but the poem is maybe at the other extreme of where some of the 'bitter' folks are, if we could all just agree to meet nearer the middle...

Have one for me.

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[knight185]

I am a young engineer who has been interested in keep plants running well but not interested in design work. After only 4 years I have lost interest in being a member of the technical side. We are the ones who work the long hours and do all of the grunt work and get paid the least. I would rather be a manager and make more money. The way engineering has changed in my company has caused a lot of the passion of engineering to be lost. Now the young engineers are more concerned with maximizing their salaries rather than becoming good engineers.