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I thought it might be helpful to create a thread to help some kids who are deciding which profession to enter or career changers. Rate your profession on:
-Job Security
-Stress level
-Pay
-Employee personalities
-Whatever else you can think of, positives and negatives, biggest complaints
I'm an Environmental/Civil Engineer, mostly Environmental. The pay is mediocre to OK. Not too many people make bank, but nobody starves. The job security is mediocre. We fly with the swings of the economy and construction and get laid off, but unlike Electrical Engineers and Computers, we do not get outsourced. The stress level is low to moderate I would say. Depends on the sector and job, but in general. The type of employees are generally pleasant and laidback, consisting of engineers and scientists. Cutthroat/competitive people generally do not enter this profession.
A big part of this job is being outside all of the time, which could be a positive or negative, but generally it's a negative. The duties of the job vary which is good. The biggest complaints I have are lack of pay and job security.
Job security at the company I just started working at appears to be good. They haven't fired anyone in over a decade, but people have left for other opportunities/spouses moving.
Stress level is pretty low (for me anyway, because I'm entry level so I don't have a ton of responsibilities).
Pay is low compared to the national averages of entry level pay, but average for the area I live in.
The personalities I work with are various but no one sticks out as terrible/unbearable. Everyone so far has been totally decent.
I'm starting a new job in a couple weeks. As for my current job, it encompasses a few things: IT Solutions Buyer/Project Management/Logistics Coordinator/Sales Support
Job security: It's alright. There haven't been any large scale layoffs. But management usually cuts the bottom 10% or so every year. Even as a top performer, I never felt entirely secure.
Stress level: Sometimes it's pretty low. I'd say the majority of the time you're under constant pressure for meeting ridiculous demands set by the account managers. Over promise, under deliver seems to be their motto. This is the most stressful job I've ever had. I'll never go back to this line of work if I can help it.
Pay: It's not bad. I think the pay range for our role is between $45k-$60k. The benefits are the best part of the job and probably far exceed most jobs in the industry. There's flex time, work from home, lots of PTO starting off, ESOP, 401k match, Summer Fridays, etc.
Employee personalities: The ones in my direct group are usually pretty good. They try to be as friendly and upbeat as possible. With as many fire drills as we go through each day, it can be very tedious. The account managers are hit or miss. A lot of them are condescending jerks. Some will simply stay out of your way. And others actually take the time to build relations with their team members.
Like I said before, this is the most stressful line of work I've ever been in. It's always rush, rush, rush...you didn't do this or that right (even though you did)...no praise outside of your paycheck...
I'm glad I'll be leaving this line of work. I never plan on going back to sales or sales support for as long as I can help it. If you have the right personality type for it (basically not giving a **** about anything; thick skin), you can do pretty well in this field. We have people from all different backgrounds working in our department.
My job security is excellent. You'd have to do a lot of bad things to get fired. People have shown up to work drunk and high and the supervisor doesn't bat an eye. Sometimes it's the supervisor who is drunk or high. People miss work constantly and no action is taken. There have been fistfights and thefts, which are automatic terminations at most jobs. At my job that'll get you a promotion. Even so, there's a high turnover rate.
Stress level is low. It's one of those jobs where you do your job and go home. During the busier season, it can be more stressful due to a lot of work and lack of sleep, but it's generally easy. There's a big push for production, but if you just work hard, you'll reach the company's goal. Sometimes the equipment doesn't work and that's stressful. And there's really no repercussions if you screw up something. We're like weathermen.
Pay is low. It's higher than minimum wage and many other jobs, but it also doesn't have the regular hours of most minimum-wage jobs, so it evens out.
Employee personalities are great. Some of the people I work with are weird just like me, but I enjoy most of them and they are always there for me. There's usually a great deal of camaraderie at low-paying jobs because you have to endure a crappy work experience together.
RN
- Job security - quite good for those experienced and highly skilled
- Stress - either medium or high level stress. Never low stress level
- Pay - upper end of average for those experienced. No benefits
- Culture - often poor. This is the big negative
Construction Engineer/Manager
- Job security - Volatile, but quite secure for those who has skills & experience.
- Stress - Fast pace, high stress environment
- Pay - Entry at 45K+. good benefit. Can go 6 digits based on experience & performance.
- Culture - Also very volatile, depends on people you work with. High pressure environment is given.
ICU R.N.
Security - Get 10 calls a week asking me to work for them/travel paid living arrangements free flight etc.
Stress - High. Peoples lives in the balance.
Pay >120k 3 days/week
Culture - Smart dedicated peeps. sometimes docs who are dicks. most of the in fighting is girl on girl.
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