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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.
I'm an engineer in manufacturing.
Job Security-B-
Stress Level-C-
Pay-B
Employee personalities-D(This is dependent from company to company but the majority of my career has been at my current company)
Job security - Overall, quite good. If your company is purchased by another company there is a good chance you will become redundant. Although this happens in many functions at the time of an acquisiiton, if you are a corporate attorney the chace is very high. But these kinds of transactions don't happen often to a company and once you have inhouse experience finding a new position is not terribly difficult.
Stress level - Very high at times. There is a great deal of responsibility, and the legal department is a favorite place for everyone to blame when anything goes wrong. You are also viewed by many as a cost center that does not contribute to revenue. You are also constantly dealding with unrealistic deadlines. The hours can be long and unpredictable. Lawyers have one of the highest rates of alcoholism in the U.S. by profession.
Pay - Generally very good, although this varies considerably by company.
Employee personalities - Mixed. I've had the forture of liking most of the other attorneys I've worked with but I did work under one General Counsel who was a tyrant. He was once the managing partner of a respected northeast law firm and was fairly old school. And there have been some issues with "turf" from time to time, but overall my legal departmnet colleagues have been very good. The clients (other departments, officers, etc.) have definitely been mixed. Some have been really great. But others less so and will often try to use the legal department in a CYA capacity or worse.
Other - Although job security is pretty good once you get inhouse, getting there is not easy. As has been posted often in this forum and in the education forum, there is something of a legal education crisis going on right now. Law schools are pumping out more lawyers than are needed, making competition for that first firm job intense. And you pretty much have to be either at a firm or in government service for at least a few years before you can get an inhouse position. Also, many people go into law for the wrong reasons, the three most common of which being (1) money, (2) family expectations and (3) avoiding the real world for a few more years after college / didn't know what else to do. In order to tolerate the demands and stress of the job you really do have to be an inate detail-oriented person. Everyone likes to say they are detail-oriented, but if you don't inherently get some level of enjoyment out of addressing every detail law will wear you out quickly.
Investment Banking IT Mid level developer/analyst
-Job Security...very good I think. Theres so many things going, especially with new regulations. You can easily be in Rockstar status if you can process a whole lot of data and get it done fast and resourcefully
-Stress level...its normally a 8-10hr job. maybe 1-2mos of sprint sessions but theyre rare and highly visible and appreciated
-Pay ... maybe 100-150k perm, 250-370k contractor + OT
-Employee personalities ... pretty standard. small wars with Dev, Support, BA, QA, +other downstream teams every now and then
-Whatever else you can think of, positives and negatives, biggest complaints... if you know finance, add 20% to salary
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.
Occupation: Self-employed Attorney practicing in a civil litigation practice.
Job Security: High. I could never bring myself to fire myself
Stress Level: Varies. Overall, it can be medium to high.
Pay: Good, but irregular. I get paid when I settle cases or collect fees, not every two weeks on Friday.
Employee personalities: The people I hire to work for me have overall pleasant personalities.
Other positive or negative factors: Much of what I do depends on the whims of judges. Some of them are very difficult and should be doing something else for a living. No one should do what I do, who cannot tolerate some variation in income on a month to month basis. Working for one's self though is truly one of the great joys in life. Too many people refuse to consider it out of insecurity or fears. It is absolutely wonder to enjoy coming to work on a Monday morning.
Occupation: Accountant in the construction industry
Job Security: pretty high, they always need someone to work the numbers!
Stress level: low most of the time, can get busy at end of month
Pay: eh, just ok around 50-60K
Employee personalities: I was surprised by the variety of personalities in accounting. Some very talkative people, some quiet, some outgoing, some annoying. But most people are pretty analytical.
Positives: pretty stable job, not that many surprises if you like routine.
Negatives: can get boring and tedious at times, being at the computer most of the day, not feeling I'm really doing much.
In charge of all business improvement projects as well as quantitative investment screening for a wealth management company.
-Job Security: High. I am contacted with an offer out of the blue 6-7 times/year
-Stress level: Mid-high. Somewhat lumpy, periods of extreme stress followed by nothing
-Pay: starting/entry level salary for this type of work (analyst level, not management) is around $100,000
-Employee personalities: Have to be able to deal with a lot of alpha personalities. Soft/thin skinned people would have a hard time.
Biggest complaints: people think what they see in movies or read about in the news is true for everyone (we are all cheats/con artists) when that is only the 1% who are scumbags.
Job Security - Strong. Very diversified Fortune 500.
-Stress level - zero
-Pay - meh. Considering we're supposed to be educated professionals and "white collar" the pay is pretty poor. Our hourly blue collar guys make more than me. The pay for accounting professionals hasnt kept up with other white color positions. Its really the poor mans white collar. Its only in management that accounting pays well. Compare this to other white collar professions where entry level puts you close to or at 6 figures (MD, Law, Rx, Professors etc.)
-Employee personalities - lol the stereotypes are abound.
-Whatever else you can think of, positives and negatives, biggest complaints. - The work is meaningless. At the end of the day you didnt accomplish anything. The books are closed, and the next set is opened. The company isnt stronger, lives werent saved, sales didnt go up because of what you did....the books are just closed. You know that going into accounting so I cant complain too much, but I do wish Id have gone into a different field.
-Job Security - I'd say higher than average as a sector/discipline relative to others. InfoSec is still pretty hot.
-Stress level - "average" in general. But I think it really depends on the company/environment you work in.
-Pay - Above average. And even better for those with specific skills (exploit developer/penetration tester, SMEs etc.)
-Employee personalities - I don't think this has as much to do with the job as it does the environment. I've worked with great people, and I've worked with those I consider a waste of space... and some of the latter were actually very skilled at what they do.
-Whatever else you can think of, positives and negatives, biggest complaints
As an IT professional, the biggest PITA is everyone that you know (and their family) tends to come at you with every computer related problem they have. But I guess doctors, mechanics etc. all have the same issue. On a positive note, depending on the company you work for, you get to test drive great new gadgets. I don't have to go into the office at all if I don't need/want to (although this CAN be a double-edged sword), and lots of opportunities for vendor paid meals and "conference/training" travel opportunities.
-Job Security - I'd say higher than average as a sector/discipline relative to others. InfoSec is still pretty hot.
-Stress level - "average" in general. But I think it really depends on the company/environment you work in.
-Pay - Above average. And even better for those with specific skills (exploit developer/penetration tester, SMEs etc.)
-Employee personalities - I don't think this has as much to do with the job as it does the environment. I've worked with great people, and I've worked with those I consider a waste of space... and some of the latter were actually very skilled at what they do.
-Whatever else you can think of, positives and negatives, biggest complaints
As an IT professional, the biggest PITA is everyone that you know (and their family) tends to come at you with every computer related problem they have. But I guess doctors, mechanics etc. all have the same issue. On a positive note, depending on the company you work for, you get to test drive great new gadgets. I don't have to go into the office at all if I don't need/want to (although this CAN be a double-edged sword), and lots of opportunities for vendor paid meals and "conference/training" travel opportunities.
Attorney at medium/large firm
-Job Security: varies depending on general economic climate and your fit at the firm and your performance relative to your peers, but overall average for associates and excellent for partners!
-Stress level: varies from medium to high
-Pay: good to great, depending on the market and your firm's position in that market
-Employee personalities: varies considerably -- my firm is great but that seems to be the exception not the rule
-Whatever else you can think of, positives and negatives, biggest complaints: you will not last here unless you have the personality, brains, and drive for this job. Unfortunately too many people get into law for the wrong reasons and find out that it is not a good fit the hard way.
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