Reasons to escape an engineering job

Why would you want to escape an engineering job?  Why do I?

First I will cover some of the reason why most people don’t even consider it.  If you think about it, this is why you haven’t yet.  It’s exactly the reasons that kept me captured as well.

• You’re reasonable well payed
• You have good benefits, dental, and a 401K or RRSP – Riches await
• You earn enough to get into a large mortgage for a nice house that you’ll pay off in 40 years.
• BMW and Mercedes Benz will let you lease a $50k car
• Though you only have two weeks of vacation per year, you earn enough to binge on a nice trip
• You spent 4 or more years studying engineering at school – don’t waste it by changing directions.

Most of these reasons aren’t just in your own head.  No, you know that if you tried to escape and enjoy your life, these are the objections that your friends, family, and all of society would have.

Did you see the real problem behind most of these excuses to stay put and belly up to the status quo?

You make up for your lack of freedom by throwing money at the problems.

• Only 2 weeks of vacation per year?  No problem, spend $5k on your vacation to try to increase your enjoyment.
• Have a 45 minute or more commute each way?  No problem, finance a $50k car to hopefully hate it less.
• Hate working 60 hours per week?  No problem, buy the ultimate cable TV package and go out for dinner more to enjoy the ‘fruit of your labour’
• Hate travelling to customer sites and to work trade shows?  Buy the big, expensive house to enjoy the time you do have at home.
• You feel trapped in your job?  Don’t worry, at least you have good benefits in case something happens.
• You feel trapped in your profession?  Oh well, at least you’re not an artsy working at McDonalds.
• Hate working for somebody else’s company and making their dreams come true?  At least you have a good pension plan – freedom and riches awaits you on your 65th birthday.  So do adult diapers

There is another way.  All you have to do is realize that the script you’re following is not of your own design and not going to give you what you want in life.

Why I want to escape an engineering job:

Here are three big reasons that I have to escape an engineering job:

• Commute.  I have a 45 minute drive to and from work.  Not a nice freeway commute.  No it is stop and go along industrial access routes with big trucks driven by container clowns aiming for me all the time.  Since I have always disliked the commute, I bought the BMW – now I am a bigger target for the trucks.  Love the car though!  The only reasons I even make it to and from work are the podcasts and audiobooks I listen to everyday.  Learning, plotting, and dreaming – until a truck runs a red light.  When it comes time for annual reviews, all I really want is to telecommute.  Everyday out of the week that I don’t have to drive to the shop reduces my chance of becoming road pizza by 20%.  Hasn’t happened so far, I am too essential to operations.  Damn my competence.  Guess it’s time to hack the job now.

• Not fulfilling enough.  Sure it has it’s moments, but I have been in this job for five years now.  Five years this month.  That’s half a decade.  That’s 5% to 8% of my life.  Now that’s a sobering thought.
  I’m good at it and can take care of most stuff in 10 minutes.  That same stuff takes my interns two hours to complete.  Problem is I have no more desire to do those tasks anymore, so I hired junior engineers and interns.  Hello middle-management!
  Now I have to do all of the 90 day reviews, annual denial of salary raises, and vacation requests.  I get to spend most of my day on the phone taking customer and sales requests, then trying to fit into my employees’ schedules.  It is never soon enough for anybody and never will be.
  How many days do you think I come home and sense I accomplished nothing that day?  Ya at least 80% of the time.  Months would go by and I couldn’t remember anything that I did.  Unless I work early in the morning, at home at night, or on the weekend.  Too bad I’m too busy trying to engineer my escape.

• Not enough money.  The BMW is nice, but I want the Porsche, and not in 48 easy installments that keep me trapped.  No I want to show up to the dealership with the proverbial duffel bag full of money.  However I can’t go up to my boss and demand a 100% raise – no chance.  No I know that I have to earn more money outside of my professional employment, and not by moonlighting at Starbucks.  So I have started building websites and an internet business.  The irony is: I do now moonlight at Starbucks, but thankfully not on their payroll.  I’m nursing their coffee and using their wifi and charging my laptop and phone.  I’m an entrepreneur now baby!

Above are three of the main reasons I want to escape an engineering job.  Please don’t share with my boss!  How about you?  I’m sure you have stories too.

Remember to come back to this blog if you are looking to reasons and motivation to escape an engineering job.  I will engineer your escape.

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Tags: Freedom, Lifestyle Design, Location Independence, My Journey