• Question: Being an engineer you need to be committed but does it interfere on you family life too?

    Asked by 329sftb33 to Philippa, Pete, Paula, Neil, Matthew on 10 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Matthew Gall

      Matthew Gall answered on 10 Mar 2015:

      Hey, great question!

      I’d be lying if I said engineering was all fun and games. Sometimes we work very long hours, at very unsocial times. Sometimes our job require us to be on call 24 hours a day for a period of time. Why? Well, the internet doesn’t sleep and so we need to be awake all the time to react to problems immediately.

      Luckily, I live with some very understanding housemates, who aren’t unfamiliar with seeing me walk in at 1am

    • Photo: Philippa Jefferis

      Philippa Jefferis answered on 10 Mar 2015:

      There have been occassions where I have had to work on a night shift – mostly because people get a bit upset if you close the road during the day when they are trying to use it. So a lot of our work has to be carried out at night, when everyone else is sleeping. There are also times when a project needs to be completed quickly – such as emergency repair work – to ensure that a bridge can remain safe for use and does not risk people’s lives.

      However, I have always found my company to be very understanding of this and we get time back at other times to make up for it.

    • Photo: Pete Symons

      Pete Symons answered on 10 Mar 2015:

      Unfortunately, yes, it can do, but it can depend on a particular time on a project i.e. approaching deadlines rather than all the time. Most companies are pretty good at giving you time back, or paying overtime to make it worth your while.

      I don’t think this is unique to Engineering, if you are any job and you want to do a good job then there will always be times when there is an impact on your family life.

    • Photo: Neil Taylor

      Neil Taylor answered on 10 Mar 2015:

      Hi!

      I think you’re right – you definitely need to be committed as an engineer. As far as engineering interfering with family life goes – yes, it absolutely can…. But it’s impact can be kept to a minimum.

      On the one hand, it’s very important to find a healthy work-life balance for most of the time; it’s not healthy or sustainable to be overworked for too long.

      On the other hand, there are sometimes periods of time where things need to get done (often unexpectedly!)- and sometimes you are the one for the job.

      As long as these periods don’t come up too often, the people around you are aware when they do come up, and you receive the right amount of time off from your work to make up for it, then the impact can be managed and minimised.

      Like so many things, it all comes down to balance.

      Hope this helps!

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