Rant: Work-life balance

[JL21]

There are times where things just can't wait, but we really do encourage a balanced work life and will avoid doing things on weekends (esp. 3 day weekends) whenever possible. Of course I work in an unusual environment - $ have nothing to do with our bottom line. Which is exactly why I came to work here to be quite honest. I remember getting the phone call from the head hunter, I was intrigued because it sounded like a cool place but it was over an hour commute from where we lived. As I was hanging up, the recruiter said "oh by the way you get 5 weeks vacation". "I'll see them tomorrow" was my answer, and I never looked back.

I've had 5 weeks vacation (plus 10 holidays) for almost 20 years now, and that is a wonderful mechanism to control that work-life balance. They changed that a year after I started - going to 1.5 days/month which is still pretty good. It takes 10 years now to get to the 5 week level.

I get 1.9/month, but you have to wait 6 months before you can start cashing in. Which I only bring up to agree with you- that having a benefit like that will increase your willingness to deal with more bull [expletive].

[Gashouse]

I could try to switch my niche to low-impact design and/or green infrastructure and possibly open a few other doors, but don't know if that's really what I want to do.

In my professional opinion, this will be a growing field with a need for smart and creative people.

Good point. It's already another niche within my company, so getting involved is about as hard as walking down the hall and talking to someone. (But since we're engineers, that's harder than it sounds to many folks.)

[mikechamp]

Good point. It's already another niche within my company, so getting involved is about as hard as walking down the hall and talking to someone. (But since we're engineers, that's harder than it sounds to many folks.)

I don't understand the computer programming abbreviations jim and others use, but I do get the humor in your last sentence.

[TimeForGuinness]

I just make work my life, and it balances out

[mikechamp]

I could try to switch my niche to low-impact design and/or green infrastructure and possibly open a few other doors, but don't know if that's really what I want to do.

In my professional opinion, this will be a growing field with a need for smart and creative people.

The hard part would be starting up, imo. I've thought a little about this, not really doing it, but how I would start it up in the event I wanted to. The hard part is having the niche. Almost any firm can market themselves as green or low-impact, imo. Thus, leading to the hard part as actually cornering the market and convincing everyone your knowledge is superior to a firm saying they are the same thing....That exercise would be great when completed but very difficult to complete.

There are already larger companies, as well, that are specializing in LEED certification, testing, et al though they're not in the design business....probably for a reason.

Any way I slice it, I can't fathom a way where starting up my own business, niche or not, in the design arena is profitable without a lot of work.

I've e-mailed with JoD about a similar topic (career move), too. For me, I just took the plunge after getting laid off (happily, I might add). What I had going for me was that it was a move within my industry, I already knew a lot of people and it was at the same level (national). The other key was partnering with the right person/company. That gave me a big boost, and got me mostly through the awareness stage. Another key: having a passion for it gives you a great advantage over someone else who "just does it for a job". I'm also fortunate that my income (or lack of) is not essential to my family's existence.

Gashouse has it easy. He can walk down the hall and make the transition. For others, it is daunting. But I've been there and know how it feels.

My advice would be to work with someone else; don't try and do it alone. Hopefully, that person doesn't have the exact same skill set as you. It'll still be challenging/frustrating/exhilarating, but easier than flying solo. Plus you'll get up to speed faster. If there's a company near you that is in that field, maybe you work there for a few months/years before branching out on your own. If you know a couple people who are looking to start their own place, see if you can join up with them.

But go for it. Being your own boss is something everyone should experience once. If it doesn't work out or your don't like it, then you'll know. But if you never try, you'll never know.

[jim]

There are times where things just can't wait, but we really do encourage a balanced work life and will avoid doing things on weekends (esp. 3 day weekends) whenever possible. Of course I work in an unusual environment - $ have nothing to do with our bottom line. Which is exactly why I came to work here to be quite honest. I remember getting the phone call from the head hunter, I was intrigued because it sounded like a cool place but it was over an hour commute from where we lived. As I was hanging up, the recruiter said "oh by the way you get 5 weeks vacation". "I'll see them tomorrow" was my answer, and I never looked back.

I've had 5 weeks vacation (plus 10 holidays) for almost 20 years now, and that is a wonderful mechanism to control that work-life balance. They changed that a year after I started - going to 1.5 days/month which is still pretty good. It takes 10 years now to get to the 5 week level.

I get 1.9/month, but you have to wait 6 months before you can start cashing in. Which I only bring up to agree with you- that having a benefit like that will increase your willingness to deal with more bull [expletive].

It's 3 months for us, but you accumulate them starting at day 1 (it's 2 days per month for me, so under 5 weeks by a day but we get one FH so I just round up).

Best benefit ever. My kids were little when I took this job 19 years ago, and before that I had 2 weeks of vacation. When you have 2 little kids, you burn at least a week of vacation on family issues. I will take 3 weeks between now and the end of September - probably a block of 2 and then sprinkle a week around various weekends. And I take a week in late winter to go somewhere warm, and then a few days around xmas to get a week there.

It's a great way to balance things out. I'm never too far from a vacation. I really don't understand how people can go as long as they do sometimes without taking a vacation.

Just checked, I have 144 hours of vacation right now. Time to start spending some of it.

[JL21]

I just make work my life, and it balances out

I feel like I should take a shower to wash this off of my soul.

[pioneer98]

I ran into someone with the attitude "I gave up having a family life to pursue my career." No. You made a choice, for better or worse. Because actually, it is me who is giving up my family life every [expletive] day in order to work here. Those that leave behind their families every day are the ones making the sacrifice. FYI - This is why we have pictures of them on our desks.

I finally realized this is the same exact attitude that ticked me off so much about this NPR interview I was listening to a few weeks ago. They had a parent on who was advocating a type of home schooling, saying more people should do what he does. Someone commented that what he is advocating is a HUGE luxury that very few can afford. He said something like "Actually, dropping my kids off at school every day would be a lot less work than what I do now." [expletive] you. Like we just drop our kids off at school and then go hit the golf course all day or something. You think we want to drop our kids off every day because we are lazy? I'd love nothing more than spending all day teaching my kids stuff. But we need to eat.

This attitude sucks and is out of touch with reality and these people just need to shut up.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

It's silly. I tend to agree that home-schooling little AW would be equally as much work if not more than what I currently do at my job (because daycare is included in home-schooling), but, BUT, I don't get paid based on how hard I work. I get paid based on what my job pays me, and homeschooling the little one would pay....carry the zero....Nothing! Of course it would save about $750/month, but that's....that's a pretty noticeable pay cut.

[Diddy]

Baby sitter called in sick today and wife had a patient that she had to see so I'm home with the kids today. I'm pretty sure mom isn't going to be happy with the toys all over the house but its been fun to play and not worry about work.