Engineer work life balance

Not a good time to go into oil if the one who sniffs kids gets into the White House

Just go work for Tesla

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not a good time to go into oil

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I'm not looking at a job change.
I'm in pharma.
I'm just asking if my perception of the engineers jobs at unit is false?

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What's the reality?

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Reality is what you experience. Nobody can tell you otherwise

I find at my plant that's pretty much the case. Hardly ever see an engineer after hours or on weekends, and that includes turnarounds.

Mama, just killed a man
Put a gun against his head
Pulled my trigger, now he's dead
Mama, life had just begun
But now I've gone and thrown it all away
Mama, ooo
Didn't mean to make you cry
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters

It depends on the reliability of the unit and the company. I have directly supported units for 15+ years at several different plants. Can be a great gig if the units run well and are reliable. I have also seen grown arse men and women screaming at each other and breakdown and cry when they are stressed after a couple outages.

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I find at my plant that's pretty much the case. Hardly ever see an engineer after hours or on weekends, and that includes turnarounds.

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Same for me as well. I've only had to leave my house after hours only twice in three years. I've gotten some phone calls after hours, but not much. For the most part, when no one bothers me when it's not during normal work hours.

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plants.

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But are you ready for the 3/4 ton truck that comes along with it?

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I work in Chemicals as a scientist.

I've seen the engineers attached to plants. Seems to be decent/good work life balance. Occasionally called at an odd hour. But, nothing crazy.
Maybe a crazy week or two during a turnaround.
Seems that they can pretty much plan things etc.

I've been told my perception is far from reality. I'm told that if you're an engineer attached to a unit, the company owns your soul.

Is this true?
What's the reality?

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I can't talk about Chemical Engineering, but I've worked as an Electrical Engineer for 5 years now since graduating.

Its no different than any other job. You'll see some engineers putting in tons and tons of hours, and they seem like they are married to the company, and then you realize they have no life outside of work.

You'll see others that are successful, that have found that balance, that are successful at work, and are married/in relationships, and do tons of stuff out of work.

Then you'll see people that just do 40 hours a week, watch the clock, and gtfo. Do minimum, and nothing more. They do their job, but they are stuck in the same position for a while, and are not promoted.

You get out what you put into it. You have to figure out what your priorities are.

You wanna move up the corporate ladder? Then work your arse off, put a ton of OT in, kiss arse when you have to (depending on your company culture), and make the company depend on you.

I can't tell you how to figure out if you want balance. Its different from person to person.

My advice is, work hard, develop good working relationships with your colleagues, don't miss any deadline, finish things early if you can (within reason), and go home and do things you enjoy doing.