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What's the hardest part of working as a Electrical Engineer?
How physically taxing is working as an electrical engineer? What should i expect this job to affect my mental health.
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Daniel’s Answer
hi Joshua,
That's really interesting that you are asking specifically about how any job in this profession might affect your mental health. I have to say that is an area that was not even considered when I was choosing a major in college, other than the typical stereotype of needing to take a lot of difficult (e.g. math and physics intensive) courses. Now that I've spent over 30 years in various roles as an electrical engineer, I wish that someone had talked more about the possible impacts of this type of work on people's mental well being.
As the other Dan has already answered, most electrical engineering work is not very physically demanding. Choosing to use a standing desk might be the most physically active that we get in a typical day, along with some work in a laboratory environment. But there can be lots of stressful situations that can be experienced in different parts of the job. I'm using stressful to mean situations where someone wants a behavior or a result from you that you would not voluntarily sign up for. Common examples are trying to do work in a shorter amount of time than what you think is necessary to do a good, complete job. Or not being given the necessary or right resources to do a job correctly. Others are competitive pressures that you may experience from co-workers who might want to take the projects, assignments, or accolades that you are also going after. Every job is likely to have some combination of the type of stresses that I listed above, but usually there are also just as many (if not more) colleagues and managers who are there to help you get through those tough times.
In more recent times, I have seen an increase in a type of stress that I find more troublesome - that being a push to lie or cheat in order to appear to achieve some goal, whether to appease management, investers, public expectations, or other forces that are present in the business environment. Most engineers perfer to work with facts and provable chains of reasoning, and I don't know if modern engineering curriculums include discussions of ethics and pyschology (esp. team or organizational psychology). I think those are equally important aspects of a first-class electrical engineering education as math and physics. In fact, for certain roles (engineering management, technical leadership), one could argue that those are even more important than any advanced engineering coursework.
I wish you well in your search for a meaningful and rewarding profession/career. I feel rather un-qualified to give advice about how to achieve and maintain good mental health, but I do know that for me, it helps to have someone remind me that if a situation feels really uncomfortable, and you don't see positive changes despite your efforts to raise awareness of problems, that it's OK to walk away. One can always find another job, another company, that will be a better fit, and possibly more rewarding in the long run. As stated in a book title from a few decades back: "everything I needed to know I learned in kindergarten". We all have an innate sense of whether something is good for us or not, including roles, working environments, and careers. Keep listening to that voice, and keep prioritizing doing what helps you maintain good mental wellbeing, just as you would to your physical wellbeing.
consider taking an intro psych class, or even better, organizational psych
develop and maintain a good support networks (friends and colleagues), whom you can ask for support when needed
practice listening to your inner voice, rather than trying to change it or tune it out
That's really interesting that you are asking specifically about how any job in this profession might affect your mental health. I have to say that is an area that was not even considered when I was choosing a major in college, other than the typical stereotype of needing to take a lot of difficult (e.g. math and physics intensive) courses. Now that I've spent over 30 years in various roles as an electrical engineer, I wish that someone had talked more about the possible impacts of this type of work on people's mental well being.
As the other Dan has already answered, most electrical engineering work is not very physically demanding. Choosing to use a standing desk might be the most physically active that we get in a typical day, along with some work in a laboratory environment. But there can be lots of stressful situations that can be experienced in different parts of the job. I'm using stressful to mean situations where someone wants a behavior or a result from you that you would not voluntarily sign up for. Common examples are trying to do work in a shorter amount of time than what you think is necessary to do a good, complete job. Or not being given the necessary or right resources to do a job correctly. Others are competitive pressures that you may experience from co-workers who might want to take the projects, assignments, or accolades that you are also going after. Every job is likely to have some combination of the type of stresses that I listed above, but usually there are also just as many (if not more) colleagues and managers who are there to help you get through those tough times.
In more recent times, I have seen an increase in a type of stress that I find more troublesome - that being a push to lie or cheat in order to appear to achieve some goal, whether to appease management, investers, public expectations, or other forces that are present in the business environment. Most engineers perfer to work with facts and provable chains of reasoning, and I don't know if modern engineering curriculums include discussions of ethics and pyschology (esp. team or organizational psychology). I think those are equally important aspects of a first-class electrical engineering education as math and physics. In fact, for certain roles (engineering management, technical leadership), one could argue that those are even more important than any advanced engineering coursework.
I wish you well in your search for a meaningful and rewarding profession/career. I feel rather un-qualified to give advice about how to achieve and maintain good mental health, but I do know that for me, it helps to have someone remind me that if a situation feels really uncomfortable, and you don't see positive changes despite your efforts to raise awareness of problems, that it's OK to walk away. One can always find another job, another company, that will be a better fit, and possibly more rewarding in the long run. As stated in a book title from a few decades back: "everything I needed to know I learned in kindergarten". We all have an innate sense of whether something is good for us or not, including roles, working environments, and careers. Keep listening to that voice, and keep prioritizing doing what helps you maintain good mental wellbeing, just as you would to your physical wellbeing.
Daniel recommends the following next steps:
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Greg’s Answer
Becoming an Electrical Engineer is mentally not physically taxing. I studied that field and math is the key. In college there were many formulas and equations you needed to memorize or understand how to use them to solve problems. Some math problems would take 4 note book pages to solve. With that being said, finding the answer was rewarding as hitting the lottery. The math was needed for circuit design, with the equations allowing you to pick the components, power supply, circuit board design, etc.. It felt good know that a design you created on paper then built in the lab actually worked! My financial circumstances at the time didn't allow me to get a 4 yr degree so I had to settle for a 2 yr one. That 2 year degree served me well and I was able to enter the cellular industry 25 years ago. I enjoy what I do and still get that feeling of accomplishment when I put a new cell site on the air, troubleshoot and repair existing cells, and drive areas with test equipment looking for a signal source that is interfering with cellular service. To sum it up, if you truly are excited about becoming an Electrical Engineer, where you design the gadgets of tomorrow, then it will feel like no work at all!! Good luck - electronics is a great field, wise path to follow.
This was super helpful, thank you!
joshua
Dan Wolf
Retired Electrical/Software Engineer and part-time College Professor (BSEET and MS Engineering Management)
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Dan’s Answer
I am a retired engineer and never experienced or observed a situation that was physically taxing. Quite the opposite, the work is most likely a lot of desk and office work so a little after-hours exercise is called for. However there are electrical engineering positions that are factory or field orientated and these require you to be somewhat more active. A factory engineer will be spending time on the factory floor but that is more walking and motion rather than muscle work. And I can imagine some jobs requiring work on large machinery or extreme locations could be more physical. I would not expect most electrical engineers to be physically taxed at work and will note that you should find it easy to avoid the infrequent positions that require such effort.
As for affects on mental health, electrical engineering is likely to subject you to schedule and budget deadlines which can be stressful if you let it get to you. And just like any job, company, or career, there are situations that are high stress but, as an EE, you will have skills that fairly easily allow you to change your employment should your current job have more stress that you like. My career was full of interesting things to learn and do, including: many different microprocessors and computers, pay phones, steel manufacturing, aluminum foundry, weather systems, freight locomotive braking systems, and mass transit transit vehicles. All the exciting (and always changing) experiences made my days quite enjoyable!
As for affects on mental health, electrical engineering is likely to subject you to schedule and budget deadlines which can be stressful if you let it get to you. And just like any job, company, or career, there are situations that are high stress but, as an EE, you will have skills that fairly easily allow you to change your employment should your current job have more stress that you like. My career was full of interesting things to learn and do, including: many different microprocessors and computers, pay phones, steel manufacturing, aluminum foundry, weather systems, freight locomotive braking systems, and mass transit transit vehicles. All the exciting (and always changing) experiences made my days quite enjoyable!