HA. Any job can be stressful. I do land development (subdivisions, commercial sites, industrial, a couple of roads, etc. - it's evolved a lot over the years)
From 2003-2007, it was stressful because I was working 50+ hour weeks and falling behind on things. Couldn't keep up, everything was so fast paced, that there was no time to breathe... of course, it was fun too and the company was making a lot of money, so, they were rewarding us with decent bonuses, crazy parties, and just a great environment.
2007-2008, Got my PE, whole new stress of being "responsible" for my designs, started kind of managing some people and became "responsible" for their work too
2008-present, survived 7 rounds of layoffs, all of my friends have moved on for one reason or another, still busy because there are less people, no one to manage, so, I do everything from entry-level work to budget/resource management on projects, meetings, proposals, more meetings, answering for budget over-runs, etc.
A lot of it really depends on your career path. If you want to move up and grow out of engineering (pure management type positions), I think the stress will always be there. If you want to be a technical expert that continues to design even as you get 15-20+ years under your belt, it's probably not as bad. There will be project/deadline type stress, PE stress, but, once you are an "expert" and aren't asked to do the management stuff, it should be less stressful to focus on projects.
Keep an eye on the SWFWMD and FDOT District 1, both in Bartow. I think Kimley-Horn also has an office in Bartow. I'd assume that there is quite a bit in Lakeland? Probably more in Bartow too, a lot of transportation firms like to set up shop near the FDOT.
- I completely agree with you, it's very nice to see my projects come to life. I have a couple of projects in Haines City, working on one in Lake Alfred now, and I have a couple more in the Davenport area
