When someone fresh out of high school starts out in their career, rarely do they ever hear about finding a path that truly fits them. Most decisions for the first career are based on money, not on whether the path will provide long term happiness and a sense of fulfillment. Most schools don’t even have the “guidance counselors” that you see in the movies (at least not during my time in high school). You might get sat down in a class and given a skills test or a personality test to point you in a direction to start, but when you don’t know what those options entail, you can’t conceptualize the level of enjoyment that career path will bring you. Let’s face it, when we graduated high school, we were rarely equipped to make a long-term decision based on the next 5 years of our lives, let alone the next 40+ years! A survey from the Federal Reserve in 2021 shows that depending on the education path chosen in college, 24% to 48% (or 38% on average) of people with some level of higher education regret or would change their field of study. Even the few students who knew for years before graduating what career path to follow may still be wrong in the end. My spouse knew from the start of college that she wanted to be a doctor. But the college she went to wasn’t accredited correctly for her to get into med-school. She now says that she is glad she wasn’t accepted because the lifestyle and work pace wouldn’t suit where she is in life now.
So how does staying in a career that doesn’t fit you contribute to burnout? If someone picks a job/career that may be a great fit with their skillset but gives them no enjoyment or fulfillment in the process of doing the work, they will quickly lose motivation in that role. Life starts to become sour when this happens. When life starts to sour, whatever stress and anxiety that is already in your life starts to amplify. This is a form of burnout. Everyone deals with these symptoms in their own way. I would say “some better than others,” but it’s really some have a higher tolerance than others because it will still overcome you eventually. Instead of fixing the core of the problem people tend to put patches on it by trying to find outward sources of distraction. “Work is the means to allow for my hobbies/passions,” is one patch people choose to cope with. This may delay the time it takes for burnout to happen but rarely is it a permanent solution. In today’s American society, there are enough opportunities out there that you’re not forced to stay in a career path based solely for your survival anymore. It can be difficult, and rough times are involved since you still need to earn an income to live, but a recent article written by CNBC shows that 53% of Americans who have left their jobs in 2021 (some know it as the “Great Resignation”) chose to completely change their field of work or occupation. You can choose to walk away from burnout!
When I started down my career path, I was one who didn’t put a lot of thought into it. I certainly didn’t consider whether I would still be excited and fulfilled with the work I would be doing at the end of my 40+ years of work. I was passionate about music but back then I only knew of two paths, teaching or performing. I didn’t think I would make it as a performer, and I didn’t want to teach. Plus, teaching didn’t make any money. When it finally came down to deciding, it went like this: “I don’t want to go into music but I’m good at math. Engineering uses math. Engineers make good money. Ok I’m going into engineering!” So, I did, but I wasn’t mentally ready for college at the time and dropped out before finishing my engineering degree. Instead, I started out as a computer aided drafting design (CAD or CADD) technician in the structural roadway side of civil engineering. I definitely had the skillset for this job, but I was overqualified. I had already gone through most of the higher-level math of engineering before working as a CAD technician and I quickly became bored with the monotony of the day-to-day requirements. It didn’t challenge me enough. I tried to find ways to keep myself engaged in my work, but it was the wrong career path. I also tried the “work to be able to afford my passions” route instead of changing careers. It worked for a while but when your job isn’t a good fit, burnout will still find you. Somehow I managed to work in the industry as a CAD designer for thirteen years, yet I was so burned out that I almost couldn’t make myself go to work. Neither you, nor the company you work for benefits from that situation. I finally had enough and went back to college!
This isn’t the end of my burnout story, next time I will talk about how I became a Recovering Engineer!
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