How much harder is it being in the working world than college?

[Anonymous]

Asking as a 22 yo who has never worked a full-time job. Did an internship at part-time that led to a full-time job, that I’ll start in two months. I am terrified. How much more stressful will this be?

[Anonymous]

I found it easier.

[Anonymous]

Working is easier

[Anonymous]

I found it both easier and harder. Easier to check out at the end of the workday. Harder in that it's generally more regimented in terms of scheduling and you are expected to get things done on other people's timelines which often are not as clear as they should be. Oh to have a semester syllabus for a job...

[Anonymous]

So much harder.

[Anonymous]

Easier but more boring and a lot less free time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I found it both easier and harder. Easier to check out at the end of the workday. Harder in that it's generally more regimented in terms of scheduling and you are expected to get things done on other people's timelines which often are not as clear as they should be. Oh to have a semester syllabus for a job...

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Easier but more boring and a lot less free time.

Spot on regarding a lot less free time.

[Anonymous]

A lot harder. You are away from home for eight hours a day. You have to dress up, usually. There are dynamics in the work place that have to be balanced that are more difficult than college.

Also, frankly, the first job is usually very unsatisfying.

I found the first few years after college when I was seeking and had my first job to be the most stressful of my life.

[Anonymous]

People are competitive assholes and worse in the workforce where you are forced into a fishbowl with them.

My advice - find something you are really good at and do a remote job if possible.

[Anonymous]

So much easier! Lots more $, plenty of free time, a sense of agency and being able to build a life rather than existing within an (educational) institution. I felt free and autonomous when I left.

[Anonymous]

I think it depends on the type of job. Since you have a part-time internship at the same place—I would think you got a feel for the work culture. I agree with other posters that it is harder/easier in some ways. My first job out of college was incredibly stressful because my boss was terrible and I wasn’t paid well, but the work wasn’t challenging. And while I love my career now, each job has come with its pros and cons. The working world is just different.

[Anonymous]

It's different, and you'll be fine as are millions of other workers. You won't have any big papers or tests, but you will have reports, Board meetings and other deadlines. You'll have less free time (no month off at Christmas or Spring Break for workers), but definitely more funds to do fun things (nice restaurants with friends, plan a vacation).

[Anonymous]

My experience: at first, it's exhausting and isolating to be away from the college situation where you have a built-in cohort of friends, and doing all the adulting you need to do outside of work—managing your own household—is more tiring than work per se.

My niece (23) has done it right by moving in with three roommates who were on a team with her in college, and finds that having four of them to cook and eat together and loop in new friends from their four very different new jobs makes live better for all of them, especially after they were separated from friends for a chunk of college by the pandemic.

Unless you go into teaching. Teaching is waaaaay harder than anything in college. Worth it, but omg.

[Anonymous]

Honestly working is awful. (Sorry!) However this is because the US system expects so much time from workers with too little time off. If you get into a job with decent hours and vacation time, it's generally easier than college.