Good professions for work/life balance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:sales

lollllllll you kid

Source: PP married to the $92K engineer, I work in Sales Ops (so not sales myself, because it is an insane, brutal career)

I'm a teacher and DH is in sales and he definitely has better work/life balance than I do. He played golf today. Sure, he has some busy times but he has so much flexibility and since he always makes or exceeds his quota he's not micromanaged at all. He does the majority of our errands and service calls, luckily. I can't even make a phone call during my day.

For the teacher who has good work/life balance--at what kind of school do you work? I've found that most teachers who work in schools with a high SES population have pretty good work/life balance. There is a level of support there that isn't there for teachers at a lot of lower SES schools. There are challenges, but aren't as mentally and physically draining as the challenges faced in a school with a high needs population.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:sales

lollllllll you kid

Source: PP married to the $92K engineer, I work in Sales Ops (so not sales myself, because it is an insane, brutal career)

I'm a teacher and DH is in sales and he definitely has better work/life balance than I do. He played golf today. Sure, he has some busy times but he has so much flexibility and since he always makes or exceeds his quota he's not micromanaged at all. He does the majority of our errands and service calls, luckily. I can't even make a phone call during my day.

I would agree outside sales does tend to have more flexibility (certainly more than a teacher! or any other job where you're "on"), but I wouldn't call it work/life balance because in sales, you never really can leave the job at work. It sounds like your husband is in a great niche where he's always hitting his goals, but that's not really the norm in sales. Even great sales people often have up years followed by down years, and if you have an awesome year, many companies still raise your quota the next year. It's a pretty unpredictable job. For sure has perks like you mention, but it's not for the faint of heart or someone who wants a job they can leave behind at 5 PM.

[Anonymous]

DH and I are both Accountants. We have work life balance for a portion of the time, but not during busy seasons.

[Anonymous]

I think ultimately, a job that you leave at work and where you have regular hours has the best shot at allowing for work/life balance. Unfortunately, you're a lot less likely to make good money, but something like an admin job at an office is likely to be a regular 9-5 gig. Don't know if you want something with better career prospects than that, but if you're looking for something that allows you to take home a paycheck and not worry about work when you get home, that's probably a good fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What kinds of engineers have balance? And income ?

DH makes $92K as a mechanical engineer (about 10 years experience, started around $65K) in a much more affordable part of the country. He works probably 45 hours a week, but could easily stick to 40 if he wanted/needed to, and doesn't bring work home hardly at all. Maybe twice a year he has a pressing deadline and will bring home his laptop to finish something up for a few hours on the weekend.

+1 engineer. Make 100k after 8 years, rarely have to work over 40 hrs. Also in DC area, and could make more but choose to have a less stressful job.

This is key- there are levels to lots of engineering jobs, which make them great. Because there are often just "pedal to the metal" or "barely working with your degree" jobs in other fields to be found.

DH is an engineer and works in a chew them up industry, so he makes bank but honestly, they own him.

[Anonymous]

Really depends on the actual job at hand. I am an attorney and work 20 hours a week. I make in the range the OP is looking for. I obviously could make a lot more but have chosen flexibility and schedule over $$$.

[Anonymous]

Small-ish DoD contractor II work at HQ as part of internal ops. I manage a small team, work 32 hours and make 120K. Occasionally there is a need for longer days, like when we are bidding on a big job, but generally great work/life balance. As long as the work gets done, nobody cares when or where I work. I rarely bring work home.

[Anonymous]

Attorney above again....I would not generally recommend law for flexibility and balance but jobs like mine are out there. I have friends in sales who also have fantastic schedules and make good money. But many sales and law jobs are brutal.

[Anonymous]

I'm a women supporting my family. I make 90k as a cleared government analyst. Never take work home but I do have to do stints of shift work every couple of years. never over 40 hours a week unless i want to (which is rare). Very flexible regarding sick leave and hours but cant' do anything out of the office.

[Anonymous]

DOJ lawyer. Make $145k, usually work approx. 45 hours per week. Every now and then when I have a lot going on I have to work more.

[Anonymous]

I have no clue. But I'd do anything to work 30-35 hours a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a women supporting my family. I make 90k as a cleared government analyst. Never take work home but I do have to do stints of shift work every couple of years. never over 40 hours a week unless i want to (which is rare). Very flexible regarding sick leave and hours but cant' do anything out of the office.

But you're still working full time. OP asked about jobs <40 hours a week.

[Anonymous]

public affairs staff for a trade association -- telework 1/4 of the time, no travel, 40 hour work week, $140K

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a women supporting my family. I make 90k as a cleared government analyst. Never take work home but I do have to do stints of shift work every couple of years. never over 40 hours a week unless i want to (which is rare). Very flexible regarding sick leave and hours but cant' do anything out of the office.

But you're still working full time. OP asked about jobs <40 hours a week.

OP asked about jobs 35 - 45 hours/week

[Anonymous]

There are also professions/careers that put you through the ringer in training but are actually okay in terms of hours once you have established yourself. physicians assistants and nurses in certain types of practices come to mind.

or one of my sisters is a dietician. she had to take all kinds of random jobs with weird hours when she first got started but finally got hired on by a hospital and does pretty well.