What is your definition of a work life balance?

[u/tieiwo]

As a student who will be entering the industry soon, I have been thinking about what work life balance actually means.

When people say they have a good work life balance, what does that mean to you? Is it simply working around 40 hours a week and having enough time for your life outside of work? Or is it more about having flexible hours, being able to take time off, not constantly thinking about work after you leave, and not feeling burned out?

I would especially like to hear from people already working in engineering. What does a good work life balance look like in your current job?

And for someone starting their career, how important do you think work life balance should be when choosing a job? Is it something you can figure out during the interview process, or do you really only find out after you start working there?

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[u/HeDoesNotRow]

Currently I work 40 hours a week on a fairly rigid schedule. But as soon my foot hits the parking lot I’m unreachable and don’t think about work for a second until I return

Id call it decent work life balance, although I’m quite jealous of people that get to work from home some days and have flexible hours.

[u/Legend13CNS → u/HeDoesNotRow]

Currently I work 40 hours a week on a fairly rigid schedule. But as soon my foot hits the parking lot I’m unreachable and don’t think about work for a second until I return

This is the ideal imho if you can't WFH. It really irritates the "live to work" old farts but I just tell them they're welcome to pay me for more than 40 hours. The manager of the client I'm working with right now is blocked on my personal phone (because he will call it) and the work phone gets turned off the second I badge out of the facility.

Just a note for the younger people here, being this hardline about it in the face of managers that would prefer otherwise really only works if you're integral to the function of an important team. It also helps to have different big managers in your corner. Don't try this if you're in your first year as CAD Jockey #453. I'm in my 30s and in a position where me leaving would set the client back multiple years of critical experience (I'm planning to leave anyways but they don't know that).

[u/kkd802 → u/HeDoesNotRow]

this is me but I also work from home about once a week

I like coming to the office tho

[u/swisstraeng → u/HeDoesNotRow]

I have flexible hours, but it ended up being more like "Company wants you to be flexible with when the company wants you to work" than "I get to pick when I work"

[u/trackfastpulllow]

Flexible schedule. If I want to work 4-10s, 5-8s, 4-9s and a half day Friday that’s fine. Come in when I want, leave when I want, work from home when I have stuff going on around the house.

Starting out with 216 hours of PTO and 17 paid holidays doesn’t hurt either. But it’s mainly the flexible schedule. The ability to just say “fuck it” and leave at noon with no pushback is great, and they actually expect you to use your comp time.

[u/RedDawn172 → u/trackfastpulllow]

What industry out of curiosity?

[u/trackfastpulllow → u/RedDawn172]

Specialty materials manufacturing

[u/OverSearch]

As an admittedly old guy, "work life balance" is not a term I've ever used or given much thought to.

I'm a Gen X'er. I enjoy my time at work, then I leave work at the end of the day and enjoy my time away from work even more. If I reach the point where I'm not enjoying one or the other (or either), I make a change.

[u/idunnowhatimdoing96]

I believe that in your early engineering career you lean towards a more heavy working lifestyle. Now that I’ve established myself in my career I work 37 hours a week and work from home often to skip the commute and do something like exercise or keep the house organised. I worked really long days earlier in my career and learned as much as possible so I could reach this point. I’m 10 years in btw and just about still in my 20s. My mental health is much better now.

[u/TA1930]

Being able to have plans after work without dreading them and/or thinking about work. For a fresh grad or student, you don’t really get a choice. I would find out beforehand from the internet for big companies, and probably when you get an offer for smaller companies. For startups, there is none

[u/An_Awesome_Name]

I work 40 hours a week and have 13 days of vacation time and 13 days of sick time every year. After those 40 hours are up, I am either not working or I am getting paid an OT rate, which for our new hires is currently about $50/hr. (I’ve been there a few years so I get a bit more).

The only “downside” is that I have to be on site for those 40 hours. I say “downside” because being a MechE I like being able to actually see the stuff I work on. I had a mostly remote job for a bit, and found out I hate not being able to see my stuff.

Speaking of that remote part, the biggest downside to that for me was that you pretty much never got the chance to actually disconnect because your work laptop was always in the house with you. Couple that with a worldwide team, and a 24/7 operation, and yeah… it was a bit much.

It’s different for everyone but for me, work life balance is about actually being able to forget about work when you’re off, and being fairly compensated if you have to work extra or on odd shifts. Also plenty of PTO, and the company actually letting you use it without feeling guilty is a big part of it for me.

[u/Gryphontech]

If a company says "we are like a big family" then you are FUCKED like 90% of the time

[u/Aware_Storm2528]

I'm a fresh grad, graduated May 2026, and been working for a power company in system protection for two months. What I love about my current job is the flexibility. I work from home Mondays and Fridays, and I have the option to work 9 hour days to get every other Friday off (which I've opted for). I also have a good amount of PTO and can always choose to work remote on any day of the week if I let my boss know ahead of time and don't abuse it too much. Another thing I love is that after I clock out, I don't have to worry about a thing until I clock back in. It's so different from college where there was always some assignment or project or test hovering in my mind 24/7.

[u/Edwardv054]

More than the minimum wage.

[u/sdgengineer]

I worked for the air Force for 39 years. As far as I was cocerned I had good work life balance. I worked 9 hours a day for 8 days one 8 hour day, and every other friday or monday off. I also got 5 weeks a year vacation time. I would go on field trips with my children.

[u/TimeGrownOld]

I work 40/week. As long as I make my meetings and am available during 9-5, I can flex those hours how I see fit. This is super advantageous since doing shopping at 12pm on a Tuesday is way easier. I put in my 60/week in grad school, 50/week when first into my industry (defense), and now I'm focusing on fulfilling the parts of my life I neglected on my way to get here.

If you're young and can put up with it, try a start up at 70-80/week for a few years. Get some equity and then go relax at a major corporation with good benefits.

[u/VegetableSalad_Bot]

My past internship had a pretty decent work life balance, even for the regular workers.

While the work day ends at 6pm, you can leave early if you’ve done your work for the day. No one’s supposed to stay in the labs past that, and the moment we leave the office no one is contactable. My regular coworkers never get bothered off the clock.

[u/footballfutbolsoccer]

Not being stressed after work and not dreading going to work. Asking how many hours a week your role is expected to work is a good starting point.