Is it possible bless to have a good career without stress?

[chickaleta]

Posting here because I can't find an appropriate topic in work but can I ask if you feel you've got a good long term career that doesn't cause you stress.
I returned back to work earlier this year after 3 years off. My job is fairly high pressured, corporate contracts stuff and I always thrived on the responsibility. I loved the challenges and actually if I'm honest I lived for work.
It was quite difficult to get back into as I needed a part time role to fit around kids.
I'm now really feeling I've made the wrong life choice. Not only do I not like the role but I feel I'm a different person and I'm not cut out for the corporate world any more.
It's making me really depressed and anxious and I think I need a complete career change.
So... if you you feel you've got a great job that makes you happy and doesn't make you lose sleep at night what is it?
Or if you've mastered work stress and can leave work at work at the end of the day how do you do it?
Or if you're in the same boat what are your plans?
Is this just part and parcel of returning after kids?

My dbro loves his job, earns good money and has v little stress. And the stress only comes from being self employed so it's not guaranteed work (but he's never suffered from lack of work - his reputation within his industry is very good).

I was going to say accounting too. It's not massively well paid until you get to managerial level (Financial Controller and upwards) but you can easily make the figures you're quoting, pretty much off the bat if you're part-qualified. The stress comes from deadlines - you'll probably have to do overtime every month-end and likely can't take leave then either, but otherwise, you just get your head down, do your tasks, and go home at the end of the day. I really enjoy it. And you don't need to be that good at maths - that's what spreadsheets are for!

Accountancy. Doesn't have to be stressful (in comparison to law) but you will have to accept some stress re deadline and office politics. Well paid. You have to be qualified though which is the hard/ expensive part.

As an accountant of 35 years standing, now running my own practice, sadly I disagree, Firstly, it's not well paid, certainly poorly paid compared with law. I never earned enough to be a higher rate taxpayer and I regularly get flyers from recruitment agencies for qualified accountants whose salary expectations are £30-£40k. There may be "some" well paid jobs high up in the city firms, but out in the regions, a higher rate tax paying accountant is doing well! As for stress, the deadlines aren't stressful for me because I am good at managing clients and workloads, so January is usually a quiet time whereas it's chaos for some others. But. the real stress is the ever changing laws and rules - there hasn't been a single year recently where the same rules applied for 2 years running, so I have to spend lots of time and money on courses/training and then even more time/money on communicating the changes to clients, and then time/money on doing their accounts/returns differently each year. Add to that are the clients who these days seem to want everything done yesterday, and those who I have to work weekends/nights to save their businesses when they hit massive cash flow or tax problems requiring creative thinking to save them - quite stressful knowing that a client's home and their employee's jobs are dependant upon me preparing rescue plans etc that will save them from bankruptcy or liquidation!

I don't think many software engineers outside of London earn anything near 70k unless freelance or a high demand client like investment banking. As a top retailer based outside of London we paid about half of that for people with years experience.

No flaming from me - yes you should be able to find a perfectly good low stress role for 25-30k!

(I thought you were going to say 75k and yes then I'd be 🙄)

In the industry I'm in the project coordinator roles (assistants basically) get roughly that. The stress all lands on the project manger:)

We have roles for contracts too - again a support role there would be similar.

With your background though I'd look into more of a shift within the industry - reduced hours perhaps?

Someone already mentioned it. I am a software developer, earning £50k. I don't find it stressful. No overtime. Flexible working. I leave the office 3pm almost everyday and only 4 day a week in office. I get to choose which day I'm in office because I can try to not have face to face meetings those days. Work from home for all children event days, and pick up 2 days a week for after school stuff.

You can get more but I like my place because it's very flexible.

I think £70k role probably involves consultancy and travelling? I know a certain bank on the south coast pay that kind of money but the working condition I hear is very stressful.

My dh is an IT consultant earning £400 per day now he's self employed, so taking off a generous amount of holidays, around £90k and he's not stressed at work at all. He enjoys his job.

Otoh in my previous role I cleared around £30k and it was a very stressful job (although I enjoyed it mostly).

Should add that my husband generally works mon-fri 8-4.30 and if he works etc he can either charge the client extra or 'take the time back'

My dh is an IT consultant earning £400 per day now he's self employed, so taking off a generous amount of holidays, around £90k

If they are inside IR35 ( and most contactors are) then it's more like 70k a year. That is about average daily rate and has been the same for 15 or so years.

Head I know the one you mean if it's in Bournemouth, and their standard working day is pretty long with very stressful conditions.

ijustwant outside IR35 but obviously he pays appropriate taxes as a ltd company.

Fair enough, I just see alot go contracting and leave a 50k a year job for 500 a day thinking they will be more than doubling their income to only end up about the same after holiday, pension, tax, accounting and voids.

I'm sure a lot do. We're very lucky, he's extremely smart and is kind of a specialist in what he does, plus he enjoys it amazingly.

I have been in both situations so this is just my opinion but..

Job 1 - very high stress, medium paid, lots of responsibility. Company culture was awful and my boss was not able to cope hence I ended up doing lots in the evening and weekends. I was expected to be available at all times. What made it stressful for me was the uncertainty, never knowing if I would still have a job week to week because the culture was so bad and often people were being cut for minor things. A very political and back stabbing organisation.

In that situation my home life suffered as I was always distracted and worrying about work.

Job 2 (current job) - higher pay, more responsibility and pressure to achieve. Much less stress. The main reason being that I have more control over my own team and work. I am expected to be available if needed out of hours but its not constant. I have a capable director who is supportive and the pressure encourages me to do better rather than to panic and feel stressed.

So I guess I would say yes it is possible but the difference is in the working environment and also how you categorise pressure and stress. I cope well with pressure but stress is a killer.

However with any relatively high earning / responsible job you have to accept that there isn't really a 9-5. Although my work/life balance is much improved and I am happy with it, I do check emails on holidays and make sure I am available as that just comes with the wage.

For me its more about separating mentally work from home and I am now in a place where I can do that so I am not distracted at home in the evenings or when I'm with my kids.

not sure if that is helpful or not !

Ijustwantaquietlife I didn't take a job there because I heard the same about the stress. Two of my former colleagues quit within a year of joining. I know one took a pay cut just to get away!

And yes it's Bournemouth on the side of the airport.

For that level of money you could be looking at unchartered assistant civil engineer/ civil engineer roles. Maybe even technical drawing if you were ok with the lower end of your scale, could even do that freelance if you wanted.

Not totally stress free, there are always deadlines. At those grades though its very manageable though.

The good news is those roles are well set up to take apprentices, even more mature ones and put them through BTECs and degrees if required.

The (nearly) 70k role includes no travel or consultancy. The person with it was offered two jobs at that salary within a week, so I think it's the going rate for what he can do (Javascript). It's in the UK, but not London.

Kazzie- better to be in- house than a small practice, and is also
Considerably less stressful.

I hire Newley qualified as management accountants for over £40k and a few years experience will get you £50k. Easy to find examples of these jobs on any of the chartered bodies websites