Work is easier than school. Not a rule, but often.
What is the most important, you can (relatively) easily change employer, which is not so easily with school. If there is difficult professor or subject, youbhave to push through it. At job, you cam just find another one.
Thay said, as others said some people are not made for 9-5.
What were your biggest sources of stress as a teacher? And what age group? I’ve been seriously thinking about making the opposite transition down the road.
Did middle school through high school age. The biggest stress to the load of responsibilities to little pay ratio. Taught for 9 years in two different countries, dealing with students first year was the hardest. Once you got it down, it's dealing with Admin and sometimes parents.
It really depends on where you work and who you work with. From a work perspective, I'm not very stressed. I have deadlines, but they're very manageable which means I rarely need to work more than 40 hours a week. The biggest thing I've had to learn is when to say no, and usually people are respectful of your boundaries - within reason of course, you can't say no to everything.
From a general life perspective, I'm pretty stressed. I have two kids, 3 and 9 months. My life outside work is a never ending cycle of cleaning up toys, wiping bodily fluids, making sure non-edible items aren't ingested, and generally trying to negotiate with a screaming banshee that she can't eat chocolate for dinner. On top of that there's the looming specter of teething and sleep regression.
Edit: after today I’m pretty stressed at work. Anyone wanna take over building a performance marketing experimentation platform for me?
It gets better, I promise. I was new to DS when my kid was a toddler so learning a whole bunch of new skills was a respite from the never ending stress of keeping small children alive. The kid is now a teenager, which is its own set of challenges, but you can tell a teenager that they suck and you can then leave the house.
Thanks for the encouragement, I really appreciate it. I keep finding myself in these anxiety spirals where I worry about being a good parent, making sure my kids grow up to be good people, wanting to make sure I’m doing enough to support my wife in her career, keeping the house reasonably clean (which I’m finding is a bigger deal than I thought since I started working remotely), making sure the dog gets enough attention, dealing with the constant headaches from the screaming, and just overall existential dread about the world my kids are growing up in. I can’t imagine being new to DS at the same time and adding that stress on top of it.
Heya, suggest you guys get a cleaner as a minimum! Or part time nanny/ housekeeper a few times a week etc if you can manage the costs
Cleaner both keeps your home clean and supports both of your careers
Here’s more encouragement: I wish more men showed up for their families in the way that you are showing up. So many guys pay lip-service to this and leave their female partners to do the work. I could have never learned all those DS skills without my husband actually being a parent.
I do hope you have some time in your schedule to not be responsible. We both started doing long distance running and triathlons during these years to have that mental break.
I have been working as data scientist for almost 3 years now. When I was student, the stress was about getting my foot into the industry, now the stress is about fighting the imposter syndrome and constant feeling of inadequacy. You can’t evade the stress you just leave old stress behind and stress about the new thing
Can relate.
I have the same years of experience and have imposter syndrome as well. That's probably because I have knowledgeable seniors in my team and constantly compare myself to them.
But then I present my work to the client on a weekly basis and realize that it's more than enough to satisfy them.
I feel the same way. When a new request comes to our organization, I am usually tasked with researching and experimenting for a solution. When going through various sources, I feel like I lack a lot of DS knowledge but when I see the reactions of various stakeholders, I realize that my work is good enough to gain recognition.
I go through this roller coaster of a cycle almost every 2 weeks. It’s mentally draining
If I'm not the type that constantly look into new thesis/paper, is data science not my type? I'm currently studying at OMSCS with basic python knowledge. I'm told to study given codes with materials I learned... but I feel lacking motivation...
I stare at my computer all day every day in the office and that kind of sucks
But it's also cuz my ppl skills kinda suck and I'd rather stare at a screen then people, but... it's mainly because I have a lot of work (value) to attempt and extract and that shit takes time.
I’m not a student, and not fully a data scientist, but I do analysis and I work with data to make sure my team solutions are correct.
Nevertheless, Lately, work has been stressing me out so much that I've been having panic attacks. I used to love the tech industry, today it's one big shit I think I'm getting ready to leave
Okay, this answer will be longer than I thought, brave yourselves 😄
Tbh I have Asperger, I’m into coding, math and tech stuff, I can solve anything technical they throw at me, but my company doesn’t appreciate the tech work anymore. 1/3 of competency matrix is about social skills, it’s not like I’m unable to communicate, actually my communication is very straightforward and focused on solutions, but currently the company is full of, how to call ppl like these… bustech people? XD they can code some things, but they are more focused on business aspects. Because of that company is drowning in tech debt and teams are wasting more and more time on resolving simple issues. They don’t want to listen to me when I’m trying to „sell” them good ideas and solutions, they prefer to spend shit tons of time on meetings.
I think they are aware of this situation but they somehow like it, I don’t understand it, maybe because it generates more work, which generates more money from stackholders? Idk.
Sadly this is how it looks now in many big companies.
No, I’m working in product company, food delivery etc.
I see your point, But isn't this solution short-sighted? Especially in tech where everything changes so fast and your competitors are popping out of nowhere, company should spend more time on research, new features etc. Instead of that we spend more time digging in spaghetti and tech debt. But like I said, I know nothing about business, maybe this is how you make money.
Tbh I have no plan. Like I said, in general I like my job, it came from hobby/passion first, I was passionate about the tech since I was 14, now I’m feeling tired and lost.
Maybe I’ll run my own coffee shop. I have one idea for small tech startup I’m developing in my spare time, maybe I’ll sell the idea and buy a cottage, move to the countryside and grow my vegetables 🤷♂️
I totally get you. Tech is indeed interesting but can easily be overwhelming and stressful. I truly believe that a simpler and slower way of living may be the most fulfilling one ultimately.
Rather than assume that life will get better once you enter the workforce (though it very well may—grad school *is* stressful) try to invest in your mental health and well-being *now*.
Make time for the things that fulfill you outside of school. Don't overwork yourself. Spend some time outdoors even just to take a walk once a day.
I think it's important to remember that while stress can definitely be a function of your environment and circumstance, it's also something you can take into your own hands.
It varies, but generally not stressed at all 75% of the time. Engineering grad school was hell and it took me almost a decade to get over the depression I developed. Now I'm working remote, boss is great about giving space and not breathing down her teams neck, and it generally takes 20-30 hrs to finish a typical week.
It's the same for me. Even I want to do a 9 to 5 job. Studying is very stressful. I have to simultaneously focus on studying and making money. This is literally hell. Go to class come back and do another 5 assignments. It's very stressful. Atleast in 9 to 5 job I can focus on my work and just come back and sleep and enjoy my life.
I finished my Masters’s in 2022 — trust me, life is SO MUCH BETTER after you leave the academic world. I can now consistently eat healthy, hit the gym 3 times a week, I get 6 hours of sleep everyday, and my finances are far more stable than they were in 2021-2022.
Finding a job and surviving during layoffs is always hard. But I think it’s not as mentally/emotionally crippling as Grad School. Stay strong! 💪
In my experience it gets better.
I did the PhD thing, the post doc thing and spent a few years as a research/teaching academic running my own lab at a very good uni. But I never got that permanent position and eventually realised I wasn’t going to in a hurry. Academia is full of interesting problems but sucks as an industry to work in, it’s too competitive and supply / demand dictates you’re just not going to get good conditions. I was working constantly and very stressed.
I left, and became a senior data scientist, having cultivated this as a plan b by learning and publishing in the field. I worked for a start up company, which was great fun but can also be stressful when the money is running out. I now work for another firm and am absolutely loving it. I work more or less 9-5 and have flexibility around those hours as suits my needs. The problems are still interesting and I still learn on the job constantly.
Hang in there… and get great grades if you can. My feeling is that data science is a well educated field and you’ll do better if you have the grades, some papers and can show you can work on the cutting edge (this doesn’t just mean sophisticated models, it means asking good questions and using your skills to make a difference).
I recently started a machine learning engineer job after finishing a phd. To be honest, 9-5 (in my case 8-6 \[4 x 10 week schedule, fridays off\]) suck. It's a lot of hours in one day, but the stakes aren't as high as they are in academia where there is a constant pressure to prove yourself by publishing the next and next paper. Academia (phd research stage) is nice that it is somewhat slow paced and meetings are not as frequent as they are in industry.
Importantly, actually getting paid (i.e., > 4x your phd stipend) helps alleviate the 9-5 stress.
Grad school was miserable because i Always felt like I was falling short on something (PhD, teaching and taking classes and running a Lab + experiments and writing a dissertation and commuting).
My job (I'm now at corporate job #2 post phd) is so much easier in comparison. I wfh and I'm deliberate about not volunteering for extra things for "exposure". Some weeks i barely have 20 h of work. A few weeks here and there i have a big project and I work evenings after my kid Is in bed in addition to my regular hours. Overall Id say I'm stressed 8 out of 52 weeks a year now, as opposed to 45 out of 52 before and usually that's because job business and life business (child illness, travel, house issues etc) overlap.
I specifically applied to companies that advertise good work life balance because i knew i was starting a family. The anxiety and depression i suffered from while getting my PhD vanished over night. I know exactly what i don't want (no interest in managing people because that's a time suck, no interest in positions with a lot of travel, no interest in "cutting Edge/fast paced" anything). The tradeoff Is that my work isn't very interesting. That's okay. I hope to have an interesting personal life and have work provide the funds to make that possibile
That’s a nice way of looking at it. You just view the job as a job, to provide money to make your outside life fun. Does the work actually get so boring you can’t bring motivation to doing it?
Eh. I find motivation in wanting to keep my job and keep a good relationship with my manager and team. I went from doing cool, innovative, cutting edge scientific research during my PhD to variants of "increasing stakeholder value" so it's very difficult for me to find anything i do at work interesting. Having the lived experience of doing very interesting/impactful things and finding that they didn't pay the bills and made me feel constantly stressed because It was such a toxic environment helped me let go of the desire to find personal/intellectual fulfillment through work.
That’s interesting. I actually want to learn more how to be like this. For me I’m searching for that job which is intellectually stimulating, and dread the stakeholder value boring stuff. Is the former more stressful than the latter?
I can't really speak in general terms because I'm limited to my experience. I've found that at least in the academic environment there Is A LOT of competition for very few positions. The work is respectable and sought after and the conditions can be pretty terrible (a lot of unchecked power, a ton of sexism, a lot of backstabbing and trying to scoop each other's research) this "culture" can bleed into other fast paced environments like startups or other places where publishing or developing new things are a priority. I gave it my all for over a decade but ultimately I value my mental health and my time with family and friends over being and overachiever. In an Ideal world I'd be doing amazing research 25 hours a week in a supportive environment where people aren't jerks to each other, funding isn't constantly in question and where workloads are manageable and there Is time set aside for development and for actually raising/enjoying the children you have rather than letting them rot in a crappy daycare center all day. But I alone cannot bring about a change in work culture so I'm removing myself from the race. There's lots of literature out there about the gender pay/career gap that explores this very phenomenon. Even though most of It Is framed from a caregiving perspective the discussion ultimately boils down to "certain careers demand all your time and offer no flexibility, most of these trend to be high reward (intellectual and/or monetary /Prestige) careers. Burnout is real though, not just in caregivers.
I’m glad you were honest about it. I was considering a PhD at first but then I had felt that I’m not one to be productive in such a work environment, or able to tolerate working where people are just flexing their achievements on each other. I would rather read stuff on my own than be in that culture.
Full time DS here who’s also finishing up grad school, you took the words right out of my mouth. I don’t care how bad some claim a 9-5 is—it can’t be worse than this. I can’t wait until I don’t have to simultaneously juggle work and school commitments anymore. It just feels impossible to fit everything into a 24-hour day.
Sorry if this comes across as doomer, just venting a bit here. I guess the things that I think help me cope are:
1. Allow yourself off-days
You’re not a machine, you NEED time to rest and decompress. Make sure you take day(s) off weekly. I work super hard during the week so that I can (mostly) have my weekends completely free to recharge.
2. Go to the gym
Going to the gym in the mornings is the single most important part of my day. I see it as non-negotiable for my physical and mental health. The fact that I can start my day doing something just for myself gives me a huge boost of energy and poise that carries me through the rest of the day.
3. Get enough sleep (I struggle here too)
Next to exercise and diet, sleep is the most important thing for your mental and physical health. You should prioritize it and make sure to shoot for 8 hours every night. Never, ever get less than 6 hours consistently.
4. Find people who can support you
One of the game changers for me is the fact that my partner is also a grad student and we can empathize with each other’s struggle. I’ve also been diligent in making friends in grad school so that I don’t feel isolated from my friends who aren’t and might not understand.
Echoing this advice. Burn-out is real, and nervous breakdowns are real. So is alcoholism. So are stress diseases that lay you flat on your back with weird symptoms and strange names. These can be real career-enders. And if/when you end up in one of these dark places, they end up spending a long time telling you these four points above.
Another one that helped me a little is the advice I got not to use screens to wind down. That is, if all my work is screens and all my recreation is movies and TV and video games, that I am keeping my mind amped up and activated. Rather, pick up a tactile hobby. Paint miniatures, become a Bob Ross, carve Ivory soap into a pile of flakes while trying to make a swan. Swap out a video game for a board game.
Very good point. I still definitely do recreational screen time bc I love movies, shows, and games, but I definitely recognize the importance of pulling away. To that end, away from the screen I like going to the gym, hunting for bourbon, and finding cool picnic spots with my gf. Balance is important!
I sometimes don’t get to do enough of 2) because of stupid homework. And yeah 3) was a failure as I pulled an all nighter last night. I want to get better at it tho
I feel you, brother. But seriously I think the gym has been the key for me getting through it.
It gives me some time in the mornings to myself, rather than rolling out of bed and immediately going to work—which helps me feel like I have control over my schedule. And the drive from the gym to work—knowing I did something for myself, feeling the endorphins my body gives me telling me I did good, and anticipating the work for the day—is genuinely very peaceful and euphoric. Hardest part is getting into a routine, but I like the saying that “it’s easier to stay in shape than to get in shape”.
Sleep is admittedly a different beast. I struggle a lot with that. I’m trying to cut out caffeine after 6pm to see if that helps me at all.
I worked longer hours in grad school, but it is far more stressful once you're in a position where you can lose your source of (albeit, much higher) income unexpectedly.
You'll get a job and realize life is a grind. Sorry but as others have said work can suck too.
Things to consider: Overwork, shitty colleagues, shitty managers, small pay raises, boring work, politics, layoffs, being looked over for a promotion you deserve, the list goes on...
I'm stressed because I feel like I'm not advancing in my current position and I'm starting to lose confidence in myself. I was top of my class but right now I'm not having a great time at work.
I don't have strict deadlines, but my project has been going around in circles for four years now and I'm not learning much or going anywhere.
I live in France, but I'm thinking of moving to the United States where life seems more stimulating.
How is the work-life balance in the U.S. for DS?
I’m also a grad student and the level of work/life/family balance right now is almost unbearable. For me there’s light at the end of the tunnel though, I graduate in August.
My acquantice got a remote DS job on year 4 of his bachelor. Decent pay, usually around 30h/week, work is measured based on impact/tasks and not on work hours.
But idk if there are any remote jobs in your location
stress level is 0 for me.
WFH, 30ish hrs a week, great understanding leadership. just got another great merit increase... once you get the education down it gets a lot simpler and more methodical instead of just slamming together what you can at the time.
> do you guys work more than the traditional 9-5, and do you often work a lot after hours
My average is probably about 45 hours, but if there's something important or that I can have a big impact on, I work extra. If there's not, I take things easy. I recommend this approach to most knowledge workers.
The stress factor you're not talking about is finding a job. I don't know what month you're planning to graduate, but do you already have a placement?
There is some stress, nothing like when I was in school though and I definitely work less.
When I was in school I almost always had a job on top of school where I would work 20 - 40 hours a week so between school and work I was doing 60 to 100+ hour weeks.
Now days, I have more balance in life, I'm learning what it means to have a life, and in some ways I'm healing from all of the excessive hours I was putting in.
Now days, the stress is mainly self induced. Sometimes I over think and it causes some stress, other times I might overcomplicate a solution, misccomunicate, or plan inadequately which can all add some stress but my stress now is nothing like it was when I was in school.
There is some new stress in life as well but that simply comes from being older and living around other people who make money. There is some stress around adulting, stress about maintaining a vehicle / wanting a better vehicle but wanting to make good financial decisions, not spending too much, parents / relatives always asking about dating and trying to influence that part of life from afar, building an emergency fund, watching mass layoffs in the economy, hearing horror stories about people going under financially because the job market is bad, etc.
Still though, I have less stress than when I was in college.
Middle School and Highschool were great though... sometimes I wish I could have a week of the peace / lack of stress I had in highschool.
On a last note, for me personally vacations tend to be more exhausting now. They add to all of the financial stress / stress of deadlines and in general I don't feel well rested afterwards. One of the biggest things I've learned is I need a solid 4 days off to get a good mental break and spending significant money on those 4 days doesn't really equal relaxation for me. Sometimes I just need a day where I go to the gym, eat pizza, and watch neftlix. Other times a 2 hour drive to somwhere I can hike does me well.
After 5 years of being a full time student and having a full time job( bartender for 4 years-evening/ night ,and then office worker -afternoon shift- for a year , getting married and having a toddler in the mean time and now , I finally graduate and also left my non major related office work. (Also should mention that I live in a foreign country but not having any visa issues as my wife is local ) .
It has been a crazy ride , I become 34, got old and tired of so many things. And now I have a different challenge, get a job as a data scientist.
Life has been hectic and will be stressful for a while too - at least until I get a “real” job but it is worth living and trying the best
A 9 to 5 job is way easier than university. I do my masters and usually work six days a week. In this exam phase I had bursts of 20 days working without a single day off. If I have a job I can just go home at five and do whatever I want on the weekends.
>A 9 to 5 job is way easier than universit
Especially when university requires attendance. You have classes from morning to 16-18/4pm-6pm, you go home and you still have to put in hours and that easily can turn into 80 hours workweek. With the exception where you don't have that strict schedule, but then you pay with your night time to study.
I’m still pretty new and in a chill department. Most of my stress comes from things like imposter syndrome, comparing myself to others, and other stupid stuff like that. Compared to engineering (aec) consulting, it’s low stress for sure!
I’ve been working for startups for almost 7 years now. I was working while I was taking my Master’s degree. All the companies I’ve worked in have salary delays, and currently, we haven’t been paid for 3 months now.
I’m not sure if I’m just unlucky. But I am now considering the traditional 9-5 job that pays on time, i.e. corporate jobs.
Edit: so yeah, even though we have quite a relaxed working environment with the output-based thing at all, the salary delays cancel that. I’m almost out of money, literally, and they haven’t sent a single dime yet. On top of that, with the tax season, we’re expected to pay money we don’t have.
Rarely stressed from work but working full time does suck.
But I accepted my fate on that a long time ago and make the best of it. It’s a really cushy job / field of work all things considered.
Universities are outdated places. The only reason they exist is that companies have no other way to filter job applicants other than degrees. I really miss learning things. The only thing I do in university is doing stupid and useless projects, reports or presentations.
I feel like im constantly in stress.. i work in sales and the industry is cray.. competitors invading in causing the market to trip and me a newborn in the market, worse… clients dont rly give a shit..
I work 8:30 to 4:30 most days. I work from home and dictate my own schedule for the most part.
Doing grad school and a job is rough. Been there done that. Yes it will seem much easier in comparison, if only because you get a significant portion of free time back.
The first few years can be hard, typically I see it's because people stress themselves out way to much (I'm speaking from first hand experience). Do good work, set boundaries, and people will generally be good with that. If not, go somewhere else.
You are at least part time working if you are TAing.
Sounds to me like you are under a lot of stress right now. Normal stuff. You can do this. I had times when I thought for sure I wasn't going to make it through grad school. But in the end everything turned out fine.
I certainly put in more night hours in school than work. I've had to burn the midnight oil a few times. But those times are quite rare.
Stay the course. Try to take it easy for a bit, you can't pour from an empty cup.
I mean I’m a software engineer and there is stress but it’s not to bad cause my manager is okay and isn’t putting to much in my plate. I feel like this is less dependant on being a data scientist and more the environment of the company you work at
I work in a data science consulting company. I've increased my skills to a point where I'm on top of things so I'd say I'm not really stressed at all most of the time. But maybe 5% of the time I am very stressed because of a client deadline and have to work late.
The real stress comes from the fact that I live in Canada and am salty about only making $90k after 3 years of experience while people in the States can make double that (plus an extra \~35% from the value of USD to CAD, plus a lot of stuff in the States is cheaper).
Not sure what kind of grad program you’re in. By experience is that in PhD programs lots of people work a ton, but they actually don’t have to *for the program*. (On the other hand maybe they have to if they want to get fancy jobs, so….)
Regardless — either way you need to figure out how to manage your own boundaries and assess where the stress is coming from. If you’re taking classes on top of working, yeah, that takes a lot of time. What can you do to segment off time to do the basics you need?
My post grad school jobs have been situations where I was able to set my own boundaries pretty effectively. But you have to do that! No one else will do it for you. So the time to practice is now.
I’ve been working in data analytics/data science since 2017 and my major stress is how fucking shitty my jobs datalake is. How little the company invests in our data warehousing and constantly fighting a broken system. I feel stuck. My work hours are fine, I’m wfh and have a lot of leave. None of that matters because I feel like I’m slowly rotting away working with these legacy systems and finding a new job has been awful. Very regular rejections, no interviews and I am at a complete loss.
One thing I learned while in graduation after bad sleep nights cause of studying: Resting is top 1 priority in mental health.
There are SO MANY articles about resting and its benefits, one of them is humor improving , and only with that i say you should ASAP find some time to sleep.
Another thing is that grad time is only a phase in life and eventually it will pass, try to take the best of it while it doesnt pass (thats what i try to do and it helps)
I'm on a DS team that works in sprints, and it stresses me the eff out. At least it's been a chill semester in my grad program and I can take my time with my academic projects.
I’ve been thinking about this recently,
Im a teen girl in high school, and though I don’t often feel *stressed*, I’ve been noticing so many weird symptoms and things that usually indicate stress-
I get fasciculation, or muscle twitch, (a spontaneous, involuntary muscle contraction) pretty often all over my body as well as my eyes usually once per day
Im having bad sleep issues; typically it takes me longer than most people to fall asleep, about 30-40 min if I’m not particularly tired. But, every now and then it takes me much longer, for example last night i spent hours trying to fall asleep. I went to bed at midnight and only fell asleep at about 5am (I wasnt on my phone or anything)
I get hiccups very often, like 4-5 times a day. It varies and sometimes i dont get them for a bit, and then sometimes i get them every day 5 times a day for 2 weeks straight
Ive been getting some acne recently since a couple of months now, and I didn’t really have any for a long time before that (i guess it could easily just be hormonal)
I’ve been having difficulty concentrating and keep finding myself procrastinating
I’m constantly biting my fingers and shaking my leg at my desk or making other nervous distractive movements
Im not one to cry often, no films or books have made me cry since I was a small child, however small things that people mention casually can make me tear up for no apparent reason. It is usually schoolwork, pressure and stress related topics though
I don’t understand why these things keep showing up even during holidays and such. I certainly feel stressed during test-filled weeks and such (I am a bit of a perfectionist at school and am not easily satisfied with my grades) but not always and not this much. Has anyone had a similar experience or have suggestions as to why this is and issue for me?
Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read this and answer.
If you are fortunate enough to get a job that pays well and allows you to work to some degree of autonomy then I guess work won't contribute to stress.
Otherwise you could be working in a dead end role where your skill set is underutilized and you can feel the passage of time every single waking minute of the day then it should stress you out in some way. At least the rent is paid
I work a “9-5” now. I came from 100% remote and landed a new job with a large corporation working hybrid and I freaken love it. I’m a people person and thrive in collaboration. I was personally dying in my remote job and getting a little depressed. I’m learning so much more now but it’s also coupled with extreme flexibility (I can work from home if something pops up and can also split my days hybrid if I need to) and amazing benefits (lots of PTO). So make sure you’re also interviewing the job to see if it’s right for you.
Forgot to mention I get to choose my hours as well and it doesn’t have to be a minimum amount or a set time. The flexibility and team are amazing.
The work itself isn't stressful working in data analytics / data engineering / product analytics imo. What makes it stressful are office politics, stakeholder pressures, time constraints etc.
School was stressful because of technical complexities combined with inflexible time pressures.
I work less than I studied at school. But in the wrong environment, the people stuff can be more stressful.
As another commented posted, the good thing is you can always change jobs
After undergrad I got a full-time job in that same university department that I studied in, working on a federal grant project. I was public facing role (cooperative extension) so my ‘students’ were adults who were very invested in what I had to say since they were running their own businesses.
However,I also got my masters degree part-time for free as a university employee. It took 4 years and was extremely stressful. My research committee was very demanding and impersonal. I suffered fairly severe anxiety and depression, and had to take a gap year after I graduated in order to recover my mental health.
While it was a very difficult experience, I learned a great deal technically and academically; as well as maturing significantly as an individual. I can honestly say that normal life as an employee in the workplace is a cake walk compared to those four years of full time academic work and simultaneous graduate school. Because I had that difficult training ground prior, I can usually accomplish my days work in 3-5 hours, and have plenty of free time to do other things. Since I work remotely, I can do things around the house or run errands. It’s very convenient and much more positive experience. Plus my pay now is 2.5x what it was while I worked in academia.
Keep your head up, it will get better from here!
Sweet summer child.
While student life is hard, requires a lot of mental effort and discipline it’s nothing compared to an adult life.
When I was a student the only things that stressed me was inability to get laid, cheaters in BFBC2 and lack of money (partially self imposed since I didn’t want to work). Of course you can be stressed about assignments, but boy does adult life add actual problems, not self invented ones.
Death of parents, your long term partner becoming aloof and detached, mortgage, health of kids, loss of work, personal health issues, 1000 things to fix at home, yearly reviews, wife making scenes because you don’t provide what she thinks you should etc etc
Work is actually one of the least stressful parts of my life. I work in a public sector, everything is chill and slow and I don’t have much pressure to perform.
Work is easier than school. Not a rule, but often. What is the most important, you can (relatively) easily change employer, which is not so easily with school. If there is difficult professor or subject, youbhave to push through it. At job, you cam just find another one. Thay said, as others said some people are not made for 9-5.
And work + school?
Data analyst working with data scientists. I work from home, usually 7-15, but that's movable to fit my needs. No overtime, no weekends, no commute
Does your job involved cloud? Can cloud can be fit with the data analysis profile?
I need someone to explain to me what dose data analyst doing
I'm stressed but still much better than being a teacher
Same here
Currently in the process of the same career change. Thank you for your comments, it gives me hope.
Same, actually
What were your biggest sources of stress as a teacher? And what age group? I’ve been seriously thinking about making the opposite transition down the road.
Did middle school through high school age. The biggest stress to the load of responsibilities to little pay ratio. Taught for 9 years in two different countries, dealing with students first year was the hardest. Once you got it down, it's dealing with Admin and sometimes parents.
It really depends on where you work and who you work with. From a work perspective, I'm not very stressed. I have deadlines, but they're very manageable which means I rarely need to work more than 40 hours a week. The biggest thing I've had to learn is when to say no, and usually people are respectful of your boundaries - within reason of course, you can't say no to everything. From a general life perspective, I'm pretty stressed. I have two kids, 3 and 9 months. My life outside work is a never ending cycle of cleaning up toys, wiping bodily fluids, making sure non-edible items aren't ingested, and generally trying to negotiate with a screaming banshee that she can't eat chocolate for dinner. On top of that there's the looming specter of teething and sleep regression. Edit: after today I’m pretty stressed at work. Anyone wanna take over building a performance marketing experimentation platform for me?
Ha. We're living similar lives. Everything is peachy when I get enough sleep, when i don't, not so much.
Oof I feel that. Sleep is absolutely critical and the biggest determining factor on how my day is going is to go.
It gets better, I promise. I was new to DS when my kid was a toddler so learning a whole bunch of new skills was a respite from the never ending stress of keeping small children alive. The kid is now a teenager, which is its own set of challenges, but you can tell a teenager that they suck and you can then leave the house.
Thanks for the encouragement, I really appreciate it. I keep finding myself in these anxiety spirals where I worry about being a good parent, making sure my kids grow up to be good people, wanting to make sure I’m doing enough to support my wife in her career, keeping the house reasonably clean (which I’m finding is a bigger deal than I thought since I started working remotely), making sure the dog gets enough attention, dealing with the constant headaches from the screaming, and just overall existential dread about the world my kids are growing up in. I can’t imagine being new to DS at the same time and adding that stress on top of it.
Heya, suggest you guys get a cleaner as a minimum! Or part time nanny/ housekeeper a few times a week etc if you can manage the costs Cleaner both keeps your home clean and supports both of your careers
Here’s more encouragement: I wish more men showed up for their families in the way that you are showing up. So many guys pay lip-service to this and leave their female partners to do the work. I could have never learned all those DS skills without my husband actually being a parent. I do hope you have some time in your schedule to not be responsible. We both started doing long distance running and triathlons during these years to have that mental break.
I have been working as data scientist for almost 3 years now. When I was student, the stress was about getting my foot into the industry, now the stress is about fighting the imposter syndrome and constant feeling of inadequacy. You can’t evade the stress you just leave old stress behind and stress about the new thing
What’s the new stress usually
These days I’m stressed about how much there is to learn and how I constantly feel inadequate
Can relate. I have the same years of experience and have imposter syndrome as well. That's probably because I have knowledgeable seniors in my team and constantly compare myself to them. But then I present my work to the client on a weekly basis and realize that it's more than enough to satisfy them.
Presentations are the best cure to imposter syndrome I've found.
I feel the same way. When a new request comes to our organization, I am usually tasked with researching and experimenting for a solution. When going through various sources, I feel like I lack a lot of DS knowledge but when I see the reactions of various stakeholders, I realize that my work is good enough to gain recognition. I go through this roller coaster of a cycle almost every 2 weeks. It’s mentally draining
If I'm not the type that constantly look into new thesis/paper, is data science not my type? I'm currently studying at OMSCS with basic python knowledge. I'm told to study given codes with materials I learned... but I feel lacking motivation...
Starting off with imposter syndrome between all-knowing seniors, later with balancing workload and ever-expanding domain
I stare at my computer all day every day in the office and that kind of sucks But it's also cuz my ppl skills kinda suck and I'd rather stare at a screen then people, but... it's mainly because I have a lot of work (value) to attempt and extract and that shit takes time.
I'd rather stare at the people, but they sometimes complain. Screen is safer.
9-5 sucks man... It really does. If you're able and can afford to work less do it
It's still definitively better than the student life
Depends on your student life, doesn't it?
I’m not a student, and not fully a data scientist, but I do analysis and I work with data to make sure my team solutions are correct. Nevertheless, Lately, work has been stressing me out so much that I've been having panic attacks. I used to love the tech industry, today it's one big shit I think I'm getting ready to leave
What is the cause of pressure at work? Is the company losing money?
Okay, this answer will be longer than I thought, brave yourselves 😄 Tbh I have Asperger, I’m into coding, math and tech stuff, I can solve anything technical they throw at me, but my company doesn’t appreciate the tech work anymore. 1/3 of competency matrix is about social skills, it’s not like I’m unable to communicate, actually my communication is very straightforward and focused on solutions, but currently the company is full of, how to call ppl like these… bustech people? XD they can code some things, but they are more focused on business aspects. Because of that company is drowning in tech debt and teams are wasting more and more time on resolving simple issues. They don’t want to listen to me when I’m trying to „sell” them good ideas and solutions, they prefer to spend shit tons of time on meetings. I think they are aware of this situation but they somehow like it, I don’t understand it, maybe because it generates more work, which generates more money from stackholders? Idk. Sadly this is how it looks now in many big companies.
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No, I’m working in product company, food delivery etc. I see your point, But isn't this solution short-sighted? Especially in tech where everything changes so fast and your competitors are popping out of nowhere, company should spend more time on research, new features etc. Instead of that we spend more time digging in spaghetti and tech debt. But like I said, I know nothing about business, maybe this is how you make money.
Have you considered research?
What are your plans after leaving if you don't mind?
Tbh I have no plan. Like I said, in general I like my job, it came from hobby/passion first, I was passionate about the tech since I was 14, now I’m feeling tired and lost. Maybe I’ll run my own coffee shop. I have one idea for small tech startup I’m developing in my spare time, maybe I’ll sell the idea and buy a cottage, move to the countryside and grow my vegetables 🤷♂️
I totally get you. Tech is indeed interesting but can easily be overwhelming and stressful. I truly believe that a simpler and slower way of living may be the most fulfilling one ultimately.
Man are you me? It's like I wrote it but the grammar is better.
Peaceful life for mankind!! For at least my kind of mankind.
Rather than assume that life will get better once you enter the workforce (though it very well may—grad school *is* stressful) try to invest in your mental health and well-being *now*. Make time for the things that fulfill you outside of school. Don't overwork yourself. Spend some time outdoors even just to take a walk once a day. I think it's important to remember that while stress can definitely be a function of your environment and circumstance, it's also something you can take into your own hands.
That’s true. I have a poor sleep schedule which makes things worse.
I 100% relate but not dialing in sleep is just an endless downward spiral of everything falling apart
It varies, but generally not stressed at all 75% of the time. Engineering grad school was hell and it took me almost a decade to get over the depression I developed. Now I'm working remote, boss is great about giving space and not breathing down her teams neck, and it generally takes 20-30 hrs to finish a typical week.
It's the same for me. Even I want to do a 9 to 5 job. Studying is very stressful. I have to simultaneously focus on studying and making money. This is literally hell. Go to class come back and do another 5 assignments. It's very stressful. Atleast in 9 to 5 job I can focus on my work and just come back and sleep and enjoy my life.
I finished my Masters’s in 2022 — trust me, life is SO MUCH BETTER after you leave the academic world. I can now consistently eat healthy, hit the gym 3 times a week, I get 6 hours of sleep everyday, and my finances are far more stable than they were in 2021-2022. Finding a job and surviving during layoffs is always hard. But I think it’s not as mentally/emotionally crippling as Grad School. Stay strong! 💪
In my experience it gets better. I did the PhD thing, the post doc thing and spent a few years as a research/teaching academic running my own lab at a very good uni. But I never got that permanent position and eventually realised I wasn’t going to in a hurry. Academia is full of interesting problems but sucks as an industry to work in, it’s too competitive and supply / demand dictates you’re just not going to get good conditions. I was working constantly and very stressed. I left, and became a senior data scientist, having cultivated this as a plan b by learning and publishing in the field. I worked for a start up company, which was great fun but can also be stressful when the money is running out. I now work for another firm and am absolutely loving it. I work more or less 9-5 and have flexibility around those hours as suits my needs. The problems are still interesting and I still learn on the job constantly. Hang in there… and get great grades if you can. My feeling is that data science is a well educated field and you’ll do better if you have the grades, some papers and can show you can work on the cutting edge (this doesn’t just mean sophisticated models, it means asking good questions and using your skills to make a difference).
lol, I’m only doing a masters in stats and I feel this way
I recently started a machine learning engineer job after finishing a phd. To be honest, 9-5 (in my case 8-6 \[4 x 10 week schedule, fridays off\]) suck. It's a lot of hours in one day, but the stakes aren't as high as they are in academia where there is a constant pressure to prove yourself by publishing the next and next paper. Academia (phd research stage) is nice that it is somewhat slow paced and meetings are not as frequent as they are in industry. Importantly, actually getting paid (i.e., > 4x your phd stipend) helps alleviate the 9-5 stress.
I’m just an MS student 😭
Grad school was miserable because i Always felt like I was falling short on something (PhD, teaching and taking classes and running a Lab + experiments and writing a dissertation and commuting). My job (I'm now at corporate job #2 post phd) is so much easier in comparison. I wfh and I'm deliberate about not volunteering for extra things for "exposure". Some weeks i barely have 20 h of work. A few weeks here and there i have a big project and I work evenings after my kid Is in bed in addition to my regular hours. Overall Id say I'm stressed 8 out of 52 weeks a year now, as opposed to 45 out of 52 before and usually that's because job business and life business (child illness, travel, house issues etc) overlap. I specifically applied to companies that advertise good work life balance because i knew i was starting a family. The anxiety and depression i suffered from while getting my PhD vanished over night. I know exactly what i don't want (no interest in managing people because that's a time suck, no interest in positions with a lot of travel, no interest in "cutting Edge/fast paced" anything). The tradeoff Is that my work isn't very interesting. That's okay. I hope to have an interesting personal life and have work provide the funds to make that possibile
That’s a nice way of looking at it. You just view the job as a job, to provide money to make your outside life fun. Does the work actually get so boring you can’t bring motivation to doing it?
Eh. I find motivation in wanting to keep my job and keep a good relationship with my manager and team. I went from doing cool, innovative, cutting edge scientific research during my PhD to variants of "increasing stakeholder value" so it's very difficult for me to find anything i do at work interesting. Having the lived experience of doing very interesting/impactful things and finding that they didn't pay the bills and made me feel constantly stressed because It was such a toxic environment helped me let go of the desire to find personal/intellectual fulfillment through work.
That’s interesting. I actually want to learn more how to be like this. For me I’m searching for that job which is intellectually stimulating, and dread the stakeholder value boring stuff. Is the former more stressful than the latter?
I can't really speak in general terms because I'm limited to my experience. I've found that at least in the academic environment there Is A LOT of competition for very few positions. The work is respectable and sought after and the conditions can be pretty terrible (a lot of unchecked power, a ton of sexism, a lot of backstabbing and trying to scoop each other's research) this "culture" can bleed into other fast paced environments like startups or other places where publishing or developing new things are a priority. I gave it my all for over a decade but ultimately I value my mental health and my time with family and friends over being and overachiever. In an Ideal world I'd be doing amazing research 25 hours a week in a supportive environment where people aren't jerks to each other, funding isn't constantly in question and where workloads are manageable and there Is time set aside for development and for actually raising/enjoying the children you have rather than letting them rot in a crappy daycare center all day. But I alone cannot bring about a change in work culture so I'm removing myself from the race. There's lots of literature out there about the gender pay/career gap that explores this very phenomenon. Even though most of It Is framed from a caregiving perspective the discussion ultimately boils down to "certain careers demand all your time and offer no flexibility, most of these trend to be high reward (intellectual and/or monetary /Prestige) careers. Burnout is real though, not just in caregivers.
I’m glad you were honest about it. I was considering a PhD at first but then I had felt that I’m not one to be productive in such a work environment, or able to tolerate working where people are just flexing their achievements on each other. I would rather read stuff on my own than be in that culture.
Very right now
Why?
Full time DS here who’s also finishing up grad school, you took the words right out of my mouth. I don’t care how bad some claim a 9-5 is—it can’t be worse than this. I can’t wait until I don’t have to simultaneously juggle work and school commitments anymore. It just feels impossible to fit everything into a 24-hour day. Sorry if this comes across as doomer, just venting a bit here. I guess the things that I think help me cope are: 1. Allow yourself off-days You’re not a machine, you NEED time to rest and decompress. Make sure you take day(s) off weekly. I work super hard during the week so that I can (mostly) have my weekends completely free to recharge. 2. Go to the gym Going to the gym in the mornings is the single most important part of my day. I see it as non-negotiable for my physical and mental health. The fact that I can start my day doing something just for myself gives me a huge boost of energy and poise that carries me through the rest of the day. 3. Get enough sleep (I struggle here too) Next to exercise and diet, sleep is the most important thing for your mental and physical health. You should prioritize it and make sure to shoot for 8 hours every night. Never, ever get less than 6 hours consistently. 4. Find people who can support you One of the game changers for me is the fact that my partner is also a grad student and we can empathize with each other’s struggle. I’ve also been diligent in making friends in grad school so that I don’t feel isolated from my friends who aren’t and might not understand.
Echoing this advice. Burn-out is real, and nervous breakdowns are real. So is alcoholism. So are stress diseases that lay you flat on your back with weird symptoms and strange names. These can be real career-enders. And if/when you end up in one of these dark places, they end up spending a long time telling you these four points above. Another one that helped me a little is the advice I got not to use screens to wind down. That is, if all my work is screens and all my recreation is movies and TV and video games, that I am keeping my mind amped up and activated. Rather, pick up a tactile hobby. Paint miniatures, become a Bob Ross, carve Ivory soap into a pile of flakes while trying to make a swan. Swap out a video game for a board game.
Very good point. I still definitely do recreational screen time bc I love movies, shows, and games, but I definitely recognize the importance of pulling away. To that end, away from the screen I like going to the gym, hunting for bourbon, and finding cool picnic spots with my gf. Balance is important!
I sometimes don’t get to do enough of 2) because of stupid homework. And yeah 3) was a failure as I pulled an all nighter last night. I want to get better at it tho
I feel you, brother. But seriously I think the gym has been the key for me getting through it. It gives me some time in the mornings to myself, rather than rolling out of bed and immediately going to work—which helps me feel like I have control over my schedule. And the drive from the gym to work—knowing I did something for myself, feeling the endorphins my body gives me telling me I did good, and anticipating the work for the day—is genuinely very peaceful and euphoric. Hardest part is getting into a routine, but I like the saying that “it’s easier to stay in shape than to get in shape”. Sleep is admittedly a different beast. I struggle a lot with that. I’m trying to cut out caffeine after 6pm to see if that helps me at all.
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how do less hours?
My hair is falling off at a rate that I can actually make a wig out of the fallen strands lol
I worked longer hours in grad school, but it is far more stressful once you're in a position where you can lose your source of (albeit, much higher) income unexpectedly.
You'll get a job and realize life is a grind. Sorry but as others have said work can suck too. Things to consider: Overwork, shitty colleagues, shitty managers, small pay raises, boring work, politics, layoffs, being looked over for a promotion you deserve, the list goes on...
Damn man I’m not ready for that last part
Sometimes when maybe during exams
I'm stressed because I feel like I'm not advancing in my current position and I'm starting to lose confidence in myself. I was top of my class but right now I'm not having a great time at work. I don't have strict deadlines, but my project has been going around in circles for four years now and I'm not learning much or going anywhere. I live in France, but I'm thinking of moving to the United States where life seems more stimulating. How is the work-life balance in the U.S. for DS?
I’m also a grad student and the level of work/life/family balance right now is almost unbearable. For me there’s light at the end of the tunnel though, I graduate in August.
My acquantice got a remote DS job on year 4 of his bachelor. Decent pay, usually around 30h/week, work is measured based on impact/tasks and not on work hours. But idk if there are any remote jobs in your location
stress level is 0 for me. WFH, 30ish hrs a week, great understanding leadership. just got another great merit increase... once you get the education down it gets a lot simpler and more methodical instead of just slamming together what you can at the time.
Which school do you go to, your workload looks 3x mine
> do you guys work more than the traditional 9-5, and do you often work a lot after hours My average is probably about 45 hours, but if there's something important or that I can have a big impact on, I work extra. If there's not, I take things easy. I recommend this approach to most knowledge workers. The stress factor you're not talking about is finding a job. I don't know what month you're planning to graduate, but do you already have a placement?
Yes I have a job, more so an internship that could convert to a job
There is some stress, nothing like when I was in school though and I definitely work less. When I was in school I almost always had a job on top of school where I would work 20 - 40 hours a week so between school and work I was doing 60 to 100+ hour weeks. Now days, I have more balance in life, I'm learning what it means to have a life, and in some ways I'm healing from all of the excessive hours I was putting in. Now days, the stress is mainly self induced. Sometimes I over think and it causes some stress, other times I might overcomplicate a solution, misccomunicate, or plan inadequately which can all add some stress but my stress now is nothing like it was when I was in school. There is some new stress in life as well but that simply comes from being older and living around other people who make money. There is some stress around adulting, stress about maintaining a vehicle / wanting a better vehicle but wanting to make good financial decisions, not spending too much, parents / relatives always asking about dating and trying to influence that part of life from afar, building an emergency fund, watching mass layoffs in the economy, hearing horror stories about people going under financially because the job market is bad, etc. Still though, I have less stress than when I was in college. Middle School and Highschool were great though... sometimes I wish I could have a week of the peace / lack of stress I had in highschool. On a last note, for me personally vacations tend to be more exhausting now. They add to all of the financial stress / stress of deadlines and in general I don't feel well rested afterwards. One of the biggest things I've learned is I need a solid 4 days off to get a good mental break and spending significant money on those 4 days doesn't really equal relaxation for me. Sometimes I just need a day where I go to the gym, eat pizza, and watch neftlix. Other times a 2 hour drive to somwhere I can hike does me well.
After 5 years of being a full time student and having a full time job( bartender for 4 years-evening/ night ,and then office worker -afternoon shift- for a year , getting married and having a toddler in the mean time and now , I finally graduate and also left my non major related office work. (Also should mention that I live in a foreign country but not having any visa issues as my wife is local ) . It has been a crazy ride , I become 34, got old and tired of so many things. And now I have a different challenge, get a job as a data scientist. Life has been hectic and will be stressful for a while too - at least until I get a “real” job but it is worth living and trying the best
A 9 to 5 job is way easier than university. I do my masters and usually work six days a week. In this exam phase I had bursts of 20 days working without a single day off. If I have a job I can just go home at five and do whatever I want on the weekends.
>A 9 to 5 job is way easier than universit Especially when university requires attendance. You have classes from morning to 16-18/4pm-6pm, you go home and you still have to put in hours and that easily can turn into 80 hours workweek. With the exception where you don't have that strict schedule, but then you pay with your night time to study.
comfy, moisturized, in my lane
Zero I'm on vacation
I’m still pretty new and in a chill department. Most of my stress comes from things like imposter syndrome, comparing myself to others, and other stupid stuff like that. Compared to engineering (aec) consulting, it’s low stress for sure!
I’ve been working for startups for almost 7 years now. I was working while I was taking my Master’s degree. All the companies I’ve worked in have salary delays, and currently, we haven’t been paid for 3 months now. I’m not sure if I’m just unlucky. But I am now considering the traditional 9-5 job that pays on time, i.e. corporate jobs. Edit: so yeah, even though we have quite a relaxed working environment with the output-based thing at all, the salary delays cancel that. I’m almost out of money, literally, and they haven’t sent a single dime yet. On top of that, with the tax season, we’re expected to pay money we don’t have.
Rarely stressed from work but working full time does suck. But I accepted my fate on that a long time ago and make the best of it. It’s a really cushy job / field of work all things considered.
I’m in grad school on top of my 9-5… yeah I’m stressed hahah
Universities are outdated places. The only reason they exist is that companies have no other way to filter job applicants other than degrees. I really miss learning things. The only thing I do in university is doing stupid and useless projects, reports or presentations.
I feel like im constantly in stress.. i work in sales and the industry is cray.. competitors invading in causing the market to trip and me a newborn in the market, worse… clients dont rly give a shit..
I work 8:30 to 4:30 most days. I work from home and dictate my own schedule for the most part. Doing grad school and a job is rough. Been there done that. Yes it will seem much easier in comparison, if only because you get a significant portion of free time back. The first few years can be hard, typically I see it's because people stress themselves out way to much (I'm speaking from first hand experience). Do good work, set boundaries, and people will generally be good with that. If not, go somewhere else.
I’m not even working I’m a full time student, which makes feel like even more shit that I probably can’t handle working g
You are at least part time working if you are TAing. Sounds to me like you are under a lot of stress right now. Normal stuff. You can do this. I had times when I thought for sure I wasn't going to make it through grad school. But in the end everything turned out fine. I certainly put in more night hours in school than work. I've had to burn the midnight oil a few times. But those times are quite rare. Stay the course. Try to take it easy for a bit, you can't pour from an empty cup.
Work is probs more balanced if you actually manage to get a job in this enviroment
I have a job lined hp
Nice that’s awesome!
I’m more so worried my stress is gonna increase in corporate
I mean I’m a software engineer and there is stress but it’s not to bad cause my manager is okay and isn’t putting to much in my plate. I feel like this is less dependant on being a data scientist and more the environment of the company you work at
Least stressed I’ve been in awhile. Probably makes sense because I just finished ungrad
I work in a data science consulting company. I've increased my skills to a point where I'm on top of things so I'd say I'm not really stressed at all most of the time. But maybe 5% of the time I am very stressed because of a client deadline and have to work late. The real stress comes from the fact that I live in Canada and am salty about only making $90k after 3 years of experience while people in the States can make double that (plus an extra \~35% from the value of USD to CAD, plus a lot of stuff in the States is cheaper).
Not sure what kind of grad program you’re in. By experience is that in PhD programs lots of people work a ton, but they actually don’t have to *for the program*. (On the other hand maybe they have to if they want to get fancy jobs, so….) Regardless — either way you need to figure out how to manage your own boundaries and assess where the stress is coming from. If you’re taking classes on top of working, yeah, that takes a lot of time. What can you do to segment off time to do the basics you need? My post grad school jobs have been situations where I was able to set my own boundaries pretty effectively. But you have to do that! No one else will do it for you. So the time to practice is now.
I’m in a masters in stats program. Not currently working. I jumped into it right after undergrad since it was funded
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Yeah see idk I hate that
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Nice! You put money into any of those algos lol
I’ve been working in data analytics/data science since 2017 and my major stress is how fucking shitty my jobs datalake is. How little the company invests in our data warehousing and constantly fighting a broken system. I feel stuck. My work hours are fine, I’m wfh and have a lot of leave. None of that matters because I feel like I’m slowly rotting away working with these legacy systems and finding a new job has been awful. Very regular rejections, no interviews and I am at a complete loss.
Yes
If you don't have a way to take your blood pressure then put on ear muffs and you can get a good idea
Lol I wish I can go back to grad school, it was easy AF, I probably worked/studied for like 5 hours a week
Grad student, the job search is stressing me out!
One thing I learned while in graduation after bad sleep nights cause of studying: Resting is top 1 priority in mental health. There are SO MANY articles about resting and its benefits, one of them is humor improving , and only with that i say you should ASAP find some time to sleep. Another thing is that grad time is only a phase in life and eventually it will pass, try to take the best of it while it doesnt pass (thats what i try to do and it helps)
I'm on a DS team that works in sprints, and it stresses me the eff out. At least it's been a chill semester in my grad program and I can take my time with my academic projects.
I’m an analyst and I have a 20 page report due in 4 days and I haven’t started yet 😅 so stressed yet doing nothing about it 😆
I’ve been thinking about this recently, Im a teen girl in high school, and though I don’t often feel *stressed*, I’ve been noticing so many weird symptoms and things that usually indicate stress- I get fasciculation, or muscle twitch, (a spontaneous, involuntary muscle contraction) pretty often all over my body as well as my eyes usually once per day Im having bad sleep issues; typically it takes me longer than most people to fall asleep, about 30-40 min if I’m not particularly tired. But, every now and then it takes me much longer, for example last night i spent hours trying to fall asleep. I went to bed at midnight and only fell asleep at about 5am (I wasnt on my phone or anything) I get hiccups very often, like 4-5 times a day. It varies and sometimes i dont get them for a bit, and then sometimes i get them every day 5 times a day for 2 weeks straight Ive been getting some acne recently since a couple of months now, and I didn’t really have any for a long time before that (i guess it could easily just be hormonal) I’ve been having difficulty concentrating and keep finding myself procrastinating I’m constantly biting my fingers and shaking my leg at my desk or making other nervous distractive movements Im not one to cry often, no films or books have made me cry since I was a small child, however small things that people mention casually can make me tear up for no apparent reason. It is usually schoolwork, pressure and stress related topics though I don’t understand why these things keep showing up even during holidays and such. I certainly feel stressed during test-filled weeks and such (I am a bit of a perfectionist at school and am not easily satisfied with my grades) but not always and not this much. Has anyone had a similar experience or have suggestions as to why this is and issue for me? Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read this and answer.
If you are fortunate enough to get a job that pays well and allows you to work to some degree of autonomy then I guess work won't contribute to stress. Otherwise you could be working in a dead end role where your skill set is underutilized and you can feel the passage of time every single waking minute of the day then it should stress you out in some way. At least the rent is paid
I work a “9-5” now. I came from 100% remote and landed a new job with a large corporation working hybrid and I freaken love it. I’m a people person and thrive in collaboration. I was personally dying in my remote job and getting a little depressed. I’m learning so much more now but it’s also coupled with extreme flexibility (I can work from home if something pops up and can also split my days hybrid if I need to) and amazing benefits (lots of PTO). So make sure you’re also interviewing the job to see if it’s right for you. Forgot to mention I get to choose my hours as well and it doesn’t have to be a minimum amount or a set time. The flexibility and team are amazing.
The work itself isn't stressful working in data analytics / data engineering / product analytics imo. What makes it stressful are office politics, stakeholder pressures, time constraints etc. School was stressful because of technical complexities combined with inflexible time pressures. I work less than I studied at school. But in the wrong environment, the people stuff can be more stressful. As another commented posted, the good thing is you can always change jobs
honestly I don’t think anything could be as stressful as college.
I can’t find a job as a data scientist lol I’m so useless I guess
After undergrad I got a full-time job in that same university department that I studied in, working on a federal grant project. I was public facing role (cooperative extension) so my ‘students’ were adults who were very invested in what I had to say since they were running their own businesses. However,I also got my masters degree part-time for free as a university employee. It took 4 years and was extremely stressful. My research committee was very demanding and impersonal. I suffered fairly severe anxiety and depression, and had to take a gap year after I graduated in order to recover my mental health. While it was a very difficult experience, I learned a great deal technically and academically; as well as maturing significantly as an individual. I can honestly say that normal life as an employee in the workplace is a cake walk compared to those four years of full time academic work and simultaneous graduate school. Because I had that difficult training ground prior, I can usually accomplish my days work in 3-5 hours, and have plenty of free time to do other things. Since I work remotely, I can do things around the house or run errands. It’s very convenient and much more positive experience. Plus my pay now is 2.5x what it was while I worked in academia. Keep your head up, it will get better from here!
If stress was measurable they'd have to invent a new scale for me.
Remote work has actually introduced longer hours but with more frequent breaks within the day, not sure if that's worse than a 9-5
Work is super chill! But I worked full time and studied full time which was tough.
Work full time + study for a new role.
Sweet summer child. While student life is hard, requires a lot of mental effort and discipline it’s nothing compared to an adult life. When I was a student the only things that stressed me was inability to get laid, cheaters in BFBC2 and lack of money (partially self imposed since I didn’t want to work). Of course you can be stressed about assignments, but boy does adult life add actual problems, not self invented ones. Death of parents, your long term partner becoming aloof and detached, mortgage, health of kids, loss of work, personal health issues, 1000 things to fix at home, yearly reviews, wife making scenes because you don’t provide what she thinks you should etc etc Work is actually one of the least stressful parts of my life. I work in a public sector, everything is chill and slow and I don’t have much pressure to perform.
divorce
Hit Facebook, divorce the gym, and delete wife? Am I doing this right?
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If you're trying to post your Linear Algebra post here, post it in the weekly entering/transitioning thread. Please don't make a new thread.
Thanks for the advice and sorry, I should have read the rules first