So depressing......

[Brat]

My current job has much less OT than my old job and that is why I left.  I generally only have to work OT one day a month when I close the books for a large publicly traded company and that takes about 14 hours on a Saturday, plus I put in some other OT at year end and at quarter ends..........besides that I have no OT.  I normally also get a day off in lieu for doing the month end close.

Also I don't really hate my job, but I don't really like it either.  It's simply a paycheque to me and I truly do not have the motivation to climb the ranks to make more money for  some additional stress as I feel I am fairly well compensated at my supervisor level.   

The hours you are now working are very reasonable for a supervisor in your field, and frankly for a supervisor in most fields.  I understand that accounting sucks (my daughter is the Controller for a prominent firm) because it is bound with rules and at one level may be boring.  But, IT IS AN IMPORTANT JOB!!  We all want it to be boring because business financial records need to correctly reflect the results of the business.  It may not be exciting, but you don't want to be put in the position that the Enron accountants were at one time. 

The only thing we all are given is time; you need to find a way to spend your time productively, however you define that.  There are part time and project based accounting jobs out there it the amount of time you are working is an issue.  If you don't like accounting find another field you find more rewarding.  My SIL earned a 4.0 in accounting from a selective university, passed the CPA exam before he got his degree.  Within 4 months he was diagnosed with cancer and was fighting for his life.  That caused him to re-think his goals.  Once he and daughter had enough income he became a high school teacher.  Educating kids was more important to him than the corporate fast track. 

When I considered what positions to pursue my Mother asked me why I was going to work, what I wanted out of a job.  I made a list.  Then she said no job is good (let alone great) all of the time, so what of the positions I was considering best met my needs and had the fewest foreseeable downsides.  You need to ask yourself those same questions, and develop an action plan to achieve your goals. 

BTW accounting and engineering are more similar than different in many ways.

 

[TromboneAl]

We discussed the choice between stressful job with good pay vs. job you like with bad pay.

Another alternative is starting your own business. Yes, this can be stressful with long hours, but it's a different kind of stress (maybe) and there's the potential that it will really pay off. It can also be very rewarding in non-financial ways.