We're expecting our first in December. Is it really like that? Don't scare me man, I have big plans!
But it's going to be hard, you'll have less sleep. Sometimes I stare at the monitor and my head is so cloudy I have no idea what I need to get done.
To add stress, your younger coworkers are going to be working 10-12 hrs a day, and will probably be more productive than you. You'll look bad, and you'll feel worse.
At about 3 years of age, things start to get better.
Of course that's when my second was born :(
Work/life balance is important for everyone.
This is kind of the place where I'm at personally. I used to be the "high performer". I was always the go-to guy. I got there by working extra hours. Now that I can't work those hours, and I'm starting to meet my physical limits, I'm getting talked to about my performance.
He's only about 4 or 5 years older than me(I'm 30). But, that's what the culture's like where he's from though I suppose. He's been here for about ten years and spent just about all his time working to bring his family over and then support him. He impresses the hell out of me, though, i'm glad I don't have to do that.
Why? Do you like this?
Right now me and one guy have a couple new guys helping us who don't really know what to do and can't really be left to do a lot unsupervised. Each of us also relies on the person before us completing our jobs on time. I'm right in the middle of the process, so if I don't finish everything I need to the people that come after me have to work even harder to finish everything on time.
If we're even a couple hours late for a job, customers complain, contractors cancel jobs and the boss is unhappy. I personally don't like burdening my coworkers more than I have to and honestly we do high quality work, I like knowing my work is well done.
We're a small place, we all work together to get things done. The boss puts in his time with everyone he's probably the last one to leave at night treats his employees well. Anything we need anytime to get our jobs done he'll get it for us right away, if we've ever got problems in life or other things he's understanding and tries to accommodate or help out as best he can, they've taught me so many things since i've started here and everybody was patient while I learned and at this point the shop relies on me to be there to do my job.
Oh and my boss is one of the few people I know I can honestly say is a hero. He rescued is family from genocide by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in the 70's when he was in his 20's, escaped to China then brought them all to Canada and started his business with nothing. So the way I see it, I can't really complain to much about having to work hard or long hours, i've never had to deal with watching my friends and family get lined up and executed with an axe to the skull.
And honestly, I just enjoy my job. I get to make things everyday, I program, I do physical work, operate and maintain giant machines, I get to be creative and i'm pretty much left to do whatever I want as long as i get my job done. Plus it's pretty cool to work making things from one of the earliest materials shaped by humans.
The fact that he works longer hours than anyone else isn't justification for this. As the company owner his decision to do so is an option he has chosen and the benefit he gets from do so greatly exceeds the benefits you get from doing so.
You have to work around the schedules of other contractors and professions and if you don't well, your company doesn't get jobs. There's a lot of competition in the industry. He doesn't expect me to constantly work overtime, I won't be fired if I don't, i've been told any time I can't it's ok, i'm never told I have to. I either make the decision to do so myself so the next day will be easier or i'm asked if I can.
I've never gotten in trouble for saying no and there are days where we're slower and there's not much to do. We don't get shit for taking it easy on those days or when we're standing around chatting when we have nothing to do. I personally work as hard as I do because I know I capable of it and it'sy job. I'm being paid to get shit done, when i'm at work i do what i'm being paid to be there for.
I haven't always had to work by myself. There were others doing my job when I started, one became the manager and has pretty much forgotten how to do my job. The other one first got moved to a different position outside after months of not being able to learn this job, eventually he got fired for fucking around too much. I was by myself for a few months after that while they kept trying to hire people who would either stay or actually work when they showed up.
I ended up getting a friend of mine a job with me and she did well at it. She was here for a year and a half before she had to leave due to health and overwhelming life issues at the beginning of this year. Since then i've been alone we hired one guy a little while ago, turns out he was just interested in things like where the security cameras were, which doors get locked at night, how much everything was worth, needless to say he didn't last long. The guy working with me now's been here a few months, he tried a few of the other jobs in the shop but the other people that work here weren't big fans of his work so for the last couple weeks he's been helping me. He's been picking things up, but there's a lot to learn and it takes time which I have to find in between doing my job. It's the kind of thing where a tiny mistake can cost thousands of dollars.
It's just kind of how it is, i'm in a fabricators facebook group. The top complaints from just about everyone is the lack of quality employees. Finding people willing and able to learn as well as being willing to work is difficult.
I dunno, everyone I work with is pretty dedicated to the shop and everybody else there. We like doing a good job. We like knowing our work is respected and valued. People are happy with what we make and we do things other people can't do. It feels good working hard in a place like that.
If those in your industry are finding it hard to attract quality employees then it is likely that your industry is not offering the proper compensation to attract those employees.
If you can afford daycare
I'm sure everyone's mileage (and relationships) differ here.
Fortunately Children for all their work are rewarding. You won't grow as much at work. However you get to see and do many interesting things in return. If you are lucky you can get your kids interested in your hobbies (this isn't that hard)
One reason to never become CEO: they travel 200 days/year and thus don't get to see their kids much - at less than $10 million/year they are grossly underpaid for the time away from family.