<p>The petroleum engineer I know says I work way too much. He works for KBR and is on a 19-month stint in Algeria right now doing engineering field work.</p>
<p>I’m very tired right now. I’m assistant project manager on a landmark project, one that will be pretty much first line on my resume hereafter, and I’m on call 24-7. I’m working at least 60 hours a week at the office, then I come home and answer e-mails until I pass out. We send work to be drafted overnight at a subcontractor in India because we’ve got too much to do, so they’ll often call or e-mail overnight for clarifications on the work I send them. Night before last, they woke me up at 1AM, 4AM, 6AM, and 8AM.</p>
<p>This is the upper bound, though. Our team is nearly mutinous at this point, and there are times when the PM and I are full-tilt yelling at each other. I’m relieved to know that this is the worst it’s ever going to get. Sometimes my job is a lot of fun. Right now, it isn’t. It’s like finals week, but for months on end. If they push our deadline one more time and give us even more time to obsess over the drawings, I’m going to fall over.</p>
<p>OK. Back into my foxhole.</p>