A mechanical engineer with more than six years of experience is so fed up with his job that he’s asking Reddit if he should quit and deliver pizzas instead.
Posting to Reddit’s r/Salary forum, the engineer explained he’s doing “the work of 3 engineers” while also covering manufacturing and quality roles. Despite begging his manager, chief financial officer and director of operations to hire help, he says they’ve refused, claiming “business is slow.”
He currently makes $77,000 a year, but says it’s not worth the toll on his health and mental well-being. “I just want a low-stress job. I think I’m developing an ulcer from the stress,” he wrote. “Every single engineer we’ve had quit in the last 3 years hasn’t been replaced.”
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Even taking time off has become impossible. “They deny me taking PTO longer than a day so I can’t even clear my head,” he added.
Frustrated and burned out, the engineer is considering a dramatic change. He asked Reddit bluntly, “Pizza delivery drivers, do any of you make 50-60K?”
Responses flooded in from hundreds of Reddit users, most of whom strongly advised against leaving engineering entirely. Many instead urged him to “quiet quit”—a now-popular phrase that essentially means doing only the bare minimum required at work.
“Just don’t work so much. The worst that could happen is they fire you and then they’ll be in even worse shape,” one commenter said. Another added, “I put my 40ish hours and I’m out. Whatever I get done is what gets done. If I miss a due date? Too bad.”
The original poster seemed open to the idea, replying, “Not a terrible idea.” He later admitted, “Only recently have I gotten to the point mentally that I actually consider getting fired a not so bad outcome.”
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He says it’s not like he hasn’t tried to escape. Despite applying widely to utilities, project management, sales engineering, and more, he says the market has gone cold.
“I’ve looked everywhere,” he explained. “Companies are super picky right now because basically everyone is slowing down.”
