I left my 10-year engineering career behind to become a full-time blogger. I may never match my $112,000 salary again, but I'm at peace with my choice.

The as-told-to essay is based on a conversation between a 35-year-old Toronto-based blogger and a 35-year-old engineer. He requested anonymity to protect his identity. Insider verified his previous and current jobs. For clarity, the following has been edited.

You could have asked me six months ago if I wanted to work as an engineer for the rest of my life.

I loved math and science when I was a child. When I was a kid, my friends and I all went to engineering school and became engineers. My father was an engineer.

On paper, it seemed like the perfect career path for me. It wasn't, but that took me a long time to realize.

I began my career in traffic modeling, which involves collecting traffic-count data at critical intersections and projecting existing traffic volumes to the future.

For about 10 years, I did acoustics, which included environmental noise control, indoor and underwater noise modeling, and noise exposure assessments. I got to travel to different locations across North America when I was interested in acoustics, and that's why it caught my attention.

The first signs happened early in my career. I felt highly stressed due to massive workloads.

I worked 50 to 60 hours a week when deadlines were close. I worked on different projects in Australia and Africa.

I was often leading more than one project. I had to give up less urgent tasks to take care of fires.

I was involved in a lot of uninteresting projects. The only thing that mattered was the schedule and cost.

I changed companies in order to get involved in larger-scale projects. At the beginning of 2020, I changed companies a second time. I found a nice team, a great mentor, and a nice salary increase.

All of this should have helped with motivation, and to some extent it did

The new position came with a lot of responsibilities.

I was in charge of teams of 3 to 5 people. I didn't think I would have to use so little resources.

After pondering the nature of the engineering industry for a year, I realized that most projects have aggressive deadlines but not enough people to meet them in a reasonable way.

Engineers from different firms and engineering disciplines would often complain that they were too busy and needed more people asap. I didn't pay much attention back then because I was too young to notice.

Delegating tasks was not easy. Junior employees from other departments were usually used to complete the work. Sometimes I need to explain some of the theories before I explain the task itself.

The juniors would return to their departments after a few months or a year, taking with them all the knowledge they had gained. I don't think the firm is to blame for this because there is a real shortage of acoustics engineers.

It seemed like every day I was falling more and more behind my tasks even though I was working hard

Due to a lack of time and resources, I was dissatisfied with some of the assessments. I didn't feel like I had control of my schedule. It was hard to find time to have lunch.

My stress went through the roof. I was always thinking about work, whether in bed or in social gatherings. I was trying to think of a solution to tomorrow's problems.

The arrival of the pandemic exacerbated the situation 

I felt guilty when I didn't check my email over the weekend or sign out at the end of the day. There was a lot of work to be done.

I had a panic attack while working this spring, and it was a big deal.

I realized my stress levels were not sustainable after experiencing it. I changed career paths due to that realization. I broke the news when I got back to work.

Health and safety is part of the firm's culture. I left with the chance to come back later.

I love coffee and tea, so I started a blog about it

I talked with family, friends, and a therapist about leaving my job to write full-time on the internet. They helped me understand that quitting engineering was the right choice for me, and that there was no shame in it.

My partner started a part-time blog in November of 2020. We review a coffee machine in a post and include links to the vendor's website. We get a small commission if a user clicks on a link and purchases something.

One apprehension I had in launching my business was not wanting to feel as if I'd 'lost' 10 years of my working life

I gained valuable skills, experience, friends, and life lessons.

Thanks to my engineering career, I was able to afford and purchase a property, which I was able to use to support myself and my new career in writing.

I know it will take some time before I see some significant revenue. In fact, I might never make as much money as I did as an engineer. 

We would need a lot more traffic. It will take a long time before we get any revenue.

I don't want to make lots of money in life.

As I listened to my mind and body, I was able to stay true to myself. I feel less stressed now that I'm an engineer.