The stress has always been here. Not so much for a peon such as myself, but for those IT people in the plant or on the "front lines" of a product launch. Because of the economy, the stress is far greater no then it was a couple of years ago. We are expected to do more with fewer resources and at a greater frequency. The stakes are just as high as before; if you shut down an OEM, it costs the company around 1 million dollars per every fifteen minutes. That is not something you want on your permanent record. If you are the plant IT manager and that plant manufactures 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, that's a lot of stress. Sure, back at the home office we're on call 24 hours a day for a 7 day period, but it's rotating. You get 1 week on and 5 weeks off.

I'm sure that people do not see IT as being a particularly stressful profession. It really shouldn't be after all. In the grand scheme of things, tier one auto supply is hardly crucial to the survival of man. This is not a life or death situation. It's too bad that the corporate culture says otherwise.

So, my advice to you is to never, ever going into manufacturing IT.

BTW - I would like to apologize to my sister for offending her. I say stupid things all of the time, I'm flattered that she was shocked by a single incident.

Also, a note to Ciara - give it ten years and you'll give your eye teeth to weigh 130 lbs.  Just trust me on that.