Technology Represents Both Promise and Pressure

Burnout is a common among mechanical engineers at every level. Many are on the edge, or even over it, without even realizing it.

Adding to the strain is the constant pressure to keep pace with an ever-expanding arsenal of digital tools, from advanced modeling software to the sudden surge of artificial intelligence (AI). These technologies promise to ease workloads, but they can just as easily intensify them. Whether they help or hinder depends largely on how leaders integrate these tools and how engineers choose to use them day to day.

What’s at stake is clear: when energy fades, meaning slips away, and people grow detached from their work, burnout inevitably follows. These symptoms of purpose, exhaustion, and disengagement—are all too familiar in engineering cultures that can sometimes prize and reward output above all else.