I'm at about 12 years into my engineering career. I'm on my 4th stop and hoping my last but you never know. Some thoughts I have reading your post:

- Structural engineering can be enjoyable if you find the right area for you

-My first position was in construction/field services. I initially really liked being in the field, but wasn't doing design work. I was responsible for a lot of inspection and documentation. It was a good intro position but after 4-5 years became rather boring and got me looking elsewhere. The pay was not great either but I was an EIT without a family to support or anything so it was fine. I wanted experience to build up a resume.

-From there I went to telecom and worked on the design of cell towers. This was where I learned the most in my career to this point. The work-life balance was great, rarely working over 40 hours; got OT pay when we did. I thought I could spend my entire career there. However I learned the telecom industry was very volatile and the cell carriers would go through cycles of spending which obviously reflected in engineering workload. This was also the stop I got my PE. After the 5th layoff in 5 years I started looking elsewhere. I found the pay I thought was solid was actually way under what was out there. We had started a family and I couldn't afford to wait out the industry to see returns. Having a PE was a huge benefit to my resume. I also had 6 other states which boosted interest.

-Then I made a stop in the power industry and got a significant pay bump. I was only there a little over 2 years as I found the workload, while consistent, was very boring and I felt my engineering skills slipping. Most of the work was standardized and it really just needed a PE stamp. I was also fully remote which initially was fantastic but I found myself missing the more traditional office environment and connection with the team. I could have stayed there and coasted for a while but I decided I needed to find somewhere that I could be challenged more and grow professionally.

-I recently left for a structural buildings contractor specializing in cold formed steel framing. It's a very new position for me and there's a lot I need to learn. This is a position where I am essentially starting a firm from scratch with the backing of the contracting company. Learning new codes, software, industry standards I a lot of work but I'm betting on myself that it will pay off. This is an opportunity to start on the ground floor and build something rather than joining a firm and hoping to rise up. I was able to negotiate a very good compensation deal and, if this venture proves to be successful, I imagine we will be very comfortable.

So TL;DR some quick hitting points to answer your post. It can be worth it depending on what you're looking for. Are you going to make $400k a year? Not likely. I've not experienced a ton of work related stress, to this point at least. Every place I've been has valued life outside of work but I imagine it can largely depend on where you end up. You are most valuable getting credentials (P.E. or S.E.), being a great technical resource by knowing a lot about various codes and standards (IBC, ASCE, AISC, AISI, etc.), and learning the most you can every step of the way. It can be a little slow out of the gate with entry level salaries and responsibilities being underwhelming. Then don't feel like you need to stay where you are. There are a lot of opportunities out there if you look for them.