TC-
I'm not sure how much your surgeon has told you but this is what I know from my experience.
I recently went through a groinal hernia as well. I had an inguenal hernia which means the abdominal wall where the testicles drop through during fetal development were either too big around or too thin thus allowing my intestines to bulge out. Fortunately for me my insides never became incarcerated meaning got stuck in the abdominal wall. My recovery time was only 4 weeks, being active duty in the military in a law enforcement field I took two extra weeks to make sure I was good to go. The first two weeks I was heavily medicated on vicodin and the third and fourth week I was only moderately medicated. The 5th and 6th week I was only on ibuprofen, about 800mg every 4-6 hours. Now, this repair was an incisional repair, you can ask for a lapriscopic repair, though it will depend on the hernia you have. If you get the lapriscopy you'll only be out for a few days. With the lapriscopy they basically take a laser and put it in you to do the repairs. I was told by my surgeon that lapriscopy repair times are 6-8 days, they have a significantly lower risk of infection but have a "slightly" higher risk of reherniation. The benefits to the open surgery is the repair is more stable but the recovery time is much longer. With the open surgery they take a synthetic mesh plate and put it around the cord that connects your testicle to your body where it passes through the abdominal wall, then they sew it directly to the wall. I believe I was not a candidate for the lapriscopy because of the size of the hole. So ask your surgeon. If you qualify for the lapriscopy and it fits you well to do it then go with that, tell your new employer that you will only be down for a few days and should be back on your feet within a week or two of surgery and they hopefully will be "OK" with that. If you have any questions about what to expect or anything and you don't want to hear it from a doctor, send me a message, I'd be more than willing to tell you more about the worst parts!