Career Decision 9

[Swi]

I am currently working at an employer making 51K. I have interviewed with a company and they are interested but want me to take a 5 or 6K pay cut. The company I interviewed with has somewhat better benefits and I would be working less hours. The commute would approximately stay the same. They say my skills only warrant the above salary and I assume that is because one of the requirements is to know PowerBuilder. The recruiter told me that they were looking for VB and/or PowerBuilder developers but I come to find out at the interview that they assumed that VB developers could pick up on PowerBuilder quickly. Eventually all projects will be moving toward .NET. In addition, for this job I have already had a technical phone interview, an interview with two recruiters and another interview yesterday with two interviewers at their place of business. They also want me to complete a project for them to further assess my skills. I believe that they are low balling me and have wasted my time. Any thoughts?



Swi

 

[Guyute97]

Definately keep looking. I had a consulting firm and they had me basically landing the customer I would be dealing with as my interview. I finally told them without and offer I won't talk to the customer again, I knew they couldn't land the customer without me. They made the offer but didn't want me to start for a month and in the mean time meet with the customer. Said pay me hourly for that time then, they weren't going to so I walked. As soon as they had the customer I would probably be without an offer.

Never work for free, keep looking, there is a lot more out there if you have the skills.

--Guyute

 

[willir]

swi

A later commer to this thread....

Change is always hard, and very rarely are we offered the "no brainer" decision.

As has been suggested, you have to look for a balance...
current "comfort/uncomfortable" position and security
+ $51 k salary
+ some benefits
- 12 hr days and 4 hr commute (there and back)
- less tanagible - poor quality personal life
- boss seems to be ignoring you for new position

vs
change, unknown
+ better benefits
- $45 k salary
- "test" contract ??
- same yucky commute

Some things you can control to improve your life
- Move -- your commute may cost you $5 to 10k a year.
Okay, the mortgage will be higher, but you will have more free time and more in control of your personal time.

- Car pool less often -- you can leave earlier, work later. More flexible.
- Can you work one day at home? Depends on the boss, but this would be a great thing if allowed.
- Let your boss know you feel you should get a raise, or a new, more senior position. Demonstrate you can do the job.

Now ask yourself...
Why is the head hunter offerring less?
- Your skill set is really less than you expect. (I doubt it)
- There is a glut on the market for IT guys and gals, especially with outsourcing, Pacific rim stuff. They are offerring less because they feel it is an employer's market.
- They are playing a tad-bit of hardball to see if you will blink.

Why are you working so many long and hard hours?
- Under-resourced
- Being taken advantage of
- Company is a financial bind (not making enough profit to suit sharehodlers)
- Bad employer
- Bad boss

Are employees in your current company treated the same -- long hours, etc?
- Are you working hard because you have to, want to, feel you need to?
- If others leave, are they replaced, replaced with a cotnractor? Meaning, is there a "push" to move to contract employers??

Why has your boss not talked to you about assuming a job they appear to want to assign to a consultant?
- May think it is cheaper to outsource
- They have concerns about your skills
- Never crossed their mind

Why is the new company looking for a project?
- Want a project completed on-the-cheap (very unethical)
- They really do want to access your skills (been burned before?)

How do you know the potential new comapny will...
- Actually not require you to work long hours
- Follow up on their promises

Have you researched your potential new employer and your current employer? What does the outside world thing of these companies?

Does working 50, 60, 70+ hrs a week plus commuting for 20 hrs a week....
- Interfere with your performance. This type of fuedal work load would sure slow me down if I had to endure it for an extened amount of time.
- Prevent you from career advancing strategies such as training.
- Cause you significant amount of stress, greater increase is disease, etc?

...And as said above, you will have to decide what you want to do. Personally, I would think about shopping around with the following objectives...
- Similar lifestyle, meaning less pay is cost of living is less, more pay if cost of living is more
- Shorten the commute whether it is better transit, or near location
- A fair employer
- Hired at something I do well with the chance to move up and learn more. (Nothing worse than convincing the employer you have a skill set you do not have)
- Time and place for a personal life

Good luck
Maybe something wonderful will come up for your real soon.

 

[Swi]

Thank you for the fresh outlook on things. I think I am going to stay put for the time being until I get a better offer. To answer some questions. I do have a poor boss because he also acts as a Director of IT and does not have time for his day-to-day duties. He also keeps saying that he wants me to move to management but I have been here a year and nothing has happened. I am definitely being taken advantage of. Actually, my boss and the director of HR called me into there office several months ago and said that they know that they have been taking advantage of me and then gave me a $3K raise. I know it was because they knew I was looking. Maybe my age is the reason they are taking advantage of me. I am currently only 25 (the baby of my department).

Swi

 

[willir]

A 5+% bonus is nothing to sneeze at. As per moving to management, perhaps you can ask if they can allow you to take some management trianing courses.

The fact that your boss does not have time to do the day-to-day stuff is a definite plus for you. Discreetly, without stepping on toes, try to lighten his load (but still get your work done). The "nothing has happened" may simply be because your boss has not had time to ponder. If you can show beneifts to him this area, your star may shine much brighter. And do it soon before a contractor sees this advantage too.

Being 25 has good and bad things -- regardless, we are still learning.

And be "smart". Think things through, logically. Be objective in your thinking. Having said that, the final decisions are often decisions "of the heart" -- the decisions you are most comformtable with.

 

[Swi]

They have sent me to classes. Only two but it is better than nothing. Thanks for the advice. I think a will be patient and see what happens.

Swi

 

[langleymass]

If one employer wants you to work all the time and the other doesn't, go with the one that actually respects your desire to have a life.