Contract role offer... currently permanently employed

Hi all,

Just looking for some advice on an offer I've been made as I'm being indecisive and can't reach a conclusion!
The offer is for a three month contract with people for a large corporation and with people I used to work with. Three month contracts are standard with them and it seems highly likely from the amount of work left to do and conversations held that it's likely to last 12 month, maybe slightly more.

The take home will be close to double of what I'm currently paid. I'm aware of the downsides such as no holiday/sick pay.Medical insurance not an issue as in the UK.

My wife feels I should take the role. She is completely supportive and aware I may be out of work after the contract ends, but feels I should go for it. I'm a lot more cautious than she is and wondering if it's committing career suicide as the contract role is purely desktop support, whereas at the moment I work with desktops and servers.

I wouldn't say I'm unhappy in my current position at an MSP, but slightly bored and losing motivation. The main issue is that it involves working every weekend and I've been doing that for 14 months now, so it'd be good to get the weekends back to spend more time with the wife.

I'm wondering whether to approach my current employer and see if they can move me onto a weekly shift, maybe mentioning the offer, being fully aware this may result in me having to resign and take the contract role. I'm not 100% convinced I want to work 2nd line support on the Service Desk during the week though as the manager isn't the most pleasant person in the world and as a result the environment's not as positive as it could be.

I'm lucky in that my wife earns really good money and she is completely supportive, knows the pitfalls of taking the contract. If contract only lasts three months I could be to be out of work for three months before I start losing money.

My main concern is that I've only been in this role for 14 months and the job before that for 10 months. I was able to justify leaving the last role without issue, but concerned leaving this one may start to paint a picture of me for future employers!?

My other concern is that would going to a purely remote desktop support role from one that involves doing almost everything such as building PC's, supporting and deploying servers, exposure to tech such as vSphere, Citrix, Windows Server be shooting myself in the foot? I already have experience with desktop support (many years worth in fact) so the contract won't really add anything to my CV.Going to the weekday role with my current company would still give me troubleshooting exposure to this tech, but it's such a fast paced environment you're fire-fighting the whole time rather than learning it thoroughly.This coupled with a difficult manager doesn't really appeal to me massively but it won't involve having to explain moving companies early again. At least with my current weekend role I can analyze and learn new tech through project work... problem is means working every weekend!!

If I was to carry on with my studies and complete CCNA, upgrade my MCSA to 2012, delve further into vSphere whilst contracting would this help mitigate the fact I hadn't been working with infrastructure tech?

Decisions, decisions! Any advice and perspectives welcome.
Thanks

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Comments

higherho

B80 wrote: »

I wouldn't say I'm unhappy in my current position at an MSP, but slightly bored and losing motivation. The main issue is that it involves working every weekend and I've been doing that for 14 months now, so it'd be good to get the weekends back to spend more time with the wife.

I want to state from experience. Your happiness and family come first. No job is worth weekend work and the normal shift during the week. If you are already slight bored then you are not challenged enough. Take a new job, work hard, learn new things and get motivated. If you do those things then you won’t have a problem finding work (as long as you have the exp / education taken care of) in case the 3 months goes out

IIIMaster

Thats a hard I one. I was in the same boat but I decided to take less money to keep my weekends, since the pay want a huge boost. I look at it like this what do want to do? Do you like your current job? Also your wife supports, she make goods money and your new job is going to double your pay... Sometimes jobs are not always about the pay and technologies but opportunities and happiness.

Tyb

Normally I would advise against taking a contract over full time. It seems like you are secure on income though with your wife, I say take a chance on it.

bridgestone

I would not worry about the job security side of things. In the UK, the employment laws are not strong and having a "permanent" job is far from it.

Also, I would not worry about being seen as a job hopper. In IT, it's perfectly normal to hop around. Some may hold it against you but vast majority will not. Nobody expects loyalty anymore in this fast moving industry.

Though going from infra to pure desktop may hurt you. Depends on what your future objective is. Do you want to go back into 3rd line? Then this move is not a good one in my view. Are you happy staying at 2nd line? Then go for it.

B80

Cheers fellas. Took the plunge and resigned on Thursday. Looking forward to it!