Short notice job offer/decision

Nightflier101BL

Last Friday I was approached by the director of our adjacent MIS department and was asked if I'd be interested in taking over the role of someone who will be leaving in about two months. I'm currently a PC Technician working towards a career in network engineering and am currently enrolled in WGU. The other role title would be "Deputy Director of Management Information Systems". There would still be some hands-on IT in the form of AS400, system backups and some RPG programming, but nothing on the side of networking. Also, most work would be budget, payroll, data entry and the like.

Normally, I would say no but it would be a $13,000 per year pay increase, a better office with a window, only two feet from where I'm currently located, so I will still be around my current co-workers and friends, same benefits, less stress. In my current spot, there is absolutely no possibility of advancement or pay increase. I would not be part of the on-call rotation or be shuffled around the county to various locations for support (this is a bigger story and was a problem for me). On the other hand, I would not have my hands on any more networking or much hands-on support. Currently, I regularly do basic networking tasks like VLAN configs, phone and CUCM configs, dhcp reservations, etc., but that is about as far as it goes. I've already spoken to my current supervisor and they are understanding and on board with whatever I decide to do.

My question - is this a bad move? Would it look bad if I stayed for two years while I finished school/certs and then started applied for networking gigs? I'm looking at it like I have to decide between faster career advancement/experience or more pay. The pay looks really nice right now considering that my current department passed me over for a promotion not long ago. There would not be any room to expand and get my hands on anything deeper. Would this look odd on a resume if I was applying for an entry-level network job?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Zartanasaurus

I wouldn't have done it when I was in a similar place as you. You're basically being moved from technical to management. If your career path doesn't matter much and the money does, then take it.

I don't see much difference between PC tech and management when trying to move into an entry-level networking role. Neither one is going to prepare you. The benefit to the latter is you have a higher current salary to negotiate from.

Nightflier101BL

Thank you for your input. I'll get to shadow the current person in that role for a couple of days before I need to give them my answer. I'll have a much clearer idea of my job roles at that point.

pinkydapimp

I would take it. You will get skills on the mgmt and business side that you don't currently have. At the end of the day, you can always go back to networking. And hey if you really want to go back that bad, then do so after you finish school and get some strong Networking certs. But i don't see any downside in doing this. And you may end up realizing you like that side better. Or maybe in 2 years you can wiggle your way into another position with more tech. So many options but i don't see any downside here.