Mistake or right choice

teknologikal

So I was laid off two months ago. I took a month off because I needed to reset. Was just too burned out.
Started looking about 3 weeks ago. Failed a couple of interviews badly. Then interviewed with an awesome sounding company. It was 80% work from home position. Dream come true and everything. Then a few more interviews and nothing. I was starting to get worried. And last Friday I get a call from these guys about the work from home job with an offer. Decent money. About the same I was making. I accepted it. I was beyond happy and I am still super excited.
Here is the problem.
The reasons I wanted to work from home were no more traffic, spend more time with my best bud (my dog), it's pretty cool to work from home and not have someone micromanaging you every 5 seconds, and the main reason was that I could study. I am far behind on any and all certifications. I want to take the next year to study for everything possible.
So far everything is super duper. And now that I am thinking, this new job is going to be less technically challenging, at least in the beginning, than what I did before. I was "Senior Desktop Analyst\Systems Admin" at my last job. And now I am going to be mostly Senior Desktop Engineer". So I am conflicted about this now. On one hand, awesome job, great benefits, work from home, certification bonuses and reimbursement, no local office. Company is a huge MSP and is growing. Huge potential within. On the other hand, if I was going to wait it out, I could probably get a job that's more in line with what I want to do (Systems Admin, VMware, etc.). But then again, I lose those things I mentioned above.
Should I just go for it, do my best, study hard as f*ck, and enjoy this or should I be more ambitious and find something that's going to allow me to grow through experience? (Other way to grow is self study and my home lab, which I'll be able to do if working form home).

There is no wrong or right answer here, but I am looking for some interesting thoughts on this

Thank you everyone!

tmtex

Do it for a little while then bail. I worked from home 2 days a week from the job I was laid off from and hated it.

joemc3

In your post you stated that you are far behind in certs, I am going to do a little pro and con. You can also weigh the pros and cons by a metric and then you really get to see how sweet you have it. Time is everything! If it is not as technical who cares, cert up and get technical!

Pro:
Spend time with best friend "dog"
Same money
No commute
Ample free time to get certs.

Cons:
Might not be as technical.

Danielm7

I love working from home, I'm home now, ha. Really though, sounds like a good position, use your time wisely. If you leave in a year or more with good experience and a few certs to get you solidly in the sysadmin role it'll be a great move. You might also get a few certs, impress your employer who then promotes you, and you can continue 80% WFH in a role you wanted, lots of options.

clouder

Sounds like a good gig to me. I'd hang out for a while and cert up if I were you, just as planned.

scaredoftests

I say stay with it for a year. See where it leads you.

Lexluethar

You were unemployed before this job - you lucked out and still landed a technical job - just not as technical.

I personally would take this opportunity to learn as much as you can with this company and see where it takes you. I would also get caught up in your certifications.

Working from home can be good and bad - good because you are home, bad because depending on the company managers tend to micro manage more because they can't see you in the office (IE know what you are doing all the time).

Take it all in, relax and start hitting those books.

Chevel

Damn I wish I could work from home......I have lots of "buddies" lol ( dogs, cat, chickens, etc) getting chores done wold be a breeze. I agree with the others take the job get certified and go from there best of luck to you!