I'm worth $110K but took $75K. Good or Bad

So I had recently lost my job from a very small startup I had been working with as a Senior SOC Analyst making about $105K. Faced with the possibility of my source of $$ running on empty I took an offer with a small company for $75K for fulltime work with plans to hold on to that job while I keep looking for a better fit salary-wise. I made the decision as I had only one more month of money for rent/bills left. So do y'all think it was a good decision, or should I have waited a bit more to see how the other interviews I had on the pipeline would go? I guess I'm considering this my incident response Lessons Learned phase, lol.

...but seriously, I could appreciate your feedback - good or bad.

My Quick Career Profile
- 4 years in cyber security (SOC Analyst II)
- CISSP, Security+, CCNA, CCNP certified.
- SKILLS

SIEM: ArcSight, AlienVault UTM
Vulnerability Management: Nessus
EPP/EDR: Crowdstrike, Carbon Black

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Comments

E Double U

With one more month of resources to stay afloat, I would say you made the smart choice. You can still keep looking for jobs.

thomas_

I think you made the right choice. You definitely need to money to live and $75k is a lot better than a job offer that may not materialize before you run out of money.

It’s easier to find a job when you have a job and you’re also in a stronger negotiating position because you have the option of walking away if you don’t like an offer.

DatabaseHead

You needed the money, you made the right choice. Better than living on the streets.

Good look for something in the 120 range or something like that. You don't have to stay there for a long time if you get another opportunity.

chickenlicken09

Been there, right call.

yoba222

Way better choice than going to work at Walmart or similar.

egrizzly

goodness gracious! you don't know how relieved I am right now. One element of my mind was telling me it would be so unethical leaving the FT job for something better after I have told their managers multiple times that "I'm 100% satisfied with the pay and intend to stay long term and advance in the ranks". Of course I've been lying out of my teeth by telling them that. I guess from reading all these affirmatives I don't feel so damn conflicted.

thomas_

egrizzly said:

"I'm 100% satisfied with the pay and intend to stay long term and advance in the ranks".

How is this even being brought up? Did you tell them you made more at your previous position during the interview?

egrizzly

nahh, a recruiting agency had connected me with the job with the max pay set at $75K. They said the condition of getting submitted is that I should under no circumstances re-negotiate the salary. What's a person to do? Beggers can't be choosers.

SteveLavoie

egrizzly said:

nahh, a recruiting agency had connected me with the job with the max pay set at $75K. They said the condition of getting submitted is that I should under no circumstances re-negotiate the salary. What's a person to do? Beggers can't be choosers.

So dont feel bad when you find another more paying job.. and if you have the chance.. say that no-negotiation is both way

UnixGuy

Right choice for sure

Now use the time to improve your skill, expand your knowledge and try and move up within your company

if not possible, in a year or two make a jump to something even more than 120K

(one step back, two steps forward)

JDMurray

A career is a game of chess; sometimes you have to give some ground now to gain a lot more territory later.

E Double U

egrizzly said:

goodness gracious! you don't know how relieved I am right now. One element of my mind was telling me it would be so unethical leaving the FT job for something better after I have told their managers multiple times that "I'm 100% satisfied with the pay and intend to stay long term and advance in the ranks". Of course I've been lying out of my teeth by telling them that. I guess from reading all these affirmatives I don't feel so damn conflicted.

All of us agreeing with your actions does not make them less unethical lol. I do understand the part about accepting a job offer that did not allow renegotiation, but not the other stuff. Is being 100% satisfied with the pay a condition of employment? If you are less than completely satisfied will you be terminated? Of course employers want to retain talent for as long as possible within a given budget, but expecting people to remain instead of seizing better opportunities is ridiculous. Also, leaving for more money does not mean you were not happy with the previous salary. I have always been happy with my salary at each position and even happier when I moved into a position with higher pay. If they really care about your satisfaction then they could offer you more money if you express you are not 100% satisfied.

SteveLavoie

But better have a nice 75K$ paycheck than nothing.. just keep an eye on other opportunities. Also, it all depend on your lifestyles and the cost of living where you are. 75K$ can still be a nice paycheck.

LordQarlyn

You did what you needed to do. Keep looking, keep improving your skillset, and make the most from your current job.

DatabaseHead

@egrizzly

I'm doing the same thing right now..... I'll save you the details but I found myself without a job after a contract went sideways within the last 2 years. (Halfway through the contract). Caught me by surprise, to say the least.

I had quite a bit of saving and my wife works but we were still running lean. So I ended up taking a position ~30% less pay than previous 4 positions.

A couple of things I have noticed that may be good news for your situation so I thought I would share.

The job is more relaxing than my previous jobs. While I am not aware of a correlation between job pay and difficulty in this situation it seems to be the case
The job is fairly 9 - 5. I don't find myself working weekends
During the middle of the month (unless there is a high priority issue) I usually have quite a bit of time to learn new tools, languages etc. As lame as this may seem I have been going through a free VBA MS Access course on YouTube. It's been a lot of fun and have built several databases for my teams to use. All the features emails, search features etc... (Even started on Python, it's been good)
There are internal opportunities and TBH my manager knows I am better suited for database development, EDW, Data Warehousing, ETL, Data Architecture etc..... And from our talks it seems I will be heading that way eventually. 2, 3, 4 years? Not sure..
I just hit my 1 year mark today and it feels good to get some job history going again as pathetic as that may sound. Prior too, I had 2 6 month contracts. Even with justification it was hard to get a job with my history looking like that. As I accrue more time it'll put me in a much better position again.

HTH and GL

TechGromit

egrizzly said:

So I had recently lost my job from a very small startup I had been working with as a Senior SOC Analyst making about $105K. ... I made the decision as I had only one more month of money for rent/bills left.

While it was a good move to take something lower paying due to your emergency fund exhausted, it shows you are no were near ready for the unexpected. You should have a good 6 months emergency savings for the unexpected. Not only should you strive to secure something better paying, but also to bolster your savings so you will be in a better position for the next layoff. Since you can afford to live on 75k, you obviously have some wiggle room in your budget when your earning 105k.

chrisone

If funds are running low and its an emergency, you had to jump on it. You probably didn't have much time to choose or wait out certain opportunities. Nothing wrong in doing that.

I would only stay 1-1.5 years max while I improve my skillset and while the economy improves. However if a higher paying job comes around 8-12 months into that 75k job I would leave without any hesitation.

egrizzly

@chrisone @LordQarlyn @SteveLavoie .... yeah guys, a bird in hand is much better than two in the bush as they say. I went ahead and completed the job acceptance for the 75K position. At least it's a good name-brand company, but yeah, I'll get really aggressive with finishing GCIH, Python, and other key components of the Incident Response warchest using this time, and hopefully while doing that a more fitting position pops up.

egrizzly

heh, but wait a second. I agree with the majority opinion which is to accept the $75K job. So what do I now tell the other managers offering $120K+ who ask "So do you have something or are you close to a final offer on your other interviews?"

So do I just b.s. them that they're the one company I want and not mention I already accepted, or do I say "well, I accepted this one offer but trying to see if I can get a higher one?" Better yet, I guess the question should be what I say to those managers or HR folks?

SteveLavoie

Do whatever please you..

You can go working in a retail mom-pop shop if you want.. you dont owe anything to those company. Also, they would **** you without even considering the impact on you.. so do whatever please you

scaredoftests

without question..you made the right choice.