Hard Decision - and I have to make it quickly :-/

I am currently working for a hosting company. The director sold the company to a group which is now in the process of consolidating the office locations. As a result they have started the redundancy process. I am in a good enough position to say that I don't have problems to find a new job due to my skill set. In fact, I had to stop applying becaus I got too many interviews.

Anyway, I have now two completely different offers on the table and it is very hard to decide.

First of all I am living quite far outside the city, but I know I will commute a lot (driving 200 miles / day right now), but this is only partially decider.

Now I cannot decide between head and heart, money and convinience.

1. A hosting company. Environment is similar to my current job, friendly, easy going. Pays just a little bit more but also pays bonuses (based on projects etc.). I'd have to either drive (70 miles each way) or take the train (2.5hrs) but they agreed to work from home 1-2 days / week and when there are special occasions. I'd be working in my favourite field mainly, which is projects and virtualisation.

2. A massive finance company. World largest in their field. A lot more money, a lot more pressure, massive corporate so no room for mistakes or things like work from home etc., procedures count. A lot more bonuses (up to 20%) and only a bit of my favourite topic, but mainly WINTEL, Exchange and AD. Commute is ok via train, but once every three weeks I'd have to drive to another train station due to its early start, so I'd have to drive 40 miles per day plus the train ride.

While option 1 is what my heart says I'd be loving a lot more. Option 2 offers a lot more opportunities and money. I always lived the way that I said 'money isn't everything', but suddenly it is a lot more money, so I have e feeling it is all turning a bit.

To show much of a difference that is, I met the owner of #1 and expect the official offer soon. As for #2, I had a technical phone interview, met the management, met their bosses and now theirs as well. I will have to meet yet another guy, just under the CIO, will meet the CIO also, just before I meet HR.

I seriously don't know what to do :-/

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Comments

Turgon

jibbajabba wrote: »

I am currently working for a hosting company. The director sold the company to a group which is now in the process of consolidating the office locations. As a result they have started the redundancy process. I am in a good enough position to say that I don't have problems to find a new job due to my skill set. In fact, I had to stop applying becaus I got too many interviews.

Anyway, I have now two completely different offers on the table and it is very hard to decide.

First of all I am living quite far outside the city, but I know I will commute a lot (driving 200 miles / day right now), but this is only partially decider.

Now I cannot decide between head and heart, money and convinience.

1. A hosting company. Environment is similar to my current job, friendly, easy going. Pays just a little bit more but also pays bonuses (based on projects etc.). I'd have to either drive (70 miles each way) or take the train (2.5hrs) but they agreed to work from home 1-2 days / week and when there are special occasions. I'd be working in my favourite field mainly, which is projects and virtualisation.

2. A massive finance company. World largest in their field. A lot more money, a lot more pressure, massive corporate so no room for mistakes or things like work from home etc., procedures count. A lot more bonuses (up to 20%) and only a bit of my favourite topic, but mainly WINTEL, Exchange and AD. Commute is ok via train, but once every three weeks I'd have to drive to another train station due to its early start, so I'd have to drive 40 miles per day plus the train ride.

While option 1 is what my heart says I'd be loving a lot more. Option 2 offers a lot more opportunities and money. I always lived the way that I said 'money isn't everything', but suddenly it is a lot more money, so I have e feeling it is all turning a bit.

To show much of a difference that is, I met the owner of #1 and expect the official offer soon. As for #2, I had a technical phone interview, met the management, met their bosses and now theirs as well. I will have to meet yet another guy, just under the CIO, will meet the CIO also, just before I meet HR.

I seriously don't know what to do :-/

Do you have a written offer of employment from both of these jobs?

nel

how much more money and opportunities are there? Do they have lots of teams you could cross train/move into? the place i worked had dedicated teams..i.e. networks, virtualisation, server etc.

Ive heard this many times in interviews etc and the opportunities seem to vary. If its a financial organisation i have no doubt the pay will be good as ive worked in that sector. i found my job pretty boring as they would tend to outsource the great project work to contractors. Im not sure if this will be the case for you, just my experience.

cxzar20

If you have formal offers from both then that is quite a decision...however IMO life is too short to be constantly working and stressed out.

nel

cxzar20 wrote: »

If you have formal offers from both then that is quite a decision...however IMO life is too short to be constantly working and stressed out.

agreed. i find it very hard to deal with the corporate politic BS thats why i doubt i'll ever progress to a high managerial level, plus i have plenty of fun things in my social life to keep me away from that

jibbajabba

cxzar20 wrote: »

If you have formal offers from both then that is quite a decision...however IMO life is too short to be constantly working and stressed out.

Yea - thought about that too - no point having a lot of money but getting completely wasted (and not in a good way lol) ...

sieff

Option 1 sounds nice ... I happen to like long train rides, you can do a lot of reading along the way.

jibbajabba

sieff wrote: »

Option 1 sounds nice ... I happen to like long train rides, you can do a lot of reading along the way.

I always had to commute 2+ hrs each way, so the train ride isn't an issue -one issue however is for example time. The earliest train I can get gets me to the office at 6:58am - with start at 7

To avoid cutting it that close I'd need to drive 18 miles to another town to take another train - not an issue either, but weather is. We couldn't even leave the house in winter - so that is pretty much a problem in corporates, as they don't care how you get to the company

swild

I really hate commuting so it would be an easy choice for me. More money, less commute, bigger company means chance for promotion or transfer to another location you may want to move to, a well known employer on your resume = win. Plus a higher salary history can get you more money in future jobs.

SouthSeaPirate

Way I see it; Whats the point of all that money if you cant even enjoy it?

swild

SouthSeaPirate wrote: »

Way I see it; Whats the point of all that money if you cant even enjoy it?

I'll enjoy it later when I retire early.

pham0329

SouthSeaPirate wrote: »

Way I see it; Whats the point of all that money if you cant even enjoy it?

I don't understand why everyone in this topic automatically thinks big company = crappy job??

powerfool

nel wrote: »

agreed. i find it very hard to deal with the corporate politic BS thats why i doubt i'll ever progress to a high managerial level, plus i have plenty of fun things in my social life to keep me away from that

I don't know... pretty much every small company I have ever worked for has just the same political corporate BS. In a small company, however, it is hard to avoid. With a large corporation, sometimes you are not directly noticed, which can seem like a bad thing... but when you want to hide out below the radar for a little while it can be a positive thing.With the way the global economy is right now, I would say money trumps everything. Get the money now and improve your situation by eliminating debt and accumulating valuable/appreciable assets. Some people don't want the stress of owning a home, but if you do... just pay down/off your mortgage. Whenever the economy picks up, you will be in an even better place to negotiate salary (since you have a better salary to start with) and you will have less financial stress. Then, you could save up some cash and take a nice long vacation between your next job transition.Choose what priorities matter to you. Determine what you would do with the extra money and if that means more to you. If it doesn't go with the hosting job. If it does, go after the $$$. In my personal situation (as I think it is for most people), you work for $$$, so why not go after every cent that you can?

powerfool

pham0329 wrote: »

I don't understand why everyone in this topic automatically thinks big company = crappy job??

Very true, as well. I currently work for a big company and I love my job. I also am the captain of my ship, choosing to ride the current or to aggressively move forward. Also, being a big company, I have several options with my long-term career, changing to a different skillset laterally, or climbing the ladder. Plus, if I feel like working in a different geography, there are opportunities for that, as well. Lastly, and this is especially true for IT, working for a larger company means working with more expensive technologies... I work on Exchange clusters and enterprise-wide retrospective packet analysis devices... things that I would be unlikely to see in a small company. These things let me transition to another large company more easily, as well.

cxzar20

pham0329 wrote: »

I don't understand why everyone in this topic automatically thinks big company = crappy job??

Big company != crappy jobFinancial company = lots of hours/stress and low job security

dead_p00l

In my experience how you feel about your job means almost as much s what you make. I would honestly take a job for slightly less money that i enjoyed than have a job where I made slightly more money but dreaded having to go to work every day. Not really an answer to your question but maybe a perspective to think about.

ImTheKing

Ask yourself if you're happy with your financial standing. If you are, go with the option that would make you happiest. If not, take the tougher position.

ChooseLife

dead_p00l wrote: »

In my experience how you feel about your job means almost as much s what you make.

This. I'd take the job I feel happiest about (where happiness includes satisfaction with both compensation and other factors)

Zartanasaurus

Always go with your heart. Your head is there to rationalize a bad choice.