A Hypothetical Question

wastedtime · September 2009

You have a choice to go one of two ways in your career and both are IT:

A. A great paying job that pays about twice what you are currently making but will require a lot of work time. You will get to work with a little bit of equipment you haven’t had a chance to use before but for the most part not much different than your current job. The skill set you use may actually be a bit narrower than your current work. You work 6 - 12 months at a time and are not guaranteed a job after that.

Or

B. Decent paying job again that pays about the same as you are currently making or slightly more and will require a lot of work time but not as much as “A.” This would be a very lucrative job where you can gain a huge skill set. More than likely you will be required to commit doing it for 3 - 4 years. Also you don’t know exactly what you will be doing.

Which would you choose? And why?

networker050184 · September 2009

I'd never take a job that I didn't know what I'd be doing so the only choice for me would be A.

rsutton · September 2009

I too would need more information about job B. Why don't you know what you would be doing? You should at least be given an idea...

wastedtime · September 2009

Best I can say about "B" is you have an idea of what you will be doing but it is very vague.

msteinhilber · September 2009

In the current economy, I'd take job B. I would prefer job A due to the extra money and the fact that I know what I would be doing. The deal breaker for me is I have a wife and kid to support. Without being able to support ourselves without my income, I wouldn't be willing to accept a position until the economy is a bit more certain in it's direction out of fear of my term with the company ending at 12 months and not being able to locate work quickly afterward.

skrpune · September 2009

I'd get as much info as possible with job B. There's no way you should accept a job without knowing what it will entail - it's nearly impossible to judge if you want it or can perform well without some info about what it is that you're going to be doing. Is there a job description or title? A list of duties or responsibilities? Goals? Other employees in a similar position who can give some insight into what the average day is like?

All that being said, job B sounds better to me than job A. Extra money may sound intriguing in the short term, but a narrow skill set will only help you in that specific position, and if it's not a long term position then you may be pigeon holing yourself and narrowing your choices for future opportunities. Also, if you're putting in super long hours, then you'll have little free time to devote to developing additional skills on your own.

In the long term, it sounds like job B will give you more skills that will help you when it's time to move on to the next job. And if it's a lucrative position, that will look nice on your resume. How much you made at your last job won't help you when you're looking for the next job, but great new skills you learned definitely will make you more marketable in the future.

EdTheLad · September 2009

I'd go with A, money talks, you can always self study whenever you have free time.My experience with this type of thing is, during interviews the job i'm going for has been flowered up to sound great.Once i start the job its not all that its cracked out to be and the interviewer really didn't have a clue what the day to day job was.
I think if you perform you can mould any job into something better, trying to get more money of an employer is a different kettle of fish.

wastedtime · September 2009

skrpune wrote: »

I'd get as much info as possible with job B. There's no way you should accept a job without knowing what it will entail - it's nearly impossible to judge if you want it or can perform well without some info about what it is that you're going to be doing. Is there a job description or title? A list of duties or responsibilities? Goals? Other employees in a similar position who can give some insight into what the average day is like?

Well you can't find out more then what you already know about it right now. If you do get the job you would be fully trained and told all the details. Of course this would be after you obligate yourself for the time mentioned above.

dynamik · September 2009

Do you know if the work in B is going to be interesting? I might give that a shot if you're open to going in a random direction. For example, is it like, "We don't know if we want to put you on the VOIP or virtualization team," or is it like, "You might be doing IT work or mopping floors?"

Interesting work > money IMHO

wastedtime · September 2009

dynamik wrote: »

Do you know if the work in B is going to be interesting? I might give that a shot if you're open to going in a random direction. For example, is it like, "We don't know if we want to put you on the VOIP or virtualization team," or is it like, "You might be doing IT work or mopping floors?"

Interesting work > money IMHO

Well I would consider "B" to be interesting. I would say it is closer to the first example also. The second would be interesting too but probably wear on a person after a while. Then again the second one may wear on a person too.

4XJunkie · September 2009

Out of curiosity, why so secretive?

Why not just tell us what you know about the position, and maybe some with more experience can give you their best guess? There are alot of industry buzz-words that are tossed around to make one thing sound like another.

You are obviously asking a "what should I do?" question, but you aren't getting a proper gauge by the community here. You know more info about it than you are providing, so the results are skewed.

porengo · September 2009

Option B sounds like you're joining the military.

wastedtime · September 2009

4XJunkie wrote: »

Out of curiosity, why so secretive?

Why not just tell us what you know about the position, and maybe some with more experience can give you their best guess? There are alot of industry buzz-words that are tossed around to make one thing sound like another.

You are obviously asking a "what should I do?" question, but you aren't getting a proper gauge by the community here. You know more info about it than you are providing, so the results are skewed.

Secretive? Na, this is just "A Hypothetical Question."

There are no buzz-words and I like the answers I am getting so far.

porengo wrote: »

Option B sounds like you're joining the military.

I wouldn't join the military now. I might if I was in my late teens or early 20's.

In all seriousness I appreciate the answers I am getting, and sorry for being vague as I don't really know much information about "B" if you can believe that.

blargoe · September 2009

If I were just getting started, I'd strongly consider B as it seems like more of a "fast track" kind of job... a "think three steps ahead" move kinda like chess.

If I were already well established with strong skills, I'd take A for sure.

For your situation it totally depends on what skills we're talking about though. Kinda vague question.

A Hypothetical Question

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