Would you leave a job you enjoy for

A job due to family change. I'm getting married soon, and my soon to be wife was laid off and will be starting her own company which means (no income) for a while. A place I worked previously gave me a call about a job and the bennies are great(you don't pay health insurance, 33 days a year off, tuition and certification assistance) the only down side is no 401K match)which I don't get for another 2 years at my current job. My current benefits is high health insurance, 10 days off.

The problem is for the most part I like what I have going on, but family 1st is a big thing. I'm stuck on what to do.

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blargoe

In general, you gotta do what you gotta do for your family. But you really didn't give us much info... is the pay similar between the two positions? Is it just about the benefits? Or the old place also pays significantly more?

You really like the current job... did you hate the other one? Tolerate it? Pretty good, but not as ideal as the current one? Did it absolutely drive you nuts to the point that it was affecting you negatively?

Is the current job something that can be a launching board into something bigger and better in the future?

If it's a matter of the immediate survival of your family, then that has to weigh very heavily in your decision. If it's not so much like that, then it is fair and appropriate to consider your career path and the potential for a better financial situation for your family down the road if your current job can provide that.

Plantwiz

shodown wrote: »

A job due to family change. I'm getting married soon, and my soon to be wife was laid off and will be starting her own company which means (no income) for a while. A place I worked previously gave me a call about a job and the bennies are great(you don't pay health insurance, 33 days a year off, tuition and certification assistance) the only down side is no 401K match)which I don't get for another 2 years at my current job. My current benefits is high health insurance, 10 days off.

The problem is for the most part I like what I have going on, but family 1st is a big thing. I'm stuck on what to do.

Tough call.

In my younger days, I'd take the new job.

Over the years, I've found I never benefited enough to take a job I didn't 'love' for the benefits offered. So, no longer will I sacrifice my happiness for something that pays better or has better benefits. The long-term stress on not loving what you do most of your day...drains ones health.

This would be a serious conversation for the 'couple'. Does she have to stop working to start a business? Particularly if there is no immediate income, it doesn't make sense to stop all points of income for a maybe.

I'd recommend you both do a LOT of talking, praying and seek local counsel as this will be a big decision for your household and your health/stress between the relationship. That first year of marriage has enough stress...don't need to add a 'gee, I wish I didn't do that' complication into the mix.

Find a pastor, parents, very good friends (the kind who can hurt your feelings) and consider alternatives from things you may immediately see in front of yourselves.

YMMV

eansdad

blargoe wrote: »

In general, you gotta do what you gotta do for your family.

+1 on that ...

I once took a temp job 2 hrs away and another temp job 2 states over for a few weeks just to keep the money rolling in.

networker050184

blargoe wrote: »

In general, you gotta do what you gotta do for your family. But you really didn't give us much info... is the pay similar between the two positions? Is it just about the benefits? Or the old place also pays significantly more?

You really like the current job... did you hate the other one? Tolerate it? Pretty good, but not as ideal as the current one? Did it absolutely drive you nuts to the point that it was affecting you negatively?

Is the current job something that can be a launching board into something bigger and better in the future?

If it's a matter of the immediate survival of your family, then that has to weigh very heavily in your decision. If it's not so much like that, then it is fair and appropriate to consider your career path and the potential for a better financial situation for your family down the road if your current job can provide that.

I agree with blargoe, not enough information to give some solid advice.

If it came down to my family making it or not, of course I'd take the job that will keep us going. What I have learned though is no matter how well financially you are doing coming home at the end of the day after being miserable at work will ruin your life eventually. Doing what you love goes a long way in making a happy life for your family.

shodown

I'll have to update this when I leave work

shodown

A few questions to answer

Does she have to not work to start her own business? We feel like this is the best time. She has been on interviews and nothing has popped up in her field. Jobs in her field are scare, the offers she has gotten are for low paying jobs which offer no room for growth. She is sick of working for people getting them rich off her work(she works in "non profit" and people are getting rich of her work).

My current job is like a support engineer. Its like calling your own Cisco TAC. I track down issues, find bugs, design work arounds and I can get done usually quicker than TAC cause I'm already familiar with your deployment and around 10-15 percent new system designs.s

I can move to a deployment team where I do more designs, but we focus on the small/medium business sector. A CCIE is not needed for much of this work, so eventually I would have to leave anyway.

The new job if I put in a good 4-5 years I would be ready for a Lead Engineer role or possibly moving into architecture position. I'm not to sure if I would be misrable at the new job or not. I like networking no matter is its VOIP or route/switch(I prefer VOIP), but at this point by summer we may be struggling to make it if things get any worse.

Beach

Wow. This honestly just happened to me. Here is a little background info on what happened and why I say dont do it if you have doubts.

For sake keeping this clear: Company A is the first company I worked for, Company B is the second company. I am married, no kids, but would like to start a family shortly.

Working for Company A was not something that I enjoyed. I didnt want to go to work and didnt make me a happy person. This job was a sales gig making cold calls all day long and I lasted about 6 months. Before leaving I told them that if I could move into IT, I would stick around....they say no openings at this time.

I get a job at Company B. It's in the IT field, it's relaxed and the coworkers are a great time. I spend 2 1/2 years at this company making alright money, nothing to run home about, but I get about 40 days off a year. I am happy here. The part that doesnt fit well here is the benefits are horrible. Health care would run $500+ for employee+1, but single employee coverage is free.

Company A calls out of the blue. "We'll pay you 10k+ what you are making right now to come work in our IT department." I thought that this was a great deal. More money. Better health benefits for our potential family...ect..ect. So I leave Company B to go back to Company A........mistake. I walk through the door on the first day and the same feeling that I used to get when I first worked there comes back....Feels like a rock hit me in the face. Moving forward a few weeks, I realize that this really isnt the best thing for me. I am not happy about going to work, and even thought I got a pay bump, it's not worth it....I would gladly give it up to go back to a place that I enjoyed and where I was happy (my wife too).

Sorry for the long post, but hope it helps. You can disregard the above if you know that you will like working in this new job/company. Best of Luck!

ScottFern

This thread is striking a cord with me as well in my career. Very similar to the OP I am in my late 20s married and my wife and I want to start a family soon.

I got a Network Operations (dept under Network Engineers) at a major financial services company that made the Top 100 in Computer World. I was psyched about everything including the nice pay bump, good 401k, and 5 weeks PTO a year.

Five weeks into it and I am not very impressed and underwhelmed. Don't get me wrong we have Nexus switches, over 500 Cisco devices in our infrastructure but the day to day duties and on call rotation is less then desirable.

Before I was working for a SMB as Network Engineer/Net Administrator administering over 60 hotel networks independently. Get to touch wireless, routers, firewalls, switches all day. Gave it up for better bennies and because of a small conflict with a co-worker. I have come to regret my decision and emailed my old boss to see if he filled my position.

Confused to say the least.

UnixGuy

Can you tell us what's that about company A that makes you unhappy ?

Sometimes it's perception and expectations that makes people unhappy. Sometimes it's nosy co-workers who keeps putting you down.

Do you have a career plan ? like certain skills set that you need to achieve, if you're not making technical progress then move..

Beach wrote: »

Wow. This honestly just happened to me. Here is a little background info on what happened and why I say dont do it if you have doubts.

For sake keeping this clear: Company A is the first company I worked for, Company B is the second company. I am married, no kids, but would like to start a family shortly.

Working for Company A was not something that I enjoyed. I didnt want to go to work and didnt make me a happy person. This job was a sales gig making cold calls all day long and I lasted about 6 months. Before leaving I told them that if I could move into IT, I would stick around....they say no openings at this time.

I get a job at Company B. It's in the IT field, it's relaxed and the coworkers are a great time. I spend 2 1/2 years at this company making alright money, nothing to run home about, but I get about 40 days off a year. I am happy here. The part that doesnt fit well here is the benefits are horrible. Health care would run $500+ for employee+1, but single employee coverage is free.

Company A calls out of the blue. "We'll pay you 10k+ what you are making right now to come work in our IT department." I thought that this was a great deal. More money. Better health benefits for our potential family...ect..ect. So I leave Company B to go back to Company A........mistake. I walk through the door on the first day and the same feeling that I used to get when I first worked there comes back....Feels like a rock hit me in the face. Moving forward a few weeks, I realize that this really isnt the best thing for me. I am not happy about going to work, and even thought I got a pay bump, it's not worth it....I would gladly give it up to go back to a place that I enjoyed and where I was happy (my wife too).

Sorry for the long post, but hope it helps. You can disregard the above if you know that you will like working in this new job/company. Best of Luck!

UnixGuy

Working for yourself and having your own business is good, but it needs planning & preparation. Getting laid off & not finding a job is not necessarily the ideal time to start a business, you have to be prepared otherwise you will get yourself in serious problems.

just my two cents..

shodown wrote: »

A few questions to answer

Does she have to not work to start her own business? We feel like this is the best time. She has been on interviews and nothing has popped up in her field. Jobs in her field are scare, the offers she has gotten are for low paying jobs which offer no room for growth. She is sick of working for people getting them rich off her work(she works in "non profit" and people are getting rich of her work).

My current job is like a support engineer. Its like calling your own Cisco TAC. I track down issues, find bugs, design work arounds and I can get done usually quicker than TAC cause I'm already familiar with your deployment and around 10-15 percent new system designs.s

I can move to a deployment team where I do more designs, but we focus on the small/medium business sector. A CCIE is not needed for much of this work, so eventually I would have to leave anyway.

The new job if I put in a good 4-5 years I would be ready for a Lead Engineer role or possibly moving into architecture position. I'm not to sure if I would be misrable at the new job or not. I like networking no matter is its VOIP or route/switch(I prefer VOIP), but at this point by summer we may be struggling to make it if things get any worse.

Turgon

shodown wrote: »

A job due to family change. I'm getting married soon, and my soon to be wife was laid off and will be starting her own company which means (no income) for a while. A place I worked previously gave me a call about a job and the bennies are great(you don't pay health insurance, 33 days a year off, tuition and certification assistance) the only down side is no 401K match)which I don't get for another 2 years at my current job. My current benefits is high health insurance, 10 days off.

The problem is for the most part I like what I have going on, but family 1st is a big thing. I'm stuck on what to do.

While the bennies sound good, (who doesn't like more paid holidays), considering the following will make the decision easier I think:

1. You are down to a single breadwinner until your wife gets some invoicing done.

That's it really. Honestly unless the pay increase is really significant I would stay put for now. You concede that you actually like the job you have. I would knuckle down there and be even more indespensible if I was you. Look for OT and raises. If that isn't on the cards knuckle down anyway and hang on to that job for the moment. You have some collateral in the job you have, a job change is a risk and might not work out and being new there is a higher chance you could get canned anyway. Add to which adjusting to a new job is a stressful thing as you bed in and get to know new coworkers and understand expectations, process and deal with a new boss. Toss that into the mix with the potential stress of your wife trying to get a business up and running and you have heat. Nobody in the new place will be sympathetic to your personal situation. If you speak to your existing company and offer commitment they may be much more supportive.

Stay put, defend the family finances and keep the dollars rolling in.
It's not a good time for a job change IMO.