Consulting early in career

lsud00dlsud00d Member Posts: 1,571
Does it pigeonhole you and limit career options as time goes on?

I was contacted by a headhunter to do consulting for an application I have extensive experience in and it's very early in the talks but tentatively things involved include relocation, a "substantial raise", and working exclusively with this one product. I don't think I would take the position unless it literally doubled my current salary because frankly the product isn't that interesting and I wouldn't enjoy my job if that's all I did.

Does anyone have any similar experience or thoughts on the issue?

Comments

  • martawmartaw Member Posts: 38 ■■□□□□□□□□
    It is important to enjoy your job. I saw a job that made A LOT more than what I was currently making... I was tempted to try to learn that product. I then snapped back into reality that there was NO WAY I would want to do that for my job even if it paid twice what I was making (which it did). Working a job you don't like and diverging to a different path just for money does not make sense to me.
  • NotHackingYouNotHackingYou Member Posts: 1,460 ■■■■■■■■□□
    You will need to answer this question:

    How much is not enjoying your job worth to you in dollars per year?
    When you go the extra mile, there's no traffic.
  • QHaloQHalo Member Posts: 1,488
    Only you can pigeon-hole yourself into a career path that you don't like. If you don't enjoy it, change it now before all you get is solicitation for only that line of work. I know from experience.
  • lsud00dlsud00d Member Posts: 1,571
    All good points made. It is very important to me to enjoy my job to maintain sanity so it doesn't affect other areas of life. But...I also think I could find things to enjoy in it if it met the threshold that CarlSaiyed touches on.

    QHalo, what did you do to break out of your mold?
  • QHaloQHalo Member Posts: 1,488
    Started certifying in technologies that I was interested in and started looking at positions that only contained those aspects. Anytime I got an email from someone that offered me a position doing what I previously was doing, I politely turned them down saying I was looking for a different opportunity. Sometimes they would even offer up another opportunity if they had it that maybe aligned. I'm always polite to recruiters because you never know when one might save you from the unemployment office these days.

    Obviously you have to eat so if you're unemployed or whatever, you gotta keep doing what will pay you. Eventually you'll catch a break. Just keep your head up and keep looking. Remember to keep your focus on what you want to do. The longer you continue doing something you're good at but hate doing, the more you'll find that no one will take you unless you do that.
  • lsud00dlsud00d Member Posts: 1,571
    Well this got much more interesting because the headhunter gave a number that basically matched what I thought a "substantial" raise should be for me to relocate and (in my head) specialize/consult in one system.

    I guess I'll talk to her now, can't hurt icon_wink.gif
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