How to know when you found a good job?

jerseyIT92

Hey guys,

Pretty much the title. How do you know when you've found a company you want to stay at?

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Cora5

One way to check for employee reviews on Glassdoor.com. Of course you won't know for sure until you are employed there and other things factor in the mix. Like the boss you report to, your peers etc.

Danielm7

Only you can know what is important to you. Do they respect you? Are there growth options, if not, do you care? Is it stable? How is the commute? Do you like your coworkers? Are you paid fairly? There are a million things that define "good" differently to different people, pick the ones that are important to you and look at those factors in your job.

Russell77

If it's Sunday night and you do not dread Monday morning you have a good job.

jerseyIT92

Russell77 wrote: »

If it's Sunday night and you do not dread Monday morning you have a good job.

I don't think this is totally accurate. If you have 20K a year or 100K a year, Monday morning still comes.

N2IT

Agreed with Jersey. When Monday morning rolls around it's all the same.

With that said, while driving into work you are hoping green lights turn red, then it's time to get a new job. Yes I have experienced this and it's nothing short of trash.

@Network_Engineer

Agreed, Boss is a huge component. I absolutely get a long with my boss. We have our moments from time to time, but 90%+ we get along extremely well. It really makes the job so much better. In fact (of course I am ad hoc making this up) I can see myself staying at this position 2 - 3 years longer just because of her.

Network_Engineer

I make 156k a year now and feels just like when I made 100k. All about your boss, your team, your projects and technology you can configure.

Priston

I agree with Network_Engineer, if you have a good reliable team and you get to work on some cool stuff I'd say you have a good job.

It really sucks when you don't have anyone on your team you can go to for help or assistance.

itsgonnahappen

Russell77 wrote: »

If it's Sunday night and you do not dread Monday morning you have a good job.

I mostly agree with this and just sent this to a buddy. Monday mornings will always be Monday mornings, but when Mondays are more "back to reality" than "man, not another week of this sh*t" - you've got it good.

kohr-ah

Priston wrote: »

I agree with Network_Engineer, if you have a good reliable team and you get to work on some cool stuff I'd say you have a good job.

It really sucks when you don't have anyone on your team you can go to for help or assistance.

AKA My job

E Double U

Russell77 wrote: »

If it's Sunday night and you do not dread Monday morning you have a good job.

That is how I feel. I never dread coming to work. I even find that every week goes by really quickly.

N2IT

Dread is a strong word, so if you are DREADING going into work and it's been 3 months or longer I personally would start looking for another job. But that's just me......

That crap can eat at your health and spill over into other parts of your life. No one has time to deal with that nonsense, life is hard enough on it's own.

markulous

I'd say when you're happy at work and the company fits with both your short-term and long-term goals.

Kinet1c

Priston wrote: »

I agree with Network_Engineer, if you have a good reliable team and you get to work on some cool stuff I'd say you have a good job.

It really sucks when you don't have anyone on your team you can go to for help or assistance.

This. People I work with now are knowledgeable and friendly. Ask a question and you get a very helpful answer. I don't expect to be spoon fed, just enlighten me a little and I'll do dive deeper myself. It rocks and first time I've experienced it in a company.

Tyb

I used to work in corrections, so I have a different perspective on good and bad jobs. The worst day in IT is better than the best day in corrections.

NetworkNewb

Personally, I'm torn on whether I have a good job or not...

On one hand, the people and my boss are nice at my company. I feel my boss wants to give an opportunity to grow, the only problem is we are a small company and I do alot of the stuff here already. (my boss just took acouple weeks off and I took everything during that time). My boss even told me I would be able to hire someone under me to take care of the small day to day tasks this summer.

On the other hand, the pay isn't great. I don't know if there is alot of room for me to grow or not here. Also, I really don't have anyone to turn to with questions. My manager isn't really an IT expert, seems like he has been a manager for a long time. If I have trouble with something, I don't even like asking him because I'm pretty sure he wouldn't know either.

I actually have a job interview this Friday, but debating if I want to cancel that right now. Would be kind of lateral move, with more pay though, room to grow, but they said they want the person to be in that position for almost 2 years. Staying at this kind of position for a couple years doesn't fit in my plan. Thinking of just sticking out here til I get some security certifications and look for a security analyst position.

/end rant

kiki162

NetworkNewb- don't feel bad about going on an interview at all. There's a lot of +/- being where you are, and the idea of getting a few more certs before moving on is certainly a good idea too. Sounds like you are itchin to do something more with your career and that you have peaked there. My advice...keep interviewing and work on those certs...eventually something new will come along.

kiki162

To answer the question... when there's a large amount of room for growth and opportunities to move up and into different areas. Most good IT people don't like stayin comfy in one spot for a long time, unless a pension is in the near future.

NetworkNewb

Thanks for the response

Yea, I guess at worse for the interview, I don't like the company and I get some interviewing practice... Can't hurt.

markulous

Tyb wrote: »

I used to work in corrections, so I have a different perspective on good and bad jobs. The worst day in IT is better than the best day in corrections.

I was pretty close to becoming a CO at a maximum security prison right before I went back to school. I went through all the testing and they made me an offer, but I really wanted to go to another facility, not that place. I'm glad I decided to go a different route.

Nightflier101BL

I push out my resume all the time but always find myself turning things down or changing my mind. I get frustrated because I don't make much at my current job, no real room for growth. I start thinking my job is terrible and unbearable and start looking.

But my co-workers are all good friends, I'm 3 miles from home, benefits are fantastic. 100% job security. Wife works in the building behind mine and I can have lunch with her everyday. I don't dread Mondays and my job never really feels like "work". I realized that for me, money isn't the most important aspect and I choose these things over higher pay and titles.

I get to do what I like with networking/Cisco at my location, so I can grow my knowledge there. It's just I may never see the higher levels in that field unless I want to relocate, commute. I'm in the Washington DC area and I did the commuting back in the day. I really don't ever want to do that again.

Sometimes, I don't know what to do. I'd still say I have a great job, though.

kiki162

I love it when other ppl tell you..."you have a great job".

It's not only the dread, but the boredom + < of movement in job + lack of projects and growth for me. At the end of the day, and throughout my career, I want to say that I did some pretty amazing stuff, instead of "putting up with it" because I didn't try or felt like it.

Any job will hit a "peak", it's just a question of where you are in your life and your career, and where you want to be in 20-30 years.

jerseyIT92

Nightflier101BL wrote: »

I push out my resume all the time but always find myself turning things down or changing my mind. I get frustrated because I don't make much at my current job, no real room for growth. I start thinking my job is terrible and unbearable and start looking.

But my co-workers are all good friends, I'm 3 miles from home, benefits are fantastic. 100% job security. Wife works in the building behind mine and I can have lunch with her everyday. I don't dread Mondays and my job never really feels like "work". I realized that for me, money isn't the most important aspect and I choose these things over higher pay and titles.

I get to do what I like with networking/Cisco at my location, so I can grow my knowledge there. It's just I may never see the higher levels in that field unless I want to relocate, commute. I'm in the Washington DC area and I did the commuting back in the day. I really don't ever want to do that again.

Sometimes, I don't know what to do. I'd still say I have a great job, though.

I think it's definitely hard when you don't have growth potential.

N2IT

When you take 6 vacation days and your boss doesn't mark them off.

Chuynh22

When you aren't dreading the next day, and continue to grow