Should I take this job offer?

Hi Everyone,I've lurked around TechExams for a while now, but today will by my first post, which is a question. My question is whether or not I should take this new position being offered to me?Quick background: I was in the military doing technical work in the Telecommunications field where I installed and troubleshot radio and satellite systems. I got out and started working for an established mortgage company, but only to support me while I go to school for computer networking. Although I have a technical background, I don't have much experience in IT, per se. I'm about 6 months away from getting my Associate's in Network Administration and was thinking it would be a great idea to see if I could get a help desk/desktop support job. Again, I don't have much experience in IT.I've been applying for multiple positions, even within my company's IT department. I emailed my IT department manager and told him my situation, that I wanted to start a career in IT and that I was interested in working for his department. He asked for my resume. About two weeks after, I followed up with him and he told me that I was still being considered. I haven't heard much since. I'm guessing I'm under the radar because I don't have much experience or any education/certifications.Today, one of the companies that I applied for called me back for an interview. It went successful and they want to hire me. The only problem is that they have only started within the last year or two. They are a new business and the pay is minimum wage. They only have three help desk specialists. The good thing about this is that because they're so small, everyone does everything. The owner understands that I don't have much IT experience and that this will be my first IT job ever. He doesn't have a problem because he says I can be trained.I'm debating if I should leave my current company, which is a very well established mortgage company (over 2,000 employees nationwide) for the small start-up, or stick with my company, finish my Associate's and talk to the IT manager again about transferring.

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Comments

networker050184

What is your financial situation like? Can you live on minimum wage? Even if you can I'd be wary of a company that pays that low. Even McDonalds workers make more than that....

TheFORCE

Take the job. The experience will help you tremendously. Working in small companies you get more exposure to new tech and can also move up faster and easier. Not to mention that you definitely need to grow your experience. This would be good for you.

psaechao

networker050184 wrote: »

What is your financial situation like? Can you live on minimum wage? Even if you can I'd be wary of a company that pays that low. Even McDonalds workers make more than that....

I can live off of it. It's not exactly minimum wage - $10, but it is noticeably lower than my current pay. Another issue is that they might not offer employee benefits.

TheFORCE wrote: »

Take the job. The experience will help you tremendously. Working in small companies you get more exposure to new tech and can also move up faster and easier. Not to mention that you definitely need to grow your experience. This would be good for you.

This is exactly what I was thinking. Since there are not that many technicians, I'll have more responsibilities and more exposure. I guess my ego is getting to me, though. It's hard to think of working in a corporate environment to working in what looks like a garage, although I guess most companies start out like that.

networker050184

It's great to advance your career and all, but you have to lookout for your well being first. Especially if you have a family. Pay cut and slashing your benefits at the same time is not something that would be easy to over come for most people. It's easy to just say take the job without that line of thinking though.

markulous

If you can stay afloat then go for it. I'd be looking to bail within 6 months though if they aren't going to bump your pay. Grab a cert or two before then and you'll be able to get a nice raise almost anywhere.

If you can't afford it, then don't do it. There are other ways of getting your foot in the door other than this one opportunity.

anhtran35

Can you not do a 10 to 20 hour intern for FREE IT Support at your current company??? That way you learn the inS/outS while being able to stick it on your resume and maintaining your current job???

gespenstern

Do they offer group plan for health insurance? Or you are on your own left without insurance? Besides comparing salaries it is a major factor to consider, I always compare insurance plans of different offers if I need to choose between two or more offers.

TheFORCE

markulous wrote: »

If you can stay afloat then go for it. I'd be looking to bail within 6 months though if they aren't going to bump your pay. Grab a cert or two before then and you'll be able to get a nice raise almost anywhere.

If you can't afford it, then don't do it. There are other ways of getting your foot in the door other than this one opportunity.

I agree with this opinion too. If you do decide to take the job, stay for max 1 year and move on as long as you get some certs or experience

bloodshotbetty

It sounds like you could get a WEALTH of experience there. If you can live off the wages, I would say go for it. As an above poster said- 6 months, get the experience, and look for something new. Being able to put that on your resume will draw attention from recruiters and I bet you will get a huge pay raise at another company ASAP.

I took a computer inventory job for $12/hour. Did that for 3 months, and just got a help desk job for $16.

psaechao

Thanks for all the great replies! So one thing that I didn't mention is that the owner stated that I could go in during the weekends to see how I like it. He'd be willing to pay me for it as well. I'm guessing the interview went extremely well. I told him how I was passionate about making IT a career. He tested me on some basic things like "how to find the IP address of a user's computer", "How would you troubleshoot a computer that isn't turning on", and "You have your IP address set correctly, but you can't bring up a web page. What could be the issue", etc.

markulous wrote: »

If you can stay afloat then go for it. I'd be looking to bail within 6 months though if they aren't going to bump your pay. Grab a cert or two before then and you'll be able to get a nice raise almost anywhere.
If you can't afford it, then don't do it. There are other ways of getting your foot in the door other than this one opportunity.

I think I'm in a very great position. I don't have kids and because I'm a military veteran, the Dept. of VA gives me money for going to school, which is enough to pay my mortgage.

anhtran35 wrote: »

Can you not do a 10 to 20 hour intern for FREE IT Support at your current company??? That way you learn the inS/outS while being able to stick it on your resume and maintaining your current job???

Wow, never thought about asking to help intern for my company! If this doesn't turn out, I'll definitely ask about it. Again, all I'm really looking for is experience. But even if this doesn't turn out, I finish my Associate's in about 6 more months. Maybe I can turn to temp agencies. Again, thanks for all your replies! I'm very grateful!