Duelling offers
As of this morning, I've received two offers, neither of which thrill me very much.
Offer One: The Lebanon job, making $5-10K more than at my last job.
Why it doesn't thrill me much: First, because it's programming in the same language I've been doing for the last 10 years, and it's feeling more and more like a dead end. Second, because rather than a direct hire, their president wants to bring me on as a consultant for six months, which means *NO* benefits. Taking a day off would cost me hundreds of dollars. In six months, they'd hire me permanently. At least, that's what the guy I'd be working under says. I say, the president wants to wait until the first quarter numbers are in before deciding whether to keep me, and that makes me nervous. I don't want to be back in this boat again in April.
Offer Two: The Owings Mills job, making $0-5K less than I was making in my last job... doing Software Quality Assurance
Why it doesn't thrill me much: I'm okay with possibly making less than at the last job; I'd expected that with moving to Java. But moving over to QA has me nervous. The recruiter says the plan is for me to be able to move over into programming within a year or two, but that right now my Java experience is just too inadequate for them to take me on as a developer. I made enough of an impression on the interviewer as a smart guy that he wants me on the team, just in a different role.
I think I'll take the Owings Mills QA tester position, in the hopes that it will ultimately be better for my career. As long as I can get back into development within two years, I should be okay. Note that QA testing in this arena is almost paying as much as ten years of experience is getting me in my former career path. Even if I wind up staying in a QA career, I'd probably still top out higher than I would if I stayed with the old path.
Owings Mills, here I come, I guess.
Offer One: The Lebanon job, making $5-10K more than at my last job.
Why it doesn't thrill me much: First, because it's programming in the same language I've been doing for the last 10 years, and it's feeling more and more like a dead end. Second, because rather than a direct hire, their president wants to bring me on as a consultant for six months, which means *NO* benefits. Taking a day off would cost me hundreds of dollars. In six months, they'd hire me permanently. At least, that's what the guy I'd be working under says. I say, the president wants to wait until the first quarter numbers are in before deciding whether to keep me, and that makes me nervous. I don't want to be back in this boat again in April.
Offer Two: The Owings Mills job, making $0-5K less than I was making in my last job... doing Software Quality Assurance
Why it doesn't thrill me much: I'm okay with possibly making less than at the last job; I'd expected that with moving to Java. But moving over to QA has me nervous. The recruiter says the plan is for me to be able to move over into programming within a year or two, but that right now my Java experience is just too inadequate for them to take me on as a developer. I made enough of an impression on the interviewer as a smart guy that he wants me on the team, just in a different role.
I think I'll take the Owings Mills QA tester position, in the hopes that it will ultimately be better for my career. As long as I can get back into development within two years, I should be okay. Note that QA testing in this arena is almost paying as much as ten years of experience is getting me in my former career path. Even if I wind up staying in a QA career, I'd probably still top out higher than I would if I stayed with the old path.
Owings Mills, here I come, I guess.