Job offer dilemma - should I stay or should I go
 

A few weeks ago, I converted from a contractor to a 'perm' employee at this company. I'd been a contractor since January. During this time, I'd been talking with a manager at company B where I used to work about a position there, but he wasn't able to get all of the HR hoops jumped through in a timely manner. Well, he finally did, and long story short, he's made me an offer. Now I have to decide whether to bail out of the job I just started, or stay put and see how things pan out. I worked as a contractor at company B for about 8 years; I know the people, I know the environment, although I had not worked for this particular manager. When I was a contractor there, I did get jerked around a bit, but I worked for a completely different organization.

The pay at company B would be identical to what I'm making at company A, and that is the best they ("B") can/will do - I sent him back to his boss 2x to get to this salary point. The benefit packages are roughly similar: company A has a better dental plan, company B has a stock purchase plan.

At "A" I think I'm slightly behind the pay curve for my skillset; at "B" I'd definitely be ahead of the curve. They really want me at "B." I haven't been at "A" that long (almost 8 months) and I think I'll look like a putz by bailing so soon.

The "B" job would be more of an engineering support role, which would be a wide range of SysAdmin duties across a wide range of platforms, with some random coding duties here and there to support that; at "A" I'm implementing and administering an OpenView environment. At "A", I'm utilizing a specialized niche skillset; "B" would be using a wide range of commodity skills. If the market heads in a different direction, would the niche skills still be worth anything? I have concerns about becoming pigeonholed as the OpenView guy, but at the same time, as I improve this niche skill, I could potentially become more valuable. At "B" I'd be a jack of all trades, master of none.

"B" is a (much) more laid back environment, with an almost (but not quite) dot-com flavor. You can take a long lunch and play basketball, hockey, volleyball, etc (and my manager partakes in these activities) and has a kick-ass cafeteria; "A" is more rigid, professional and conservative, and the cafeteria is one step above dumpster-diving at the SPCA. At "A" the dress is biz casual; at "B" as long as you cover your reproductive and feeding organs you're good to go.

"B" is close to the g/f's house, so I could crash there and have a 5 minute commute to work.

"B" has gone through some heavy layoffs over the past few years, and recently bought a competitor, which in real life was a "reverse acquisition" - the new head of this biz unit is the guy who ran the company that was acquired. A lot of their talent was poached by other companies and other business units during the acquisition upheaval, so they're trying hard to get properly staffed again. IMHO, "A" is over-staffed, and there's 2 new hires on the way. Key people are over-worked, while others kind of coast.

At "A", I'm about 3/4 of the way through the implementation; this is the fun stage, where everything is in place and you're adding functionality and getting pieces intermingled. Unfortunately, once the implementation is done, the day-to-day babysitting crap will probably be boring as hell; normally I just do the installation and initial config, collect my check and I'm outta there. "B" has a backlog of work that will have me buried from the get-go, which will mean I have less time to bash the NeoCons on Pelican.

At "A" my manager is an old-school techie who moved up through the ranks to manager; he understands the technology and what we do, and you can't baffle him with BS - I like that. The "B" manager is a new-school MBA type, although the other people I know who work for him say he stays out of the way for the most part. However, I don't think he'd recognize a shared memory segment if you dropped it on his toe.

At both, I'd have a decent amount of automony, but at "A" I'd have to participate in an on-call rotation. With "A" I get a BlackBerry and a laptop; "B" gives out their own brand of PDA, which is (IMHO) is inferior.

I have to give him my decision on Monday.

Which one appeals to you?

If you really like "A" but are not happy with the money be honest with your supervisor there and see if there is anyway they can bump your salary up to the level where the "B" offer is at this time.

If they really want you they might be able to get the finances where the only issue is which company you like.

B

At this point, the money is identical, dollar for dollar.

I can tell from your post that you are leaning towards "B." Sounds like a more fun job to me and while you will be a "jack of all trades" it appears that you would keep up your overall skill sets.

Pick B and let the NeoCons run amok on Pelican. No one listens to them anyway.

Hotter chicks at A or B?

"Hotter chicks at A or B?"

excellent question - I'll bet B

Since both are IT organizations, the answer is 'neither' but the various other depts at both companies have their share.

You mean like the wacky liberals are doing here now?

7 years at IBM, not one hot chick, ever. (I noticed on in Boulder one day, turned out to be a summer intern.)

wacky as charged!

take 2 weeks off vacation and try company B, telling them it is a trial and you would be in after you make your 2 weeks notice if it works. then think it over and let them know where you want to be, above all, do not accept a counter offer.
I did that when i changed jobs last, worked great and i could not be hapier and honestly it was a lot less stressful as the former company did not know i was leaving till i gave notice.

That's why I laid out the pros and cons in my first post. I think for the short term, my current job would be better, but longer term (6 months+) the other gig would work out better. Since the pay is exactly the same, I have to weigh the intangibles: work environment, stability, perqs, etc

You are not a kid anymore. Long term is what you need to be looking at, sooner the better.

Course the problem is that most of us do not realize that until we are 50 or so...

+1

'A' sounds like it will evolve into sitting in a waiting room where nothing stimulating is ever likely to be on the other side of the door. 'B' sounds a Thom kind of place, bit of a buzz to it and people you like.

Worst case scenario it doesn't work out and in a year or two you look for another job - no so bad IMO.

The "old guys" may not realize this (my Dad doesn't) but no place is really secure. Security is what you know not where you work. If you want to work at Home Depot your last years before retirement (ask the guys with 20 yrs a DEC), get a job where you get the same 2 years experience over and over again.
Go someplace where you can do new stuff that will keep you "hot" in the marketplace and excited about working.
-Chris

You don't switch jobs for no additional dollars unless you are desperate to get out. If you stay with your current employer you will get caught up to the pay curve soon if for no other reason than because corporate types hate pay differentials. If you go to company B you will have gotten the most they are willing to pay you as your salary on day one and they will hold your entry salary against you for the next few years as you ask for raises, because they'll tell you you came in higher than anyone else in your position. If money is the only issue, where you are is the better deal. Did company B tell you about benefits probabtion and the 401(k) match and pension not kicking in for 12 to 24 months for new hires? How does the pension compare if you put more years in at company A before leaving?

Bottom line is that if Company B doesn't value you enough to pay you a premium to go there, they don't value your skills and won't value your work enough to pay you what you deserve. Go to work for them only if they are the employer you have always dreamed of or if going there opens oportunities you don't currently have.

Why would you go through the hassel of changing jobs for no more money? It's always seductive to have someone want you, but really, why would you switch jobs for no more money? If you have a good reason why you want to work for company B at the same salary, go for it. If you want what you're worth, wait for company C. No one is going to recruit you so soon after taking a new job, so if you take the company B job, be prepared to stay there a couple of years.

Rereading your post through the eyes of a thoroughly cynical former corporate drone, what in the world makes you think company B would be a good choice for you in your career other than the hiring person swearing he really wants you? (Before he has your career in his hands, which makes you a slightly less scarce and valuable comodity.) You're currently in a company where you are behind on the pay curve and can look forward to larger raises to get caught up, your company has gone through the downsizing period, you are doing real work that this and other companies will value, the other company just got reverse acquired AND you would be at the top of the pay range for your position? I've been through acquisitions and reverse acquisitions. You don't want to go there because the music will stop and there will not be enough chairs. You've been with company A for 8 months and you're already looking because you're disatisfied? Stay a whole year and then start planning the next step in your career. If you think longer term is more than six months your career is going to real drag on in about 5 years. Or ten. 20? 30? How old are you?

Stay where you are. Look for something better if you must. Company B isn't it.

Tough call for sure. You are correct that in a downturn situation, generalists get ranked and culled, specialists are required to keep the machine running.

Unless you are trying to climb to the top of the IT food chain, specialist skills in my mind are more valuable than generalist skills. I have a good friend that's a Unisys genius. And he knows how to make anything interoperate with unisys iron. Which means things like being dispatched down to Brazil to fix problems. That's fun.

But you should do what makes you happiest. If that's a better work environment, better people, more challenge - then that's what you should do in a cost neutral situation.