Job change advise - should I stay or should I go?
 

I look to Pelican for all sorts of advice, and I am more of a reader than a poster, but I wanted to get some advice from everyone here who is willing to provide it.

I enjoy my current job as a City Planner. I was offered this job after finishing my master's degree, and I feel like I am progressing through my career development on a decent track. At 30 years old, I consider where I am at to be a good place.

Now for the fun part...I have been offered a job at our Regional Transportation office, and I am having a hard time deciding what to do.

The new job is a slight bump in pay (not significant, but not a loss) but it has the benefit of a 7% 401k match. My current job offered me additional income to stay (the extra income is nearly the amount of the 401k match).

So financially they are nearly identical. My current job has a lot of night meetings with city council and planning commission, but the new job is a longer commute, so the time difference is nearly a wash as well.

I enjoy my job now, and it is probably the clearer path to a City Manager job or something along those lines. The new job would be a bit of a shift into transportation planning, but has some amazing opportunities to do planning for active transportation (bike and pedestrian improvements) that go along with my own way of thinking...I just can't decide if I will regret making a lateral career move in my early 30s.

Should I stay where I am at, and bank the additional money, or should I move on and get the 401k match increase? It is crazy, but this has been one of the hardest decisions I have made. I think that I will be equally happy at either location too.

Any advice?

My initial response would be, go do what makes you happy. But it sounds like you would be happy doing either job, or so you think.

How are the people you work with currently? Get along? How are the people you would be working with? The personality dynamic is important. Can make or break being happy at work.

What's the traffic like in your area? Longer commute can be a deal breaker as well. Not for everyone.

If all is good with the people, commute, money, responsibilities, expectations, etc..., then my next response would be, go with the job that has more opportunity for growth.

Forget the money, figure out what will give you job satisfaction, weight it against future potential and only then worry about the compensation.

FWIW, every miserable gig I've done was for money first.

They did not last long before I was off to something that made me happy.

I have been an avid cyclist for years, and the new job would be planning and implementing regional bike and pedestrian plans, so there is a bit of a passion in that, but I also really like local planning and seeing good work done for a single community that I had a hand in. It is six of one, and half dozen of another...

Commute will be 25 miles one way, as opposed to my 7 mile drive now. I would car pool with people who live around me, so fuel costs would nearly even out. Time is a factor, I would home about about 30 minutes later than I am now, but I would forego 5 late night meetings per month that I currently attend that range from 9-11 PM. I work with great people now, and I know the majority of the team at the new place, and I like them as well. I generally can get along with everyone, and both places would be a team dynamic.

There are likely internal opportunities for growth at the new job, but it is a bit of a career path shift. Often the people who go towards transportation planning get labeled as such, and transitioning out of that world can be difficult. The risk there is whether I would absolutely love it enough to commit the rest of my career to it...I am sure I will work another 30 years to fully fund my state pension, so I have a lot of career left. My heart is telling me to take the job because it is in the realm of a passion of mine, and another part of me is feeling like an idiot to walk away from the raise that my current employer has offered.

This isn't the worst scenario to be in...but I feel a lot of pressure in the decision. My wife is supportive either way, and has basically left the decision up to me. Dammit, haha.

Sounds like a win-win to me, both are good options. Pick whatever is likely to make you happier long term. If you think it's the new job, move NOW in your 30s. I could not believe it when my friends told me this, but it happened to me too when I recently changed jobs: employers do want experience and maturity, but kinda start looking at you differently past 40! Especially in tech careers... probably less in your field, but... Even though you don't feel old, it gets harder to find jobs as you get more "mature" in your career, so the earlier you find your field and dig a comfortable hole for yourself, the better. That said, the grass isn't always greener. New place has new idiots, new silly rules, maybe more meetings.. Who knows, you are the best person to decide, I would lean towards doing it because it's better to have remorse over something you did than regrets about not doing it, or something ;-)

If you are happy & satisfied with what you are currently doing, stay put.
Set your goal on becoming a city manger if that is what you desire.

I can't help with the job choice, it sounds like a horse race that will end well regardless.

I can tell you that Utah DOT/Planning is outstanding, very progressive. My company is on the Technology Board of ATSSA, a traffic safety association with members in all 50 States. I have spoken at the ATSSA conference and have listened to the Utah folks brief on their plans ahead.

Neat stuff. Don't know if as a Regional Office guy you would work with them, but I was impressed.

Seahawk - I would work directly with UDOT and UTA (transit authority) as the Active Transportation Planner. I have worked with UDOT a lot the past few years implementing various trails and road improvement projects within the County and Cities I have worked in. They are great folks, and have a good outlook towards multi-modal transportation. It is definitely a good time to make this move if I decide to do it.

I am leaning towards the Regional Planning job, just to do something a little outside of the box of what I have done the past 8 years. I think I will work with enough elected officials, and network enough generally that if I wanted to jump back into community development, I would be able to do so...

Maybe I am just delusional and trying to talk myself into something. I seriously need to make the decision today at lunchtime. I have left both places hanging since Friday morning. It is getting down to the wire.

Sounds pretty win-win. I would make a list of pros/cons associated with each. Have your wife help so you get another perspective. Sometimes taking the time to list things out helps with the decision process, especially if you realize that one has far more pros or cons than the other.

If you end up at a total impasse, and the money is a wash, I would stay put personally. Always better to know the environment, office politics, and have a little tenure.

I agree with the above.

Plus, City Manager is a sweet gig if you can get there.

Well, I gave my current employer notice today at noon. Thanks for the input everyone. I should have posted this question last Friday to get more input. Ultimately I went with my gut, and chose the job that I think I'll be more passionate about. If city manager is still on my mind in a year or two then I'll work my way back that direction. It was seriously sixes between the jobs, and at this point in my life I can finally weigh the jobs based on the intrinsic value and not only worry about the money. Honestly though, the 401k match at the new job is just as good as a raise in my opinion. Off to a different gig...in the meantime I negotiated being a contract planner for the city, so the next month or two will be busy with a new job, and keeping the old one afloat. Should be an interesting time!!

As my wife and I say, "You roll the dice, you move your mice..."

Again the folks you are going to be working with seem to me to be ahead of the arc, especially with the use of LiDAR on small UAS, etc.

Enjoy.

too late, but I woulda said stay with the real job.

Sammy, both are "real" jobs I would say. Both are part of the Utah Retirement System and they share the same health benefits, same retirement, same pension plan...they are just different types of urban planning (local versus regional). That is my opinion anyway. I appreciate everyone's feedback.

I had worked in a factory for 15 years that was a 30 mile each way commute, so I thought it would be a help to carpool. I ended up riding with a guy who lived 2 miles from me and worked maintenance at the same plant. What a pain in the AZZ, he would show up late to my house to pick me up, or make me wait in his driveway for him and he preferred Rush Limbaugh and Christian music, over my Bob and Tom show/ Rock music.

I was never so happy to get a position with the same company only 10 miles from my house in the opposite direction. Now I can drive myself, listen to whatever I want, and either go straight home, or run errands after work.

From a pure money standpoint, the 401k match is free money. It is tax free. A bump in pay in your current job will have to be grossed up to add the tax, as that is taxable income. And don't get me started about the power of compounding. At 30, that extra 7% is huge, even if you retire at 60.

I could sense you were leaning towards the new gig. Change is good! And don't worry about being stuck in a job. Most people are employed ... many things to do in your career if you have a good head on your shoulders.

You have to keep your brain active and continue to learn. Some job where you know the path 15 years out is going to kill anyone with half way decent energy level.

I have BTDT - gave up a nice secure job for a high tech industry career. You live only once - you spend a good deal of time on the job - make it fun, take it serious and make it count!

G

Agreed - there's more to life than a so-called "good job". You spend at least a third of your life at work and another third sleeping. Everything else - commuting, vacations, time with family, meals, chores, whatever - happens in that last third. So from a time management standpoint it's ludicrous to spend that much time at a job you're less than thrilled with - you're investing as much of your "time capital" into that job as with EVERYTHING else in your life put together. Make it count. Make it worth it.

If you think you made the right choice, you probably did!

I believe you said earlier you're thirty years old - that's WAY too young to be shackling yourself to some stuffy bureaucrat public sector position just for the illusion of security! Live a little! Build your own way as best you can!

As a cynical aside, do you seriously think our generation is going to have pensions, retirement funds, etc. by the time we're in our 60s / 70s ("retirement age") anyway? I wouldn't spend my life suffering for a pension - chances are by the time our generation is retirement age they'll no longer exist anyway (the gov't will have confiscated them or they'll be "means tested" or taxed into oblivion). And "retirement age" will be unlikely to be 65 or 67 - most likely we're all going to be working well into our 70s. The Baby Boomers sold us down the river. All the more reason to make sure you really like where you are job-wise!

My advice - work somewhere you like going to every day, have fun, spend your money on things that matter and give you happiness, get rid of debt (as a general rule the less time you spend in banks and courthouses the better off you're going to be), stay single, sock away some money in TANGIBLE assets that can be sold or traded later (i.e. NOT worthless pieces of paper - things like land, precious metals, land, tools, land, guns / ammo, land, water supplies, land, fuel, what-have-you... ;) ). When / if the SHTF down the road (currency collapse or other calamitous event) all the people with everything in "accounts" (stocks, bonds, banks, etc.) will be struggling and you just might find yourself in an enviable position having real things of value to barter with. Anything you can sell for at least what you bought it for is a decent thing to have around - there are lots of options. Remember that every dollar in someone else's "account" is now THEIR money - not yours. It's vulnerable to their mismanagement as well as to the wiles of idiot politicians and / or greedy Wall Street bankers - both of whom are leading us straight to eventual ruin at a shockingly quick pace. I don't want to sound too pessimistic or alarmist but cover your ass - have your "retirement fund" too, but don't bank on it 100%. Hedge yourself. Don't ever count on an "account" to be your retirement lifeboat, be it a pension, social security, a stock / investment account, whatever.

Bottom line - there's way, way, WAY more to life than just a paycheck or getting led along by some "carrot dangler" selling you the illusion of security in exchange for your youth. The reality is our generation will have NO security other than that which we make for ourselves. Live it, love it, enjoy it while you can and set yourself up well for the future by getting rid of debt, socking away some money, getting some tangible ASSETS that have / keep value and live in a place you like. Cheers!

Good luck on your new adventure!

I would (and do) drive a complete and utter sheetbox before I would commute with someone.