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So I'm 29 and haven't had much in the way of interesting jobs in my life, but now I actually have something of a decision to make in that regard. For the past few years I've been working a zero hour, quite poo poo job testing videogames for Microsoft, it's pretty much dead end but I managed to get promoted so it could be pretty lucrative at times when it was busy. The zero hour aspect and lack of security got me down though. Then our company lost a lot of work because we had to split our contract with another company and then something happened in my personal life that made me take quite a lot of time off so I sort of lost a bit of the cache that I'd built up and found it hard to catch up when I got back into it thanks to the sporadic hours. Then at the start of December, the other company lost their contract and we got our full workload back so that job could essentially become akin to a full time role again (but still not guaranteed, which is awkward). Positives are that I really enjoy the people I work with, the work is easy if boring and occasionally poo poo and I can take a day off pretty much whenever if I want to. Negatives are that I've essentially progressed as far as I can and unless one of the full time employees leave at the same time as multiple people at my level it is pretty much impossible for it to turn full time or progress further. Every other company offering similar jobs seems to want experience testing websites, apps or non games software which I don't have or they want a degree which I also don't have. Then early in December I got offered a new job doing testing, support and website maintenance for a property management company and my first day was today, which is what is prompting this decision. Obviously I've only been at the job one day, I'll be on probation for 3 months and they have a very structured training program in place that'll take around a month and a half but it feels like they're going to be underpaying me for what they want me to do. The main problem is that the job is also in a neighboring town which is going to be costing me a significant amount of money to commute to (without this I guess the money issue wouldn't feel so bad) so I'm pretty much going to be making a little under the minimum wage for the UK after the commute and tax and such, which is not terrible but doesn't feel like the upgrade I thought a new job would be or quite worth what it seems like I'll be putting in. Positives are that it has opportunities for growth and they very much like to promote from within, there's private healthcare, they have bonuses and actually pay for social outings and such every so often. I suspect that if I want to leave in a couple years I could use the experience and knowledge I've gained to get an IT support position closer to home. could never seem to convince a company that I could do that before this one gave me the job. I felt quite excited to be starting a new job but now I just sort of feel miserable because I just don't know what to do, I feel like going full bore into this new job could be the right decision but then I could find that in 3 months I'm bloody hating it and then it might be too late to go back to the old one (I definitely can now and probably for the next few weeks, they're pretty cool about people taking chunks of time off like that). If I went back to the old job then I could keep applying for other jobs closer to home/with better money since taking days off is a lot easier (seriously, how do you go to job interviews with a full time job). Obviously the people best placed to advise me are internet strangers! I know this is pretty dumb but any advice anyone could give would be great.
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Jan 5, 2017 22:43
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Do you really need the SA forums to tell you what you've already decided for yourself?
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Jan 6, 2017 03:49
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KaiserSchnitzel posted:Do you really need the SA forums to tell you what you've already decided for yourself? This, but less blunt and in a more positive way. a) poo poo job with no prospects or security or b) good job with a career path? Do your three months, move, save money/time on the commute, get a raise, have a relationship with someone you met at a social outing, get married, have kids, live a long and happy life.
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Jan 6, 2017 11:46
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Apparently I did need peoples advice yes. Or maybe I just needed someone to do the text equivalent of thumping me in the head and telling me I'm overthinking it. I think it was first day nervousness that prompted it to be honest. Second day was much more manageable and I felt a lot better, some of the stuff they're wanting me to do for the training is making me brick it though. Never used a lot of the programs I'm using ever or not since school and I'm going to have to make a presentation using them in a few weeks but on Tuesday I'll get to see what the person they hired just before me has done for it which will give me something to aim for, can ask them for help as well maybe. One thing is that I can't move really, unless something drastic changes at home my family need the help. So the commute will remain the commute unfortunately, learning to drive and then offering a carshare for anyone else doing the same commute is on the to do list definitely.
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Jan 7, 2017 15:54
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Anyone vaguely intelligent will, and should, be nervous about a major change in their life. This was the right one for you and I'm pleased that it's going well for you. Learn to drive, get a cheap little car and enjoy your new-found freedom.
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Jan 11, 2017 09:54
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