Switching Jobs

Cherokeekid88

Cherokeekid88

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2007
Location
High Point, NC
So, I have a potential opportunity to switch departments where I work. It would allow me to get out of where I am now, which I haven't been too happy with the last 2 years or so but have dealt with it. This new position would allow me to work from home for the most part but since the office is so close to my house that I would probably work half a day in the office and half a day at home, which would be nice to split up my day, it also comes with a pay increase, which would be a blessing having a newborn. It would also probably be less stressful than what I am doing now, not to say that I wouldn't have any stress, but I think it would certainly go down. The only downside to this position is the hours. I would be going from basically Monday - Friday 9-5 to Monday- Friday 10 am to 7pm and working 2-3 Saturdays or Sundays a month, with a day off during the week to comp my time. I think it would be a fairly easy transition for me especially being able to work from home when I wanted to.

I am one of those that over analyzes everything and so I keep going back and forth on rather I should take it. The position is basically mine if I want it. A lot of things are just changing in my current department including my Manager who is leaving and so the odds of getting someone as good as her are slim and that part worries me.

How do you guys weigh the pros and cons of something like this. I know the hours are not the worst in the world, but just having a daughter, I would love to spend as much time with her as I can during the next few years as I can.
 
Only you can answer this, but here's some things to consider: How long before you're fed up with the weekend obligation (if ever)? Is there a chance that 2-3 weekend days would increase or decrease over time? With the additional hours, is it actually an increase in pay rate? What's the long-term outlook? Does this new position take your career in the direction you want or is it a short-term detour?

Edited to add: If you can't decide after a few days of deliberation, I suggest you flip a coin and commit 100% to whatever it lands on. Seriously.
 
FrontPorchFab said:
Only you can answer this, but here's some things to consider: How long before you're fed up with the weekend obligation (if ever)? Is there a chance that 2-3 weekend days would increase or decrease over time? With the additional hours, is it actually an increase in pay rate? What's the long-term outlook? Does this new position take your career in the direction you want or is it a short-term detour?
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The weekend days would decrease over time. I actually wouldn't be working but a couple of hours more a week and would be a def pay increase. I have always wanted to work back office with the company I work for. This would allow me to do so and would open up many more doors for other departments.
 
This can be kinda hard to figure. I like working weekends once and a while most of the time I can get more done on sat and sun. I myself have seriously been considering options that include set hours. As soon as I get the call from United rentals this farming deal is done.
 
It can be nice to have a day off during the week sometimes. That way if you have to get to the dmv or another business that is only open during the week, you don't have to worry about taking time off.
 
I worked out of a home office for all 35 years. The only thing I can add is my response when people would say "cool, you're always at home."

My response was, no, if your desk is in the house, you are always at work. You find yourself gravitating to your desk to do 'just one thing' and find yourself still there hours later. Nights, weekends, Christmas, it will happen.

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Sounds like a win win to me. Only thing I can add is. Are you gonna be able to do a good job with the added home distraction? And most importantly. What does your wife think about the move?


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The only thing I have to add.

If you are moving from a peon job (as in you clock in, do you work, clock out) to an office type job. Your mind never leaves work. You'll have to work at not trying to respond to an email and shutting your work brain off.

My girlfriend recently went from working on an ambulance to working in education at the same employer. When on the ambulance and she leaves, the job is done. But when she leaves her education job, she still has emails to answer and her work brain takes time to shut off. We recently went on vacation and she continued to answer emails.

That's all I have to add. Food for thought
 
kaiser715 said:
I worked out of a home office for all 35 years. The only thing I can add is my response when people would say "cool, you're always at home."

My response was, no, if your desk is in the house, you are always at work. You find yourself gravitating to your desk to do 'just one thing' and find yourself still there hours later. Nights, weekends, Christmas, it will happen.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
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I agree. When I'm not in a customer's mill or on the road, I'm in the "home office". We're responsive around the clock so we're very flexible and back each other up. We've recently put more of an emphasis on "shutting down" at a reasonable time. There are perks though and after 16 years in this situation, it would be hard to go back to a "9-5" or more realistically a "7-5...6...7..., or whenever" in the real world.

Those perks can be a distraction. Gotta manage that. It's easy to knock off early and take care of personal business or around the house chores. This isn't a problem in my situation as long as I'm getting my stuff done and am still available. I'm not tied to a computer for a set time or anything like that. Sometimes it's hard to find a quiet place with kids in the house. I have to jump in the truck at times for conference calls lol. They are old enough now that they understand and try to respect my privacy. I have great relationships at work and with my customers so they understand the occasional kid screaming or dog barking.

With a new addition to the family, this might be the man upstairs giving you a great opportunity for you and your wife if the job allows you to watch the baby and gives her time to get out of the house some. Just depends on the situation and being able to manage the distractions.

Good luck with whatever you decide.
 
Sounds like an easy choice, I'd go for it, especially if you have the flexibility to re-gain your weekend day during the week, or Friday so it's still 2 in a row.
There can be some real advantages to having a day off during the work week - that makes it easy to go to Dr appointments or have the cable guy come by the house etc, which normally means you have to take off of work to do.
Likewise, shopping at the grocery or for a pair of shoes is way nicer at 10am on a Tues when everybody else is at work.

As mentioned, the hardest part is learning discipline to separate home and work life. Do you have a nice separate room in the house to be an office, where the wife and baby will in fact leave you alone and pretend you aren't there when "at work"?
This is something I struggle with. I cannot get much work done at home b/c my kids and wife always seem to find some way to demand my attention. So all of my "working at home" happens > 9pm when they are all in bed ;-)
 
This is all really good stuff guys. Keep it coming. Luckily with this job, once I do what I like to call "CTRL, ALT, DELETE" I'm done. No worrying about anything till the next time I work. I think right now with my daughter being so little, I wouldn't have to worry about her potentially bothering me for another year or so. I would also not be working exclusively at home. My plan would be to work half my day in the office, take my lunch, and head home then work the other half, that way, when I'm done, I simply walk downstairs and I'm home.
my wife seems to be onboard with it, although she is like me and wants details so she can plan accordingly.
cufor98 said:
With a new addition to the family, this might be the man upstairs giving you a great opportunity for you and your wife if the job allows you to watch the baby and gives her time to get out of the house some. Just depends on the situation and being able to manage the distractions.
QUOTE]

You know... I was thinking the same thing. Granted I would be giving up half a weekend day twice a month, but I'd also be gaining a full afternoon where I could pick the little one up early and spend some father/daughter time together.
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Do it. Change of pace is good. I’ve worked a 6a-630p Sat, Sun, Mon shift job where when I clocked out, I was done. Just finished 7 years in military recruiting where you are NEVER off. Now in recruiting support. Still do about 10 hour days, 5 days per week, and 1 full weekend per month. My last 3 years recruiting, my office was 7 minutes from home. With a 6 year old and 1 year old, I can’t work at home. Just easier to go to my office. In the winter time (too damn hot in the summer), I’ve locked myself in my shop, cleaned my welding table with brake cleaner, and set up my computer to work for a couple hours uninterrupted at home.
 
Sounds like your mind is pretty much made up, but here's another thing to push you over the edge. With your daughter now, the hours probably don't matter that much. She's probably not on a steady sleep schedule yet. But, when she gets a little older, you'll be able to be there when she wakes up and eat breakfast with her every day. Come home for lunch, and wrap up and eat dinner. That would be all I needed to make the decision.

My 2 little ones are 2 and 4. I work an 8-5 an hour away from home. So I'm gone before they get up and I get home in time to eat, bathe, and have maybe an hour with them before bed. Also, my kids are at their best in the morning. That one hour at night is usually fighting over dinner and lots of crying...
 
Setting a meeting with who would be my new manager next week to really go into detail about what all the job requires and how steady my hours would be and the possibility of them changing. Right now, I have the ideal schedule with my current position and every weekend off to spend time with my family. That is very hard to put a price on. I am literally 50/50 right now. I know this could be a good opportunity and another question I would need to ask would be how concrete is this position? Just a lot to think about. I want to do what's best my family but also wants to do what's best for me so that I can take care of my family.
 
Weekends are just days of the week. If your spouse has a schedule that can accomdate days off during the week then those are your weekends
 
Don’t forget to take care of yourself and your career so you can set yourself and your family up for success for the long term. You are young enough that you can afford to take a risk on a new opportunity and bounce back easily if it ends up not working out.

Remember, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
 
rockcity said:
Don’t forget to take care of yourself and your career so you can set yourself and your family up for success for the long term. You are young enough that you can afford to take a risk on a new opportunity and bounce back easily if it ends up not working out.

Remember, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
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Very true. I just want to make sure that I would not be spending more time than I do now working and missing out on my little girl growing up. That is my biggest fear. I feel like sometimes people will sugar coat things till you get in too deep and then you're stuck. It's happened to me more times than I'd like to admit.
 
True. But like I said, you are young enough to make another change and not loose any progress on your career if it’s not how you envision the work/life balance panning out.


Of course, I’m a workaholic and have the mentality to “work hard now so I don’t have to later” type of thing. I suffer some, family suffers some as well, but it’s works for us and sets the family up for success for the long term.
 
Any time I consult anybody on this, this is what I tell them: Establish an end goal, financially (salary) and professionally (title). You can't get to where you want to go without a plan. Usually, aggressive plans start off easy, progressively get more difficult and you'll get sh*t on until you start hitting that Sr Mgmt/Director level, it'll plateau and then start getting easier again. A less aggressive path will typically take longer to attain the same goals...ie get sh*t on longer. Or set your sights lower and rarely 'struggle'. But, like with anything else, if you want the glory, you're gonna have to put in the time at some point, which will result in some sacrifices.
 
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