Changing Jobs

[Danish Saeed]

Hi !
I need some guidance regarding my career.
Currently I work for a company developing wireless applications using J2ME & Wap/WML. I use Servlets/JSP for server-side apps. My company is in another city so I work from home. I have been working for this company for the last one year and this is my first job.I do like my work and I think my employers are happy with my work. But I don't really like working from home.
Right now I am also being offered a job from a local company. Work will be related to web development using Servlets/JSP. This company is going to pay me *same* salary as my old company. There is also going to be a probation period of around 3 months. If I take up this offer I will have to leave my current job. There is no way I can make it part-time. My current company is just a startup, but this company is firmly established.
So what should I do. I'm pretty confused. Entering the local market is tough. Someone helped me get an interview and I got selected. So opportunity does not frequently knock at the door. On the other hand I fear that if they throw me out after the probation period, then I will get in to big trouble. I have to take a tough decision. :roll:
Danish

[Todd Killingsworth]

Let me get this straight:
The new company is offering NO incentive (either $$$ or new tech experience)
This means they are asking you to sacrifice your seniority with your current employer, as well as any valuable/hard-to-replace business knowledge you may have.
Do you have or want ownership in the startup?
How is each company doing financially? Are their customers paying their bills? How's the stock doing on the larger company?
Has either company had layoffs in the past 3 years?
If I had a good job at a company doing work I liked, I could care less if I was physically at the building.
Tread carefully! Bird-in-hand and all that.
Todd Killingsworth

[Todd Killingsworth]

Tried to remove bone-headed double post
[ August 13, 2003: Message edited by: Todd Killingsworth ]

[Rufus BugleWeed]

I've never worked from home. What don't you like about it?

[Danish Saeed]

Originally posted by Todd Killingsworth:
Let me get this straight:
The new company is offering NO incentive (either $$$ or new tech experience)
This means they are asking you to sacrifice your seniority with your current employer, as well as any valuable/hard-to-replace business knowledge you may have.
Do you have or want ownership in the startup?
How is each company doing financially? Are their customers paying their bills? How's the stock doing on the larger company?
Has either company had layoffs in the past 3 years?
If I had a good job at a company doing work I liked, I could care less if I was physically at the building.
Tread carefully! Bird-in-hand and all that.
Todd Killingsworth

My current company is pretty small. Just four or five people in all, out of which two are the founders of the company. I am just an employee. How can I and *why* should I ask for ownership(I graduated last year). I only make applications, but my employers are the ones who conceive ideas and will market/sell applications. I get paid for what I make and for what I know.
Right now we are just making applications. We will market them after afew months. But I have never had any salary problems. I always get it in time.
This new company that is hiring me is a multinational. From what I hear they pay well. They did not have layoffs in the last two years. But still it is regarded as a second tier-company. As I already said, it is well established, while my current company has yet to establish.
Inspite of all this I agree: A bird in hand is better than two in a bush.
Danish

[Danish Saeed]

Originally posted by Rufus BugleWeed:
I've never worked from home. What don't you like about it?

If you work in a company, you make new friends, get to know new people. These associations may help in future job search or may help you land a better job. Most jobs are not advertised. So if you have a good network of friends in the industry you have more chances of staying employed.
I just have a meeting on messenger with my co-worker two or three times a week (all work). I guess you do learn more if working in a team.
I work for a startup. The company has to grow yet. So I don't really expect good salary atleast for three or four years. If you work for a well established company you don't really have to worry about career growth as long as you work hard.
From what I have seen your employment record counts when getting a new job. If you have worked for well established companies you get better jobs.
I really dread the day when my job with this comapny will terminate. No job is life long so it will terminate one day. Getting a job would then be difficult as I've been sitting in my home, in isolation.
But there are some advantages when you work from home(they don't lure me though, just FYI).
1-Save time & money on transportation.
2-Save money on good dress. You can wear your shorts at home, who cares.
3-Working hours can be flexible.
4-No boss/pressure to ride your nerves.
5-Extra time saved can be used to upgrade skills/study for certs etc.
6-Work all night.

Danish

[Matt Cao]

Originally posted by Danish Saeed:
Hi !
I need some guidance regarding my career.
Currently I work for a company developing wireless applications using J2ME & Wap/WML. I use Servlets/JSP for server-side apps. My company is in another city so I work from home. I have been working for this company for the last one year and this is my first job.I do like my work and I think my employers are happy with my work. But I don't really like working from home.
Right now I am also being offered a job from a local company. Work will be related to web development using Servlets/JSP. This company is going to pay me *same* salary as my old company. There is also going to be a probation period of around 3 months. If I take up this offer I will have to leave my current job. There is no way I can make it part-time. My current company is just a startup, but this company is firmly established.
So what should I do. I'm pretty confused. Entering the local market is tough. Someone helped me get an interview and I got selected. So opportunity does not frequently knock at the door. On the other hand I fear that if they throw me out after the probation period, then I will get in to big trouble. I have to take a tough decision. :roll:
Danish

Hi Danish,
The monetary reward maybe the same but what's about the employee benefits? Unless you are an antisocial and total inept, company rarely goes through all the hassle of paperworks bring someone onboard and lets go after the probation period. Never think with an established company, you need not worry about your career growth. You need to continously navigate your career until you ready for retire.
There are many ways to approach the situation, one way is accepting the offer from the new company and turn around honesty and tacticaly offer the startup company that you are willing to work part time helping them till they have a decent business office with enough space to house their staffs. If they rejected your offer, you counter it with a contact point and say if they found the new replacement, have the replacement to contact you for any questions. Your career cycle is on the way up, by creating this scenario that you are prepare yourself for the day your career cycle on the way down. It also serves as a professional cardinal rule: "never burn the bridge after you have left."
Good Lucks,
MCao

[Greg Neef]

Every 3 months on a job is a probation period. They can let you go whenever they like for whatever reason they want. I would not let the 90 day probation period influence anything. Having just been laid off my a 'multinational' I would not consider them as providing more job security than other companies necessarily.

[shay Aluko]

In all cases, the decision is always yours. i think the type of company you work for should be influenced by what stage of your career you are in. If you are just starting out and you had a choice between both types of places you may want to work for the multinational for a few years and build up a good resume (its all about being able to sell yourself). But you will definitely want to consider moving on to a smaller company later because you have more responsibility and you can be in a more visible position a opposed to being lost in a multinational. Also bear in mind that the so-called multinationals are very unstable places to work nowadays, they have to make their quarterly numbers so they have no qualms about laying you off anytime. No one can tell you what to do, go with your gut feeling, in most cases, your gut feeling will be right