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I need help in job decision...

Oh yea, bennies, gotta have me some
 
I'd do what you do, stay with the big company as long as it lasts, because eventually they 'll get rid of you.

Develop your skills while you're not stressed, and when they push you toward the door run, and enjoy the next place.
 
Thank you guys, you rock

I live in Uruguay, south America...
Things are very similar in UK and USA, with some exceptions.

Its mandatory for any company, no matter if its private or state, to pay for your social security (for retirement) and health. state company no longer give benefits as they did before. The "party" is over.
The "big company" I'm working now also includes Blue Cross and Blue Shield for every worker, but I haven't been accepted in Blue Cross, because of high blood pressure. So I got the regular health care instead. I was hoping to be accepted as I suffer from major depressive disorder and the regular health care has been very basic in the past 5 years of treatment.

I'm afraid that my numbers are a bit on the red. Inflation skyrocketed in the past few years, and now I'm selling all my stuff, like guitars, effect pedals, amplifiers, and some synthesizers. I will only keep my main synth and one electric guitar and that's it, everything will have to go. I also have 2 laptops, one will have to go.

I think I will stay where I am for now, and in the meanwhile I will code some .net applications... I will need ideas, because I don't really know what kind of app could be useful. Maybe I should open another thread to listen to your ideas guys.

Thank you
 
Thefumigator said:
I think I will stay where I am for now, and in the meanwhile I will code some .net applications... I will need ideas, because I don't really know what kind of app could be useful. Maybe I should open another thread to listen to your ideas guys.
Click to expand...

If you are just doing it to keep you skills up, write your own versions of apps you use every day. One thing that is always useful, is project management software.
 
Interesting, as almost everyone recommends you to stay at your current job. As an employer, and previously managing small to mid-size dev teams, if you have been passed over consistently and left in the talent pool, I think you could be canned very soon - on your way out. Seriously, have you talked to your manager? Are you worried of not "rocking the boat?" You really should talk to your manager or team lead.

Think about this in terms of a basketball team or any team sports. If the coach always calls your number last, or never even call your number, do you think you will stick around much longer? That means you are expandable. For whatever reason when the team lead or Project Manager picked his or her team, and you are always being passed over, there must a reason, no? What would your manager think of you? He or she must think - why would every PM or team lead passed on you? There must be something wrong or skill deficiency in you.

I don't know if I would recommend you to take the job from the utility company. I would think it would offer more of a job security.

As for the .NET learning, join the .NET Foundation. Poke around github, but more importantly, learn or improve your .NET Core skills. For anyone on the .NET platform, Core is the future. Sign up Pluralsight (free for 30 days). There are tons of .NET Core courses there. Good luck!
 
Thefumigator said:
Thank you guys, you rock

I live in Uruguay, south America...
Things are very similar in UK and USA, with some exceptions.

Its mandatory for any company, no matter if its private or state, to pay for your social security (for retirement) and health. state company no longer give benefits as they did before. The "party" is over.
The "big company" I'm working now also includes Blue Cross and Blue Shield for every worker, but I haven't been accepted in Blue Cross, because of high blood pressure. So I got the regular health care instead. I was hoping to be accepted as I suffer from major depressive disorder and the regular health care has been very basic in the past 5 years of treatment.

I'm afraid that my numbers are a bit on the red. Inflation skyrocketed in the past few years, and now I'm selling all my stuff, like guitars, effect pedals, amplifiers, and some synthesizers. I will only keep my main synth and one electric guitar and that's it, everything will have to go. I also have 2 laptops, one will have to go.

I think I will stay where I am for now, and in the meanwhile I will code some .net applications... I will need ideas, because I don't really know what kind of app could be useful. Maybe I should open another thread to listen to your ideas guys.

Thank you
Click to expand...
Off topic slightly but references to some of these things have been made...…… I never thought I would find myself saying this but it makes me realise how lucky we are (most of the time) in the UK, my last job before I retired in April of this year gave me 30 days annual holiday per year, on top of that I could buy an extra 5 if I wanted it (I did :)), it is employment law that every employer must offer what is now called over here a "stakeholder pension" where both the employer and employee have % of salary minimum contributions, I also got for free £250,000 life cover, sick pay was 100% of salary for 6 months, 50% of salary for 6 months thereafter, we have the national health service for everything medical from seeing a Doctor for the Flu to Cancer treatment and everything in between, all completely free (well apart from taxes), not perfect after 10 years of under spending because of global recession and on top of that we get a state pension, now at age of 66 for both men and women (15 years ago women got theirs at 60, men at 65), the downside to all of this is taxation and more taxation and the fact that social care has declined so if you are ever at the point where you cannot look after yourself anymore and need to be in supported housing in old age then the government can take your home to pay for it.
 
@Thefumigator This is highly dependent on your personality and what you want to do. If you absolutely need to do something (like me), you can try starting a hobby project while parked in the talent pool. That way you'll be both learning and getting the higher paycheck. If you must do things and can't get a hobby project off the ground, then switch.
Either way, imagine where you want to be in 3-5 years and then figure out which path gets you there ;)
 
My wife is a .net developer. She hates programming but everyone from India and their dog took programming as a career. The pay up here in Canada sucks big time for them. She used to be a teacher but did .net instead.

So if you like it, stick with what you got. You are lucky to have a job that pays you well and you do jack all. I lost interest in my job and I just do same routine every day for the last 11 years. Its terrible but it pays for the roof over my and wifes head.

You wont be rich working for someone else. While you are doing what you do, why not make applications on the side and start your own business in something? Then you can hire me and pay me good to be your spokesperson for the company. Cause I am handsome (at least what my mom tells me).
 
sepheronx said:
My wife is a .net developer. She hates programming but everyone from India and their dog took programming as a career. The pay up here in Canada sucks big time for them. She used to be a teacher but did .net instead.

So if you like it, stick with what you got. You are lucky to have a job that pays you well and you do jack all. I lost interest in my job and I just do same routine every day for the last 11 years. Its terrible but it pays for the roof over my and wifes head.

You wont be rich working for someone else. While you are doing what you do, why not make applications on the side and start your own business in something? Then you can hire me and pay me good to be your spokesperson for the company. Cause I am handsome (at least what my mom tells me).
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure even Freddy Krueger's mum thought he was handsome at some point :D In my experience Mum's are not an endorsement, I mean my Mother in Law even thinks my wife is beautiful :)
 
Tatty_One said:
I am pretty sure even Freddy Krueger's mum thought he was handsome at some point :D In my experience Mum's are not an endorsement, I mean my Mother in Law even thinks my wife is beautiful :)
Click to expand...
Lol
 
I'm in a similar boat.

I find myself wanting to progress in the company I'm in but with the pay being so low and no chance of it changing any time soon, I will have to find else where to work because I can't support my family well enough and to me this is unacceptable. They won't do anything but having taken on other peoples jobs that had been made redundant their jobs now fall on my shoulders, so I'm still on the base wage I was when I started two years ago and doing more and more and moving up the chain and I can't afford to live. I can't deal with their false promises or care too much to a degree about what they are promising me to do in the future or in six months, I can't wait that long.

I've been speaking to the head of IT today about it (among other times) and he understands the issues but can't do anything. So now I'm on the look out for something else and I'm hoping to take a jump and get further up the ladder. It's what I'd like to do anyways, so I don't mind the jump I just hope someone will give me that chance to show what I can do.
 
LFaWolf said:
Interesting, as almost everyone recommends you to stay at your current job. As an employer, and previously managing small to mid-size dev teams, if you have been passed over consistently and left in the talent pool, I think you could be canned very soon - on your way out. Seriously, have you talked to your manager? Are you worried of not "rocking the boat?" You really should talk to your manager or team lead.

Think about this in terms of a basketball team or any team sports. If the coach always calls your number last, or never even call your number, do you think you will stick around much longer? That means you are expandable. For whatever reason when the team lead or Project Manager picked his or her team, and you are always being passed over, there must a reason, no? What would your manager think of you? He or she must think - why would every PM or team lead passed on you? There must be something wrong or skill deficiency in you.

I don't know if I would recommend you to take the job from the utility company. I would think it would offer more of a job security.

As for the .NET learning, join the .NET Foundation. Poke around github, but more importantly, learn or improve your .NET Core skills. For anyone on the .NET platform, Core is the future. Sign up Pluralsight (free for 30 days). There are tons of .NET Core courses there. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the point of view. In this "big company" there are many teams, so there are many Managers, leaders and directors for each team. There is a team assigned for each project, and when they hired me, I did a technical test which was long as hell, like 2 hrs and half, and they set me as a "Semi Senior Advance .net developer". Which is OK, considering my weakness are t-sql queries.

There's something I didn't tell, but it is important. After being hired I spent half a week in the talent pool, and then they called me to join a team. One of the guys was leaving after 4 years in the company so they thought I could be filling that hole. It was so so at the beginning, but I didn't like it, it was nothing to do with .net development. It was more like "application support" so I had to learn how the applications worked in order to give support for them.

I was always in touch with my team mates and I asked them many things about the applications but even tho they tried hard, they weren't able to help me much, they were not familiar with the task I was doing. So the team was broken, the project was too fragmented.

Also my PM was a complete a**hole, He treated everybody as junk. And I couldn't stand him. 3 or 4 weeks later he traveled to the US to visit the customer. And the customer complained about many things about my team mates and, of course, about me. "He is not like the other guy" the other guy had 4 years of experience. So my PM sent me a threat, won't telling the details, but I had a panic attack. I resisted the whole day anyway, trying to dissimulate, and when I went home I thought about it a long time... I made myself up and wrote my resignation letter.

But guess what. My mentor, the People Director and my Team Director didn't accepted my resignation. They asked me why I was quitting, I showed them the threat my PM sent me. I told them, this is substandard, you cannot treat anyone like this. No matter how bad you perform, you just can't threat a person. This is not acceptable. "Have you ever looked to the other IT companies around you?"

They were astonished. So they told me to take some days off to relieve my pain after the panic attack, and they supported me, they told me "look, we are going to fix this, let us fix this and we will find another project for you, but please, don't quit, give us another chance."

I was like "OK"... later on I receive a message from my PM with his apologies, which I accepted.

So, while being in the talent pool, I had a few interviews, one from a Team Director that needed someone familiar with Azure Analysis Services, and SharePoint. I was so sorry but I have no idea of those technologies. The other interview was from another TD that needed someone with knownledge in WPF, I was almost there, almost there... I'm familiar with WPF but far from being a mastermind.
My mentor told me he was like 4 months in the talent pool. That I shall not worry much about it....

bug said:
@Thefumigator This is highly dependent on your personality and what you want to do. If you absolutely need to do something (like me), you can try starting a hobby project while parked in the talent pool. That way you'll be both learning and getting the higher paycheck. If you must do things and can't get a hobby project off the ground, then switch.
Either way, imagine where you want to be in 3-5 years and then figure out which path gets you there ;)
Click to expand...

Most likely I will make applications in .net... Visual Studio is free. Also comes with Xamarin which is not very mature but good enough for android/ios small applications.

sepheronx said:
You wont be rich working for someone else. While you are doing what you do, why not make applications on the side and start your own business in something? Then you can hire me and pay me good to be your spokesperson for the company. Cause I am handsome (at least what my mom tells me).
Click to expand...

You are hired as spokeperson for my company. 'Cause I'm more like the silent type.

phill said:
I'm in a similar boat.

I find myself wanting to progress in the company I'm in but with the pay being so low and no chance of it changing any time soon, I will have to find else where to work because I can't support my family well enough and to me this is unacceptable.
Click to expand...

Man, I swear, that if I ever get rich by doing my own business you'll be the first one to be hired and get into my boat. I swear that If I ever have such luck, you and your family would never have to worry about anything again. I swear. Resist.

EDIT: anyone in difficulties will be on my boat.
 
Thefumigator said:
Man, I swear, that if I ever get rich by doing my own business you'll be the first one to be hired and get into my boat. I swear that If I ever have such luck, you and your family would never have to worry about anything again. I swear. Resist.

EDIT: anyone in difficulties will be on my boat.
Click to expand...

Thank you sir :)
 
phill said:
I'm in a similar boat.

I find myself wanting to progress in the company I'm in but with the pay being so low and no chance of it changing any time soon, I will have to find else where to work because I can't support my family well enough and to me this is unacceptable. They won't do anything but having taken on other peoples jobs that had been made redundant their jobs now fall on my shoulders, so I'm still on the base wage I was when I started two years ago and doing more and more and moving up the chain and I can't afford to live. I can't deal with their false promises or care too much to a degree about what they are promising me to do in the future or in six months, I can't wait that long.

I've been speaking to the head of IT today about it (among other times) and he understands the issues but can't do anything. So now I'm on the look out for something else and I'm hoping to take a jump and get further up the ladder. It's what I'd like to do anyways, so I don't mind the jump I just hope someone will give me that chance to show what I can do.
Click to expand...
The way this usually works is between you and your significant other, only one gets to do what they like while the other does what they have to and bring home the bacon.
 
You should probably put a year in at your current company, just as a matter of not looking flakey on your resume. Also, it may be that at the end of that year you're actually working on good projects. I would also work on your interview skills and treat the meetings about working on a project like applying for a job, even though you already have one. If you aren't representing your skills well, then you may never find a project and they'll kick you out anyway.

As for the money, if it's within 10% then you could make that up with a raise within a year. It's definitely important you don't burn out. But I would be patient until the year is up, and then you'll have a clear conscience and a good reason for leaving.
 
Thefumigator said:
Which is OK, considering my weakness are t-sql queries.
Click to expand...

Ah good ole T-SQL. Land of Sub-queries, ROW_NUMBER() OVER ( PARTITION BY ... ), and STUFF()
 
Very good. Seems like you do have the backing of upper management, which is more than most people can ask for. Your position seems safe for at least 3 more months. If I were you, I would stay there for at least a year, or maybe two, which is the minimal time frame for people to change jobs. What you can do for the next 3 months - forget about creating any app that is irrelevant with your work. Concentrate how you can improve your skills that pertain to your current job. From what I can tell your company does contract work for a lot of large corporations. For large corporations many of their apps were written in WPF, so I would definitely up your skills in WPF. WPF is a tough skill to master. Poke around github and get some application ideas, then create your own version of the application.

However, do keep in mind, Microsoft is moving to UWP. WPF eventually will be phased out but it won't be for many years. UWP would be a skill set to learn on your spare time after the 3 months period.

Think about how you at this point of your career that you want to move up. I want to share this with you - http://mattbriggs.net/blog/2015/06/01/the-role-of-a-senior-developer/

Honestly, it is an exciting time to be a developer. There are so many open source projects, so many great new tools to learn!
 
I'll toss my opinion in to the ring...

Considering the percentage of Hydro electricity in Uruguay(Last check it was over 95%) and the fact that you mentioned it is a state owned endeavor. "If it was me" I would immediately take the position if it was a government backed Hydro Concern and your government doesn't have a policy of firing employees during recessions/depressions. I wouldn't be worrying myself with how much I was making...I'd be more worried about not having a position at all. I say this because your poverty levels we're more than 1/3 of your population just 20 years ago's(during the Banking Crisis) and could easily surpass that level in a real downturn. Again, if it was me...I also would not have my savings in the Peso. U.S. Dollars would be my top choice. I'd avoid metals*...at all costs.

I say this because of the asset bubbles that are apparent all throughout South America(and most of the world) are showing signs of teetering over the edge. While Uruguay is stronger than a few of it's neighbors(and known to be a safe banking haven), during large downturns there will be no countries that get hit harder than South American countries. Many of these markets have expanded 10x or better since the asset bubble was not allowed to be fully unwound in 2000 and again in 2008/9. 29 trillion in green shoots will only carry you so far.

Again...from my perspective...I'd be planning a multi-decade downturn into my own personal career plans if I lived in Uruguay(or the US).

Best Regards,

Liquid Cool

*initially
 
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