Job offer, "chasing" money, career changes and the like

440 Jim said:
Very interesting discussion, been watching

Contingency and succession planning is a must in any position.

I call it "getting your juices flowing", fire in the belly is a good one too.

I started out with fire, fire that was generated went I went out on my own at 16 as a result of need. Need gas, need food, need housing. Top 2% in Fla SAT scores in '80, and a 4 time college dropout by '82, four differant majors. Finally decided on EE as my path. Florida Institute of Technology, think it is Fla Tech now.

Married at 21, moved to Ga and started a low voltage contracting company (alarms, cctv, etc). Burned out at 27, sold the accounts ( would have retired by 40 had I kept it- but not looking back) and got into manufacturing, ground floor, shift electrician at a local Georgia Pacific plant.

Had our son, manufacturing became very comfortable for the next 30 years. I topped out at the GP plant and went into plastics, worked primarily with developing off the shelf PLC and motion controllers to replace the OEM "legacy controllers" so we were not bound to thier every 10 year upgrades. I changed employers 4 times in that period-it was never for money, I had either topped out or the "juices wern't flowing" and I needed growth. In every case, they offered me more to stay. My response was always "why did you wait 'till now? I've already made up my mind." And I left. Wound up in corporate Operations and Engineering management for the last 15yrs.

The last gig was local and it got me off the 50 week/year corporate travel plan. I was charged with building, startup, and ongoing operation of a plastic plant in my community. A great chance to help and be a part of the community I thought. And it was, I thought I would coast to retirement there, big fish, small pond thing.

In late '15 the C diagnosis hit, in Jan '16 had the surgery and subsequent radiation treatments. The company was privately owned by 3 brothers and they were most gracefull in supporting my recovery. Then in Jan '18, one of them flew down out of the blue and put me in a position that was against my principles and morals- I took the next two days off, went back and told them to go pound sand, and walked out-no notice-F 'em.

That was weird at 56, blew my whole thought process about stability and "being comfortable" away. I was raised and taught that you get a good career, work it, then retire and die. The "American Dream" I was told- yeah right. I raised my son to be entreprenural and he has done well.

About the time the C hit, I was investing in my son and nephew, an injection molding shop they were starting. I gave them the startup cash. Right about the time I left my "comfortable career" my son had an opportunity to secure some contract manufacturing in the Cannabis industry. We designed and built grow systems. I picked my tools up and helped him build 200 grow chambers. Did all the electrical BOMs, design, schematics, and got them UL listed. Still recovering at the time, and the physical labor really helped me I think.

Fast forward 4 years of a roller coaster ride. The company we manufactured for sold, new owner tried to cut us out after pulling a 1MM PO from us, then they realized we owned the IP. Son split the contract manufacturing off the metal amd plastics businesses and we merged. All of us got a 6 figure jobs and stock options, they were wanting to IPO. So they did the IPO, stocks skyrocketed. Myself, son, and two nephews pulled our vests last year (about half the awards) and as a result we are all debt free with good bank on top. And we still have all our retirement acccounts untouched.

So I went from a comfortable 6 figure job to 4 years of high volatility, crazy f'in ride. But I have made more in these 4 years than the previous 12 combined in "my comfortable career".

Wife had a similar "comfortable career", she told them to go pound sand after 30 yrs with the same company last year at 54. She's flipping houses now, she us selling one now and will clear 200K in this market.

I got lulled into complacement over the years, the shakeup was eye opening for me and like I said, changed my perspective (along with the cancer). I don't look back and don't really regret anything, but if I had to do it different I think I would stay closer to the fire instead of being comfortable.

At least now I have no boss, make my own schedule, spend as much time at "The Office" (the 440 CV) as I want, and get to help the kids out. No employees ( kids run that), no ERP, no HR, no conference calls, no bullshit anymore except family drama, which is always there anyways.

I've always said "every man is responsible for his own destiny". When someone or something interferes with that, you have to adapt and retake control of your destiny.

It's a crap shoot, do the best you can

Hope you make the right decision for you and your family, that's all I ever tried to do.

Good luck with your decision.
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Great story. Thanks for sharing.
 
Blueone said:
Years ago when I was younger and as aggressive as you could be. I had a facility 150k sqft, 100 CNC machines pumping $80M/yr 24/6. With a lot of automation…..Just a gong show
One OEM customer came in and their only agenda was a contingency plan for fire, power, god. It was like you got to be kidding me….so after procrastinating for a long time and the customer being relentless for a answer. I dug in… this was huge… so can’t explain it all… but one example was electric. We had two receptacles put out side where those big generator trailers could sit outside and plug into. We had an agreement with a local company and the customer to supply the generators in the event we lost power. Then it actually happened…. We lost power in a weather event. Trailers showed up almost immediately at the forecast of the winter storm coming…. So all we had to do was flip the switch and turn them on. …from that day I have always had a contingency plan.

You need to do the same with labor… I do today in my small shop

damn … sorry… wordy. I tried to keep it short
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So you've perfected cloning right? :)

Yes contingency plans are important, but damn this employee market in my area is tough.
 
Pirate Lady said:
You have a lot of irons in the fire. New boat, big trip, maybe new job.
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Yeah, and I'm having some anxiety about it all, maybe too much at one time, not sure. For example trying to have flexibility with my days off from work (because of weather) to move the boat will be a challenge with a brand new job.
 
Back in 97, we were buying a house, for some brain fart reason I can’t explain I decided to buy a new car at the same time we were going through closing. Wife was so pissed. Looking back, I can’t explain why I did that. Maybe the house buying stress cause me to not think right. Maybe step back for now.
 
Just me. Watching thread. I get paying double slip fees (when they say it’s not about the money, it’s always about the money), but I think maybe pushing it. Forecast is not the best. And while you in hurry to get home, I feel (opinion) you are bypass so much the middle bay has to offer. I (opinion) would wait a month, take a week vacation and make a nice slow trip down the bay for a memorable trip with new boat, but that’s just me.
 
Pirate Lady said:
Just me. Watching thread. I get paying double slip fees (when they say it’s not about the money, it’s always about the money), but I think maybe pushing it. Forecast is not the best. And while you in hurry to get home, I feel (opinion) you are bypass so much the middle bay has to offer. I (opinion) would wait a month, take a week vacation and make a nice slow trip down the bay for a memorable trip with new boat, but that’s just me.
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Yep, well said, agreed.
 
Thinking out loud...

So, some updates. I talked to my manager last week. He wanted some time to see what he could do for me. I like him, a lot, good guy, said a lot of nice things and I believe him. We are a similar age with a similar career and had more a of a "two guys at the bar over a beer" talk then an employee/employer manager/employee talk. Having had a couple of not so good managers (micromanagers) in the past I appreciate and value having a good one. We talked again today, he is not able to do anything for me as much as he wants to. "Anything" means money. He's a transparent kind of guy and I could hear the frustration and disappointment in his voice. He gave me some HR talk, talking points he was given in my opinion.

I have been going back and forth. Quality of life is what keeps coming up for me. I know what I have here, work life balance. I know the company culture and how to navigate it, as @b_arrington said. That comment stuck with me. I just bought this boat and want to spend a lot of time on it this spring/summer/fall and not have a new job get in the way. Sounds ridiculous I know, it's what I keep thinking about though. I literally talk to my current manager for 10 minutes every 2 weeks, an occasional email or two, otherwise I pretty much do whatever I want to do. He puts a lot of trust/confidence in me, which I like. When I asked the hiring manager about already planned PTO/vacations, time off, flexibility to leave early/work late and the like his answer was not "No problem", which is what mine would be and has been; it was "we will see what we can do, PTO is accrued" so I will be starting at zero. I have 6+ weeks where I am.

The work will be pretty much the same. It will be exciting at first as I learn a new product, new technologies, build out a new team, etc. Been there before.

The financials at my current employer are still a concern. I brought this up and did not hear anything in response that has me thinking things will get better. Our CIO talked about this as well in a recent meeting. I heard mostly "C Level" fluffy talk as I like to call it.

If it was winter and/or I did not just purchase the boat, I think I would be looking at this differently. I am having a difficult time with that though, like I am lazy, not motivated, making a mistake if I do not go, etc.

After crunching all of the numbers, looking at the next 2 years, it's about a 12% increase, not the 20% I originally quickly calculated.

Anyway, really just thinking out loud.
 
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tc410 said:
You didn’t have to…. You chose to.
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It was like reading a joke for a really long time and no punch line…. Update should mean decision…that post was 100% bait and switch….without a switch.
 
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