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Old 04-04-2018, 11:52 AM
 
43 posts, read 31,626 times
Reputation: 135

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Would love some thoughts on this. I've been in marketing 20 years at large and small companies in a tech heavy city. I am currently working a contract position. Pay and benefits are okay but no paid time off, no 401k matching, the culture is somewhat slow and stifling. It's possible I could get hired on, but no discussion of this yet (10 months into an 18 month contract) and I'm not sure I would want to.

I've been looking for permanent positions and I've got an interview coming up for a position where the pay is comparable to potentially a little better, better benefits, significant paid time off. Seemed to click with the hiring manager in the phone interview, seems like a cool dude I could work with and learn from, as far as you can tell from a phone interview. However, the commute is not ideal, I'm not sure the company is really on the cutting edge of their industry even tho it is a cutting edge industry, the offices seem drab - not cool like many of the hottest companies downtown. It could be a stepping stone to other positions/companies, but I'm not sure. And I actually don't know if it will make my resume any stronger.

I moved here almost 20 years ago to work for a downtown start up that shut down in the tech bust of 2001 after a few months. That was my dream and it was burst and I've never been able to get back to that. Had to take other jobs to pay the bills, learned a lot and had great experiences, but have always felt I missed out on the experience I came here for. So, now that I have a job that pays but isn't too challenging I have the mind space to really really work at a job search for the first time. I feel like if I kept at it I could get in one of those startuppy, cool, fun companies, but no guarantees at all. Had a couple of interviews last year before the contract job but nothing panned out.

I know it's hard to give advice without all the background, but I'd love to hear thoughts. I'm single, no kids, so I can take some risks, but want to make a smart choice: if I get a reasonable offer, take the less exciting job and hope it leads to something more or hold out to get that dream experience hopefully?
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Old 04-04-2018, 12:00 PM
 
4,690 posts, read 10,353,044 times
Reputation: 14882
No risk, no reward.... but slow and steady wins the race.

Personally, I followed my passion, landed my "dream" job... and it completely killed my passion. Sucked 100% of the joy from the experience within a year and I'm resentful for that situation. I've seen this echoed a number of times over the years (I did this 20 years ago), so my experience is not an exception.

If you can find work that's tolerable and pays the bills, that's a better situation IMHO. Save your passions and hobbies for outside of work where you run zero risk of killing them. Having nothing to be passionate about is a truly depressing experience, and I've never been able to find anything to fill the hole.
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Old 04-04-2018, 01:56 PM
 
757 posts, read 1,089,946 times
Reputation: 990
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian_M View Post
No risk, no reward.... but slow and steady wins the race.

Personally, I followed my passion, landed my "dream" job... and it completely killed my passion. Sucked 100% of the joy from the experience within a year and I'm resentful for that situation. I've seen this echoed a number of times over the years (I did this 20 years ago), so my experience is not an exception.

If you can find work that's tolerable and pays the bills, that's a better situation IMHO. Save your passions and hobbies for outside of work where you run zero risk of killing them. Having nothing to be passionate about is a truly depressing experience, and I've never been able to find anything to fill the hole.
I know the feeling. As an avid outdoor lover, people encouraged me to do something that involved the outdoors but I did not want to ruin a hobby that I love.

On that same thought, once upon a time, I wanted to run a television station. I went to school, followed a sales career path in TV advertising and then left after my bubble was crushed by the horrible ethics that I saw at numerous television station affiliates.

But to be fair, I was young and naive. I learned throughout the years that pretty much many businesses in the corporate world have horrible ethics so who knows.

Why not do both? Take the better "so-so" job AND continue to look for the dream job? Maybe even look at other opportunities in cities where start-ups are getting traction? Your advantage is that you don't have a family or kids and could move when others can't.

What's the worse that could happen if you followed your dream and it failed? Everyone knows all start-ups are risky and honestly, I think any future employer would appreciate the entrepreneurial effort/spirit.
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Old 04-05-2018, 09:00 AM
 
43 posts, read 31,626 times
Reputation: 135
Thanks for the insights! I think the idea to take the better so-so job and keep working on my skills and networking etc to get closer to the job I want to have is a good idea. I've also been thinking about what I need to make sure I do have in a job in order for it to be productive for me: flexibility, good work/life balance, sufficient pay. The dream job has more on top of that but there are some bare minimums I need on a daily basis in order to be okay.
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Old 05-26-2018, 10:27 PM
 
5,317 posts, read 3,190,215 times
Reputation: 8239
Sounds like your current contract is a possible dead end job.

Quote:
I moved here almost 20 years ago to work for a downtown start up that shut down in the tech bust of 2001 after a few months. That was my dream and it was burst and I've never been able to get back to that
Be aware that startups work their people to death, so if you're thinking of joining another one, you will be worked to death. And the salaries and benefits are usually not that good - they'll want you to take equity as part of your compensation. Equity that may require many years (you won't be there long enough) to get vested, or the company goes bust and it become worthless.
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