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Posted a few months back about a dilemma that I was having with choosing a new career field.
Made a career transition from professor to entry level software developer.
I ended up leaving New York for greener pastures in Dallas, TX. Chose Dallas over Chicago and Atlanta.
Took a 30K+ pay cut to make the move.
Well after a month of living and working in Dallas I am starting to feel like I did not make the right choice.
The job itself is not bad. Cool coworkers. Laid back work environment. However, training that the company promised to provide was misleading. Also the job description is nothing like the actual work that software developers are doing. My particular division is doing nothing more than fixing bugs in our software.
I also do not enjoy living in Dallas. I was looking for big city hustle and bustle and have not found it here. Also, not as easy as I expected to make friends here as a single 30 something.
Only been here for a month and I am already thinking about looking for other work. Only thing holding me back from looking elsewhere is that I have 5 months left on my apartment lease.
I am thankful to have job, but feel very disappointed in the move that I made. I think it may have more to do with location than actual work. I should have moved to Chicago. Could you guys offer any advice on my situation.
Last edited by usamathman; 03-01-2015 at 09:54 PM..
I think you should stick it out, for a while at least. Frankly, it sounds to me like you were expecting a bit too much. You are only a month into this. It's pretty natural that you wouldn't have found a close friend group yet. These things develop over time. And it is equally natural that the work you are doing is not super high-level or scintillating. You stated yourself that this is an entry-level position. Everybody has to start somewhere. If you stick around you will move up the ranks into more fulfilling work.
I can't tell you whether or not you made the correct career move for you. But don't pull the plug without giving this move a solid chance.
It's difficult enough to change one thing, but to change two major things - job and location - is tough. It takes time to adjust to both a new job and home. Even if this isn't the dream job you envisioned, can you stick with it a year as an opportunity to learn and move on?
I don't know what to say about not having proper training, but have read and heard about this in your field more than once. I'm sure others will have suggestions.
You can read the Chicago forum and see the same complaint from people who relocated from NYC and other places. It's tough to make new friends once you're out of school. Go to meetup.com and join a singles group or two, or look for a group of people with a shared interest that's either related to work or a hobby. You'll meet more people your age that way than you will by hitting the bars.
I would not feel any sense of obligation to this company, or worry about the lease. I would look for work in Chicago immediately. It will likely take many months to complete a hiring cycle, anyway. Personally, I wonder why you thought you needed to move. There are many more software jobs in NYC than almost anywhere outside of Silicon Valley, and they pay very well.
we moved to a new state too a year ago and it's tough. i have kids and i think that's one of my main social connections (team sports, pta, etc). if i were single i would think it'd be tougher. we wanted to move back but decided to stick it out for now. do your coworkers socialize together? have you visited a church?
You’ve been there a month, that’s nothing. You’re an entry level person, they’re not going to have you building the next MS Office package. I grew up in NYC too, Dallas is not NYC. I would have went to Chicago but that’s neither here nor there. You’re in Dallas. Stay there for a while. Job descriptions are hardly ever what a job is like. Companies don’t bring people in to spend money on teaching and training them. They do the minimum of what needs to be done for you to do your work.
You have one month experience and you are going to look for another job? Sounds like an awful idea. Get back to us in 3-5 years, and be thankful that you were able to get a chance to move into what you wanted to move into. Pfft, one month, come on man, stop being so flaky.
If you don't enjoy Dallas now, just wait until summer...you'll hate it even worse. And yeah, I would never choose to move to Dallas...
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