Re: Corporate World vs. Small Company: Considerations?

Subject: Re: Corporate World vs. Small Company: Considerations?
From: Jefro <jefro -at- jefro -dot- net>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2005 11:20:26 -0700


I would advise care, and a very honest assessment of your financial picture in these uncertain times. I made this decision eight years ago, and while I don't regret it for a second, there are pitfalls of which I was not aware.

For me it was based on not commuting at all. I had a baby at home and wished to telecommute, but the boss I had wasn't into it. I went from one large company to another in a different city, moved the whole family, took a 20% pay *raise* and telecommuted 2 days a week.
Not being satisfied, two years later I switched to a small startup company (same salary) that would allow me to telecommute full-time. We moved about 2 hours outside the city, and then a year later found our "dream small town" and moved again... now 4 hours outside the city. I got a pilot's license and flew in for meetings when I needed to, maybe once a quarter. The rest of the time I sat at home, wrote documentation, and lived my life in a rural area making top wages.
A year ago I was courted by another startup, mostly the same folks I had been working with for 5 years who were starting a new company. Another big raise, pre-IPO stock options, etc. Same working conditions. Life was good for a year. However, as of August, the new company is on the skids and laid off 60% of the payroll, including me. Sinking ship. Prior company doesn't need my services any more; they were a little upset when I left to join the defectors last year.
So now I find myself 4-5 hrs drive from all realistic job opportunities, with a big mortgage (we remodeled two years ago) and most companies simply not responding to my resume. The ones who do respond are reading from top to bottom, and at the top they see my zip code. I am realizing quickly that I will have to take an apartment in the city and spend most of the week down there if I want a job in this industry at all.

I didn't want this to be a sob story, but a warning that you MUST take the whole picture into account. Things can change quickly, and small companies can go bellyup in a blinding flash, no matter how promising. If you have made lifestyle changes to accommodate or to take advantage of the small company situation, it may be much harder to go back to the larger company if you find the need in a couple of years.

IF I HAD BEEN SMART---I still would have taken the small-company jobs, not for the pay raises but for the working conditions. I got to spend my son's early childhood in the same house with him instead of on the highway wishing I were home, and now I have a track record to show I can effectively work from home, so that when the tide turns again I can set up the same situation. However, I would have been **saving** instead of remodeling (and traveling, and buying an airplane, <insert things-I-did="wrong"/>). I would have put six months' salary into the bank instead of into the house. I would have kept very, very current on the technologies I knew then, rather than letting them languish. It pays to remember that even when the waters are calm, you are still in a small boat floating in a vast sea. (Or some other appropriate metaphor.)

Apologies for the length of this, I hope it is instructive (or at least entertaining) to someone!

Jefro


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Corporate World vs. Small Company: Considerations?: From: Amy P.

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