Dilemma - Flexibility or Progression?

[Ikemi]

I have a bit of a dilemma and I'm after some advice ...

Background: I'm a Network Manager in the public sector and have been for nearly 9 years. I do not have any official IT qualifications. I enjoy my job and I'm regularly praised for my positive, 'can-do' attitude, although I have recently been thinking that it's possibly time to find something else.

I've just been approached and offered a job by a local IT support company, but it's quite a different proposal. The pay is a few grand more per year. However they have offered to help me with completing 6 MCSE exams, which will increase my salary £1000 per completed exam. Once all exams have been completed, I'd be earning £500/month after tax extra, in comparison to my current wages. An official offer was sent to be on Friday and I need to make a decision tomorrow.

However ... The upsides of my job is the flexibility; I can start early and finish early, or start late and finish late. I have 28 days holiday, as well as a couple of additional days when the site is occasionally closed. I have a Line Manager, but he rarely gets involved. He leave me to it, knowing I do a good job! I do manage others. I also benefit from a rather nice pension.

The new job is more project/install/client focused and will require time out of the office. Days are marginally longer with 20 days holiday allowance and less chance of flexibility when required. I may also need to travel across the UK occasionally. However I'll be surrounded by new tech, which means I'll learn and progress more.

So, the question is ... progression, with some extra cash (albeit not in the first year) for more work. Alternatively, would I miss the flexibility my current job offers? A mate said, stay ... but complete my MCSE courses in my free time, then move on elsewhere (internal support role, possibly in private sector, or something else public sector related).

I'm not afraid of hard work and I enjoy being busy and under pressure. I'm 30 years old, so the time is now! However 'work smart, not work hard'. I don't want to change jobs and end up bending over backwards for a lack of reward. Any thoughts? Is my mate right? No public sector slagging off, please!

[bitchstewie]

Ikemi said:

However ... The upsides of my job is the flexibility; I can start early and finish early, or start late and finish late. I have 28 days holiday, as well as a couple of additional days when the site is occasionally closed. I have a Line Manager, but he rarely gets involved. He leave me to it, knowing I do a good job! I do manage others. I also benefit from a rather nice pension.

The new job is more project/install/client focused and will require time out of the office. Days are marginally longer with 20 days holiday allowance and less chance of flexibility when required. I may also need to travel across the UK occasionally. However I'll be surrounded by new tech, which means I'll learn and progress more.

Sounds like you'd be working for an MSP?

I can only go off what I read, and most of it has an american slant on it, but most folks working for MSPs seem to want to jump ship as they're basically being rented out by the hour and it's all about the billable.

That's not to say they're all like that, but it's a side to consider.

Personally I value freedom and flexibility more than money, which is to say I like being able to get in early and clear off early but do a few bits from home if and when I need to far more than I'd appreciate a few grand a year but have to be in X place at Y time which might be Z hours away from home.

[Ikemi]

bhstewie said:

Sounds like you'd be working for an MSP?

Spot on! It's a c.10 person company, but they have visions of growing the company to approximately 30 people in the next 3-4 years.

bhstewie said:

Personally I value freedom and flexibility more than money, which is to say I like being able to get in early and clear off early but do a few bits from home if and when I need to far more than I'd appreciate a few grand a year but have to be in X place at Y time which might be Z hours away from home.

I'm inclined to agree. I'm tempted to use this offer as a means of securing a payrise, or at least see if my current company will fund my MCSE exams. I know how to install, manage and troubleshoot server environments, but not 'officially' ... I've only ever learned through reading knowledge bases and just 'playing around'!

As such, I'm thinking ... MCSE + 13yrs IT experience (9yrs as NM) -> Internal support at a large company, or public sector establishment.

I hugely appreciate the job offer and it's a massive compliment, but I've only briefly searched through some job sites, and I haven't submitted my CV to an IT recruitment company. I don't want to make a rash decision!

Out of interest, what do you do Stewie?

[Flooble]

Are you comfortable with your current salary? Do you struggle to make it to the end of the month?

It sounds to me like the local it support firm will be renting you out (as stewie notes). That means you will be on a treadmill to hit a "utilisation target" or "billable hours". Maybe not so much with the current size, but as it grows you will start to get squeezed. I speak from experience on both sides of the fence! Don't forget that a private sector company lives and dies by its income - no money in = no money to pay you. Whereas the public sector is always going to be there so the pressure isn't on in the same way. Especially the small private sector companies where one bad month can see them having to lay people off.

You say you are not afraid of hard work, but think deeply about just how much that £500 a month is worth to you. Getting up at 0500 to drive to a client site. Staying behind to ensure the install gets finished. Arriving home in time to sleep before you turn around and head off to the next site.

If you are 30, I guess that means either kids are on the way or have already arrived. Are you being pressured to bring in more money for them? Because from what I have seen (I am 40) it doesn't work - the guys who took on the high-pressure high-pay jobs ended up with more divorces than the guys who stayed in the lower-paid jobs but were around at home when they were needed.

If you are comfortable where you are now, I would strongly suggest staying and aiming for internal promotion. Jumping ship is a gamble, as you seem to have identified. It's only worth taking if the pay-off is big enough - only you can decide if £500 a month counts as "big enough".

[bitchstewie]

Ikemi said:

Out of interest, what do you do Stewie?

Sysadmin at an SME.

It's private sector so I can't comment on the public vs. private side, my comments were more around the MSP side which I seldom hear good things about.

[Flooble]

bhstewie said:

Sysadmin at an SME.

It's private sector so I can't comment on the public vs. private side, my comments were more around the MSP side which I seldom hear good things about.

I've done both hence my slightly raw response above! Agreed about MSP - you might luck out and work somewhere with undemanding clients who pay through the nose for everything (£500 to change the printer toner) but the mystique around IT is largely long gone and it's freebies and squeezing all the way now.

[bitchstewie]

I would be wanting to find out what kind of stuff their bread and butter is.

I get the point about learning skills and playing with new stuff, but will you be spending 80% of your time installing new storage arrays, firewalls and virtualisation clusters, or will you be spending 80% of your time trying to make a broken Windows 2000 server boot, or setting up 10 printers on desks?

The infamous thing I read about MSPs is that the sales side of the business won't give a st which one it is so long as it pays.

[Flooble]

bhstewie said:

...
The infamous thing I read about MSPs is that the sales side of the business won't give a st which one it is so long as it pays.

^ This, all the way. Sales don't care in the slightest as they won't be the ones stuck at work over the weekend trying to sort out the mess. Every private sector company is beholden to a greater or lesser degree to the sales side - it takes a really gutsy MD to say "No" to a deal, unless the pipeline is already full of work.

I have found myself being presented as an expert in so many things, some of which I only heard of after the sales guy came back triumphantly waving a contract ...

[Ikemi]

Flooble said:

Are you comfortable with your current salary? Do you struggle to make it to the end of the month?

If you are 30, I guess that means either kids are on the way or have already arrived. Are you being pressured to bring in more money for them?

If you are comfortable where you are now, I would strongly suggest staying and aiming for internal promotion. It's only worth taking if the pay-off is big enough - only you can decide if £500 a month counts as "big enough".

Thanks Flooble - You make some very interesting points! In regards to the quotes above, I've pretty much hit the limit in terms of internal promotion for this establishment. Anything above me is more management, but requires other skills to pursue.

At the end of the month, I'm financially comfortable. All bills are paid and there is some money left over for fun stuff. Honestly? The extra cash would only be spent on materialistic things, or help towards moving to a bigger house. As you've mentioned, it's an uncertain risk.

I need to take a risk, but a calculated risk. I'm going to focus on exams, then move on from there! I feel I'm more comfortable and better suited to an internal support role, rather than external ...

[Wyvern971]

Flooble said:

I have found myself being presented as an expert in so many things, some of which I only heard of after the sales guy came back triumphantly waving a contract ...

Amen to that......

As a side note, if you're jammy enough to be on a final salary pension you'd be almost mad to move, especially if you can negotiate your pay up....