Money or Happiness?

Huw3481

If I decide I do want to get into management, the Expert job will be a perfect segway. It's a keyholder position, leadership position, etc. I do well at this for awhile and I don't doubt the other will just happen at the right time.
a] Congrats.
b] Segue. Just sayin' Segway is a personal transport device

thanksajdotcom

@Huw3481 said:

@thanksajdotcom said:
If I decide I do want to get into management, the Expert job will be a perfect segway. It's a keyholder position, leadership position, etc. I do well at this for awhile and I don't doubt the other will just happen at the right time.
a] Congrats.
b] Segue. Just sayin' Segway is a personal transport device

Ah, good to know. Learn something new every day. Thanks!

thanksajdotcom

Right now I'm looking into a way to possibly work both jobs full-time...you know, because who needs sleep?

scottalanmiller

@thanksajdotcom said:

Right now I'm looking into a way to possibly work both jobs full-time...you know, because who needs sleep?

Probably a bad idea, but I appreciate the reasoning behind this.

scottalanmiller

I did spend most of my career doing more than one full time job at a time. It is exhausting and dangerous (career wise) but it also allows you to gain experience, exposure and skills at a pace that you can't easily do otherwise. Plus, obviously, you earn more money this way.

thanksajdotcom

@scottalanmiller said:

I did spend most of my career doing more than one full time job at a time. It is exhausting and dangerous (career wise) but it also allows you to gain experience, exposure and skills at a pace that you can't easily do otherwise. Plus, obviously, you earn more money this way.

I'm trying to find a way to do this for my friend. I won't be able to keep it up forever, but if I can do it for at least six months, we'll see what happens...

thanksajdotcom

So an update on this: being the person I am who can't ever stop debating with myself about things, I've changed my mind about the Expert job. I've decided that maybe my first week of two jobs was just rough, as it has been in the past, and I'm going to stay on at my full-time gig full-time and stay at Staples part-time. The GM isn't real happy with me for changing my mind, but he's got 31 days still to find a replacement for the Expert position.

I had a convo with my friend who got me in here yesterday, who told me that he figures I can make L2 Engineer in about 1.5 years. Only one person to date has ever done that, and it was another friend of his, who got him hired on at this job, among a couple others. It's gonna involve getting a lot of Cisco certs, but I know I'm capable, it's just whether I can buckle down and do it.

This was not a decision I made lightly, or easily, but I really enjoy my new job, but I know I need Staples, so I'm gonna do what I can to do both. We'll see how that works out. If six months from now it's proving to be too much, I'll reevaluate from there.

Anyways, as my father loves to say, "ain't nothin' left to it but to do it".

Thanks,
A.J.

@thanksajdotcom said:

@scottalanmiller said:

I did spend most of my career doing more than one full time job at a time. It is exhausting and dangerous (career wise) but it also allows you to gain experience, exposure and skills at a pace that you can't easily do otherwise. Plus, obviously, you earn more money this way.

I'm trying to find a way to do this for my friend. I won't be able to keep it up forever, but if I can do it for at least six months, we'll see what happens...

This usually ends up with people doing a bad job at both job and either losing both or at least burning bridges. I'd focus on one and to a good job at it.

scottalanmiller

@thecreativeone91 said:

This usually ends up with people doing a bad job at both job and either losing both or at least burning bridges. I'd focus on one and to a good job at it.

I totally agree with this generally but there is some behind the scenes stuff going on that AJ has shared with me and I support his logic on this. Not sure he can pull it off, but he's not doing it for the extra money, that's for sure.

@thanksajdotcom said:

The GM isn't real happy with me for changing my mind

I wouldn't be either. People like it when you stick to your word.

thanksajdotcom

@thecreativeone91 said:

@thanksajdotcom said:

The GM isn't real happy with me for changing my mind

I wouldn't be either. People like it when you stick to your word.

Well he's still got 31 days before the current Expert leaves. I didn't leave him high and dry at the last minute.

thanksajdotcom

@scottalanmiller said:

@thecreativeone91 said:

This usually ends up with people doing a bad job at both job and either losing both or at least burning bridges. I'd focus on one and to a good job at it.

I totally agree with this generally but there is some behind the scenes stuff going on that AJ has shared with me and I support his logic on this. Not sure he can pull it off, but he's not doing it for the extra money, that's for sure.

I do need the money, as I couldn't make it right now on either job alone, but I have a supplemental source that could offset that. No, the reason I'm doing this is because one is a good long-term prospect (ShoreGroup), but the other I most definitely need now for a variety of reasons (Staples), mostly emotional. I told my GM I'm not going anywhere, and I can still kick some pretty serious ass as a part-timer. I did for years.

IRJ

I can't believe how low the pay is at Shore Group. You have a decent amount of experience, you should be making at least $18/hr.

IRJ

@thanksajdotcom instead of playing around VPS Servers, you should train for certifications in your free time. Sure playing around with VPS servers gives you knowledge, but it doesn't help your resume.

@IRJ said:

I can't believe how low the pay is at Shore Group. You have a decent amount of experience, you should be making at least $18/hr.

I only made about a quarter more than than even at my last job being the Network Admin. Technician jobs pay $10-11.40 around here. About the same as a retail job would be (unless it's walmart). I actually took a pay cut going into my first IT job from a non-it job, that only needed a highschool degree. was a temp job (though I stay for 3 years as a temp employee - at the same pay though)

IRJ

@thecreativeone91 said:

@IRJ said:

I can't believe how low the pay is at Shore Group. You have a decent amount of experience, you should be making at least $18/hr.

I only made about a quarter more than than even at my last job being the Network Admin. Technician jobs pay $10-11.40 around here. About the same as a retail job would be (unless it's walmart). I actually took a pay cut going into my first IT job from a non-it job, that only needed a highschool degree. was a temp job (though I stay for 3 years as a temp employee - at the same pay though)

That's sad. Florida which has relatively low pay compared to the rest of the country pays much better than that. A helpdesk job is going to get you at least $15 an hour here. If you have certs, you will get more than that. Any type of network job is going to get you at least $18 and more with certs.

scottalanmiller

@IRJ said:

That's sad. Florida which has relatively low pay compared to the rest of the country pays much better than that. A helpdesk job is going to get you at least $15 an hour here. If you have certs, you will get more than that. Any type of network job is going to get you at least $18 and more with certs.

Helpdesk in Rochester, one city over from AJ, starts at $11. Probably half of the helpdesk market in that town is between $11 and $13.

scottalanmiller

@IRJ said:

@thanksajdotcom instead of playing around VPS Servers, you should train for certifications in your free time. Sure playing around with VPS servers gives you knowledge, but it doesn't help your resume.

It does if you play with the right stuff and write your resume correctly.

@scottalanmiller said:

@IRJ said:

@thanksajdotcom instead of playing around VPS Servers, you should train for certifications in your free time. Sure playing around with VPS servers gives you knowledge, but it doesn't help your resume.

It does if you play with the right stuff and write your resume correctly.

My resume sucks. I think I need to pay for one of those resume services or something. Last interview I went in they were really impressed but kept saying "how come that isn't on your resume, It should be" every time I would say I knew how to do something. I was told in college it should be no longer than a page so only put the bare minimum amount on it.

scottalanmiller

@thecreativeone91 said:

I was told in college it should be no longer than a page so only put the bare minimum amount on it.

That's for people looking for non-technical jobs. This is one of the problems with college - people who can't get jobs giving advice to people on how to look for jobs. The one page thing is 100% wrong for any skilled profession. It's for art history graduates and other fields where you are only realistically going to go look at McDonald's or Jack in the Box.

The guideline for IT is one page per year of professional work, but it is only a guideline, it should be however much is necessary to cover the material.