Job Dilemma

Diagro

Diagro

Diagro

Soldato
Joined
3 Jun 2012
Posts
11,078
Hey


I currently work in a school. I am a Snr IT Tech.

It takes me 45min to get to work on a 22Mile each way drive, some days this can be over 1hr15min if traffic is poo. (record was 3 hours).

A job has opened up at a local college 3.1miles away from home, pay is the same BUT I would be full time permanent. along with going from a Snr position to a normal IT Tech position. I would loose my Holidays as I'm currently term time only.

With fuel saving I would be £100 better off per month.

My main issue is that my wife is a teacher, so at the moment we get time off together. Talks of a baby in a year too.

The Holidays are a massive bonus of working term time as I get to spend that time with my wife and doing DIY, and if / when a baby is added to the mix I would have time off to spend with them both.

There are no progression routes in my current job, the positions above me are filled and I don't see them leaving any time soon. I dont know what progression would be like in a college.

So I'm leaning towards staying in my current role as it has the holidays. But I do hate the driving. The new position would be 1/3 the drive time, 10% of the fuel costs but working full time.


What would you do? Sorry for the odd post, im just writing down my thoughts.
 
Same pay and I take it you'd be dropping down to a standard 28ish days holiday a year from your current more holidays than you know what to do with?

Sounds like a bad move to be honest, especially as you don't know if you'd be any better off progression wise.

Keep the old job, get a motorbike, kiss goodbye to getting stuck in traffic and learn to love your commute.

Edit: by same pay are you comparing the current job on a pro rata basis to the full time salary at the new place or are you talking actual take home cash?
 
No way I'd ditch those holidays for that.

If there was certainty of opportunity of (good) career progression, then maybe consider the move. Dropping from, what, 70 days holiday to about 30 is a huge loss, though.
 
tom_e said:
Same pay and I take it you'd be dropping down to a standard 28ish days holiday a year from your current more holidays than you know what to do with?

Sounds like a bad move to be honest, especially as you don't know if you'd be any better off progression wise.

Keep the old job, get a motorbike, kiss goodbye to getting stuck in traffic and learn to love your commute.

Edit: by same pay are you comparing the current job on a pro rata basis to the full time salary at the new place or are you talking actual take home cash?
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Take home pay, no other way to work it out :)

cheesyboy said:
No way I'd ditch those holidays for that.

If there was certainty of opportunity of (good) career progression, then maybe consider the move. Dropping from, what, 70 days holiday to about 30 is a huge loss, though.
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It would be a big loss indeed.

Would it be silly to send an application through but make a small point that the salary they are offering is too low? If they say.. raised it by 5k I would be more interested.
 
Diagro said:
Take home pay, no other way to work it out :)
Click to expand...

Just checking, I've known people to have no idea on the difference.

Seems like a complete no brainer to stay in the old place, even a 5k bump isn't that massive after tax to make up for the huge loss in holiday.
 
No harm in finding out some details - there might be legit career progression opportunities, and you can ask for more cash if they offer you the job.

I just wouldn't consider the position unless you can balance out what you lose from your current role.
 
Interesting. Ok. I will talk to my wife and go from there.

IT just pays so little these days. And Education jobs expect the world from people.

They want an IT Tech who has Experience with AD and MAC OD... That's stuff that more senior staff are required to have at much higher pay scales...
 
I'm not in IT, but i was under the impression that such roles in schools and colleges were usually something to take for a few years to get experience before moving on to a well-paid private sector role (?).

Can't imagine it's appropriate for a career unless the monstrous holidays suit your lifestyle (and why wouldn't they), whilst at the same time the lower pay doesn't impact too significantly.
 
cheesyboy said:
I'm not in IT, but i was under the impression that such roles in schools and colleges were usually something to take for a few years to get experience before moving on to a well-paid private sector role (?).

Can't imagine it's appropriate for a career unless the monstrous holidays suit your lifestyle (and why wouldn't they), whilst at the same time the lower pay doesn't impact too significantly.
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Well yea, that's what i thought when I joined. But unfortunately all I have done here is stuff I could do before. Not really learnt much as the other IT staff keep what they do close to them, not much scope for learning. and if you take into account all the experience that jobs in industry want... its impossible to see how it helps.
 
Hmm my parents were both teachers.

1. School hols = expensive hols, because they shove the prices up.
2. Kids require run arounds - to nursery etc, so having less travel time is good. More time with them on a regular basis.
3. Baby equates to little sleep thus the more time you have available the better!
4. Babies are expensive
5. Sitting in a car for long periods = hot nads.. it can affect fertility.

So you'd get long time off.. but you'll be mon-fri missing the baby times (i.e. between 7am-7pm).

A job isn't for 25 years.. expect movement and a baby is going to dictate things..

However people commute in/out of london each day with families.. that' typically 7-7..
 
Zefan said:
There is - you work out how much you're being paid on a time in work basis. Per day/per hour. It might be interesting to do that.
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will do that now

Currently If you take into account i only work 39 weeks of the year.

It works out at £381 per week (of actual work)

If i moved it would be £312 Per week of actual work.

So for them to match my actual current "work" pay they need to increase the monthly take home After tax by £276. wow... yea no way would they do that lol


* the numbers above are not real. (within 10-20%)
 
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Also take in to account the hours you'll spend on the road in each job! It's essentially part of your working day and 2hrs each day adds more than a normal working day's worth of hours per week!
 
Diagro said:
IT just pays so little these days. And Education jobs expect the world from people.
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Some IT jobs pay a fortune, but not school IT jobs.

You need to decide what you want out of life in terms of career and home life. If you want to be home by 5pm every day and have time over the school holidays to spend time with your kids, then absolutely stay where you are or in a similar job. Nothing wrong with making that choice. However, if you want more money, better career prospects, to learn a lot more about the field of IT, then take the college job purely for the better knowledge you're likely to get and for the doors it will open up for you down the road - but get out of education when the first decent opportunity presents itself.

I started out in IT as a school IT tech, I lasted 3 years then moved on to a consultancy role and then on to a pre-sales role with a cyber-security vendor. I earn 6 times what I did in my first job and it's a vastly more interesting role. Meanwhile the guy who started at the school at the same time as me is still there, has progressed to be the manager, but still earns less than half what I do.

Bear in mind what higher salaries can do for your family - bigger/better house, paying for kids university education, helping them with house deposits - that you can't do even on a good school salary.
 
Going from a contract position where you spend 1.5-3 hours on average per day on the road, to a permanent position where you will spend 0.5 hours on average per day on the road, add in all the extra progression opportunities and it seems like a no brainer to me.

If your current position has already reached its progression limit then scope for future pay rises is going to be limited. Yes the holidays are nice but that seems like the only benefit.

When a baby comes along you will realise just how valuable that 1-2 hours per day is. 2 hours per day over a 5 day week for 39 weeks per year ends up being the equivalent to just over 55 days of work (at 7hrs per day) or 11 working weeks of extra time spent not being at home. Assuming from your workings above your current position provides you with 5-6 extra weeks of holiday per year, your still down on your free time by 5-6 weeks.
 
Personally I don't think I'd go for it as it sounds like it isn't necessarily a good career move (lesser job with uncertainty on prospects?) and has a lot less holiday.

If you are planning a family I would also have a think about whether you are likely to want to move (bigger house, closer to family etc) as that could influence your job/commute too. Perhaps you could move closer to your current job

Diagro said:
IT just pays so little these days.
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All relative of course but in general I don't consider IT as a broad sector to be low-paying. It is the sort of sector where both types of people with good management skills and people with good technical skills can both typically progress into the 40% tax bracket if they are good, flexible and motivated. This is in contrast to some industries where seemingly the only way to progress is to pursue management roles.
Of course, IT in the education sector is another matter perhaps, and in general pay can be quite inconsistent with some organisations offering 50% below market rates

NickK said:
So you'd get long time off.. but you'll be mon-fri missing the baby times (i.e. between 7am-7pm).

A job isn't for 25 years.. expect movement and a baby is going to dictate things..

However people commute in/out of london each day with families.. that' typically 7-7..
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I have a young child and commute to London 4 days a week (06:45-20:15 although home at 19:30 if I get collected from a station en route). So typically I'll see him for about 60-90mins in the morning. It's tough, but doable.
 
oh I forgot to factor in the cost saving point as well!

so not only will you be effectively at work for less time per year, if would be a permanent position (more security), starting lower down the ladder (more chance for progression) but you will also be getting an effective pay rise through spending less! (pre tax over 1 year £100 works out to £1.5k pay rise).

I must value time differently to others, but I would seriously go for this!

I made a move 10 years ago now, from a similar position you are in now (expect the holiday element), I took a drop in holiday, slightly less salary, but the same drop in commute and saving in travel costs.

I have since then quadrupled my salary (through in company progression), increased my holiday, and still only contracted to 35hours per week, all while having a 15 minute commute! The value I put on getting home after a days work and spending more than 30 minutes with my daughter before she went to bed....priceless.
 
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