That's a 787 Dreamliner bound for San Francisco, I took this from my back garden. My fiancé is cabin crew on it, and it's her first flight since December 2020 due to illness at first, then pregnancy, then maternity. All of our local nurseries are packed for months, there aren't any spaces until later in the year for full time. She's only part time, doing between 2 and 4 flights a month, and due to her seniority she can nearly pick and choose which flights she wants to a certain extent, so we work them around the single (!) day we've managed to get a nursery slot for which is a Monday. This particular trip sees her coming home late on Tuesday, which means I can't really do my job that day whilst looking after a 1 year old. My employer knows this, and said no worries, work in your own time. Either make up the hours throughout the week, or work late on Tuesday, whatever works. This was conveyed to the customer I'm working with as well. It's the largest VCF deployment known in the world, doing the largest migration of 100k+ VMs. And I'm leading the migration from a vendor perspective. Luckily they're on board too.
Due to her being part time, and cabin crew getting peanuts, it's not really worth the hassle for ~£10k a year. But, it was her dream job since she was a child and since I earn well, we've decided just to suck it up and make it work. The benefits we get could potentially be worth £20k+ a year in terms of extremely cheap flights to near enough anywhere in the world. I'm incredibly grateful to my employer for being flexible with me. Combined with 95%+ working from home, it allows both of us to work and do the work that we want, regardless of the various constraints raising a child puts on you from a childcare perspective.
I could probably double my OTE in a year or two if I was greedy. That would invariably involve moving from delivery into sales. Which also means targets, and more travel. And my partner having to give up her dream job. In my mind, she needs to get away now and again as looking after a young child can be incredibly taxing on your mental health.
No real point to this post, I guess I just wanted to reflect on what I have now, and to be thankful that I am able support my family by having what for 4 years has been an amazing employer.
If anyone here is looking for a new job, by all means chase your dreams, or chase the £££. Just do take a moment to reflect on what you have now, as the grass isn't always greener and chasing £££ not only becomes obsessive, it can blind you and have consequences you don't expect.
if I make it past the first round.
