Career Path Thread: Money is happiness

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Career Path Thread: Money is happiness

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

Turbinosamente posted:

How about a short post in the meantime? I'm a machinist in a small company that's feeling increasingly shakey and would like a better contingency plan than just getting hired at another shop if things go boom. What are some other jobs I could pivot into? Ideally I'd like to have something that starts at 60 to 70k with out needing massive overtime to meet those numbers.

I'm not opposed to going back to school either at the whatever age of 33, so long as there's a good job to pay the loan afterwards. Thus far my brainstorms are engineering, or computer programming of machines or database backends. Ive also had suggestions that medical coding is a thing as well as radiology or xray tech, but I really don't want to do patient facing medical which the latter is. I am wholly aware that medical is the hot field right now, but I hate the thought of it.

Do we have a computer toucher thread? I'd like to at least find out what the correct terminolgy is for various flavors of IT so I can start doing proper research on it.

Have you just tried looking for other machinist work? I'm in IT, I frequently encourage other people to go into IT, but you're already in a field that from what I understand is incredibly understaffed, desperate for young blood, and should be relatively remunerative. I don't know where you live, but just looking and the City of Seattle is hiring machinists @$47-$52 an hour, PACCAR (which is considered a great employer in the area) is paying $41/hr. My understanding is that the work is also not as hard on you as most other blue-collar work, but I will admit to not being tremendously knowledgeable about it.

You can definitely make $60-70k in IT pretty easily, and you don't need a degree to do it, but most people I know definitely didn't start there. If you really wanted to do IT work, I think your idea of programming the machines that do the sort of poo poo you're already doing is your best bet, probably be able to ramp up on that sort of stuff pretty quickly.

I kind of hate to see someone with more material skills go into something that's, like, a lot more common and a lot less useful (no offense to my fellow computer touchers).

# ¿ Sep 15, 2023 06:50

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# ¿ May 12, 2024 04:35

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

Turbinosamente posted:

I forget where I was reading that machining is technically on the decline for growth because of automation? I have yet to sit down to research any alternatives, including other machining jobs, because I've been so busy.
My plan is to do that and update my resume this Sunday. I also have some petty concerns about continuing in machining, and thus far it hasn't provided me with a good income. But that is likely something that can be fixed by going to another shop as I do know I am severly underpaid at $20 an hour.

Take everything I say about machining with a grain of salt. It's the thing that I kind of latched onto as my idealized "if I had everything to do over, this is what I would like to do," just because you actually make poo poo, and I'm at the point now where I feel like every new piece of technology just makes things worse, so having to keep up with it is a mild form of self-torture.

I'm just jealous of your profession (not your job, you should be making way loving more than that). :smith:

# ¿ Sep 15, 2023 20:02

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

Fork of Unknown Origins posted:

Background: I�m currently in a terrible job in food manufacturing. I am through two rounds of interviews for a job that sounds less terrible in another field of manufacturing. The interviews have gone very well and I don�t want to get ahead of myself but it seems like after the third and final round there�s a real chance I will get an offer.

My current pay is around the top third of the pay range for this role. I also have 5 weeks of PTO now. If they offer around my current salary (there�s barely any room in the range to go higher), would it be crazy of me to ask for more PTO than their standard? I believe they start at 2 weeks, and it would be great not to go all the way from 5 back down to 2. Even if I could get 3 it would be much better.

But is that something that�s going to make me look really bad to ask for? I don�t want to fumble the chance to get out of my current hell-job.

If they're going to withdraw their offer for you trying to negotiate, it's another helljob and you don't want it.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2023 20:03

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

slidebite posted:

Either way, I plan on "talking" to the other company and hearing what they have to say. Assuming they make a job offer that interests me/isn't terrible, should I give my company an opportunity to retire me with a non-competition clause (and favourable terms) or just give my notice and leave and potentially forgo 30+ years of severance?

What does the typical severance at your company look like?

I'm definitely not an expert in sales stuff, but to me, it sounds like if you go to your company and ask for a severance before jumping ship, you're calling a lot of attention to yourself, and inviting potential legal action (how sure are you there's no non-compete in place already?).

# ¿ Sep 16, 2023 18:14

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

Turbinosamente posted:

See if I had to do everything over again I'd go for engineering, either mechanical or electrical so we all have that hindsight is 20/20 thing going on. Still haven't dived as much as I would like into my job research, a lot of current job postings don't have salaries posted. Some of the machining ones in my area give a range of $17-$35 an hour: definitely jealous of the Seattle area. I wonder if part of the issue is the state literally just signed into law like today that job postings must have the minimum and maximum pay range listed as well, maybe not everyone has complied yet?

Carve out some time for the Resume & Interview ULTRATHREAD and some of AskAManager's posts on resumes & cover letters. A lot of this stuff is going to focus around white-collar jobs, but I think it's broadly applicable enough to be helpful.

Start applying for jobs to get practice at applying for jobs. Even if you think they're going to lowball you. It's a job application, not a marriage proposal, you're free to back out at any time. Also, if you start to apply for a job and the application process is too cumbersome, just stop; you don't have to finish. This goes double for places you're not that excited about in the first place; I can't tell you how many times I saw a job I thought "huh, this pays okay and sounds like it might be decent," only to start on the application, upload my resume, then get five pages of "describe your entire work history to us" and just hit the close button on that browser tab.

And yeah, even in Washington, the enforcement of the "you have to post salary ranges" is pretty lovely, and it's been around for a bit. A lot of states are passing those laws, now, though, so I think it's rapidly becoming the standard; hopefully, the companies pulling shenanigans on it are going to get poo poo on enough to stop.

Be aware you are likely going to apply to waaaaaaaayyyyy more jobs than you get interviews for, and you are likely going to get interviews for way more jobs than you get offers from. It's disheartening, but a ton of rejection in the process is very normal. To get my current job, I spent a year applying, probably applied for 100-150 positions, got first interviews for a dozen, and got, like, no second interviews for most of a year, then got two second interviews in the same week, and got two offers, both for 50%+ salary increases.

I also don't know if you're mostly looking on Indeed or Craigslist or whatever passes for those in the machinist world, but I would suggest going out to the websites of local and state governments, see what they have posted; public utilities are sometimes looking for machinists, too, I think? Do you have friends who work at places you might want to work? Do your friends have friends who work at places you might want to work? Have you told them you're looking? If not, why not? Start spreading the word. I've gotten two friends jobs at my place of employment. My employer also offers $1000 referral bonus (which is not uncommon), so I'm more than happy when friends ask for job referrals.

Ham Equity fucked around with this message at 18:32 on Sep 18, 2023

# ¿ Sep 18, 2023 18:29

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

Fork of Unknown Origins posted:

Related to asking for a seniority bump, when is the right time to? My third round interview (the biggest one, where I actually go to the plant and do a tour and talk to several people) is next week. I�ve been told there would be a quick 4th round phone interview with someone at corporate that, if the third round goes fine, is basically a formality.

I wouldn�t bring up the seniority bump until after they make an offer, right? Like this isn�t something to bring up during the interview, even with they have someone from HR as part of the panel/group?

You definitely should not be the one to open negotiations. Wait until you have an offer.

# ¿ Sep 18, 2023 18:48

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

Mustang posted:

So I'm a recent graduate of a top 20 MBA program, and spent 5 years in the Army as an officer. Before that was just blue collar work.

I've got a family friend that's decently high up in a big tech company that would like to help me land a job, something she offered when I first got out of the Army too but I wanted to go to grad school first.

I've also got an opportunity for a part time program management job at the university I graduated from that's in a field I'm interested in (urbanism related stuff). The pay sucks but will give me the opportunity to meet tons of people and organizations adjacent to this field. I could also pursue a second master's degree with the remainder of my GI Bill or look into some kind of freelance work for additional income.

I've never been super interested in a corporate career track, I've always been more interested in finding fulfilling work or running my own business. I'm way more interested in the job at my old university, but the pay makes me hesitant. The high salary of a big tech company is attractive, but I can also see myself getting sucked in and used to the stability of such good pay and never attempting to start my own business.

Tough choice between following my interests and following a high steady paycheck.

Are you over 26 years old? Does the university job offer benefits?

# ¿ Sep 18, 2023 23:16

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

Mustang posted:

Yeah, I'm 36 and the university (it's UW) job comes with benefits. The pay is just awful.

If you were to start your own business, what sort of business would you be running? Some kind of planning consultancy or something? Have you ever run your own business before? What makes you think you would want to run your own business?

UW (and the state in general) does a lot of hiring from internal candidates; I don't know what it's like in their planning department, but I do know that a lot of the IT jobs are only open to internal candidates (or at least it was like that a couple of years ago when I was job hunting). So, it would be a good foot in the door. What would you get your second masters in? Urban planning?

# ¿ Sep 18, 2023 23:24

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

Habibi posted:

Cons:
- The industry. My background is primarily fancy and exciting technology and eventually that's where I want to end back up. This industry is... Driving. Commuter transport.
- Although the likely salary number is a decent increase over my last roll, it's at the lower end of the range for this type of role. (but is at the upper end of their budget for this role).

Am I reading correctly here that you would rather be working in things actively enshittifying society instead of doing something in public transit?

# ¿ Oct 8, 2023 02:27

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

Comstar posted:

Hello Goons. You last helped me 3 years ago when you solidified my feeling to leave my old job when put on a PIP. I found the best job I've ever had, with the best boss I've ever had, close to home, reasonable wage (not great. not terrible). Very relaxed atmosphere and for the first time in my working life, I have minutes...even hours...with all tickets up to date and not another call on hold waiting for me.

....and we just got a all hands one day warning meeting with the CEO we're probably going to merge with another non-profit in next local government area next door. They are about half bigger as we are, have a 8 or so sites to our 2, and do what we do. Government funded non-profit health care.

The IT we have is me, the IT manager and IT project person doing random things (currently moving all the files to da cloud). We have a MSP to look after the heavy stuff. I have no idea what the IT is like there, but glassdoor says they are set in their ways and do everything face to face.

How hosed am I? I have been in a merged company (they merged before I got there) and the IT system was a complete clusterfluck that was going to explode or implode soon after I left, and another merged (take over) company that fired 90% of the staff from the takeover (including me) 1 year later.

If nothing else, I expect morale to drop through the floor and I'll have a lot of work collecting old laptops from people leaving.

I don't think you have to freak out, they probably aren't going to immediately cut a bunch of people. If I were you, though, I would start looking for a new job now. Update the resume, hit that "looking for work" checkbox on LinkedIn, start browsing job boards but with an eye towards being discerning.

Lockback posted:

Merges can suck, merges can be great opportunities. There isn't a one size fits all merge. I've been apart of merges where a house was cleaned, I've been apart of merges where the incoming company got put real high on the chain and got a great career boost from it. It really all depends. Whatever happens probably won't be super fast, so you'll have some time to feel out what's going on and what your new role is (or if it's a brick wall). Usually IT gets a pretty long leash for a while but eventually you'll be part of 1 team, they won't keep running separate ITs forever.

Usually if you do get cut it's a reasonably decent severance as there are tax/financial incentives to get redundant people to break cleanly.

My advice would be don't panic move yet, keep your head on a swivel and start game planning with your manager early to pick up odds and ends and ingratiate yourself early, get to know new bosses and make sure they know who you are, don't get into an us vs them mindset (you'll just lose, that battle is over), if you start getting bad vibes or start feeling like your getting isolated that probably means your heading for layoff-ville: plan accordingly.

Severances in non-profit work tend to be not great (when they exist at all), and non-profits tend to run things on a shoestring, especially things like IT that are seen as cost centers.

I think not panicking is the correct move, but definitely start behaving as if you expect to be let go in the next six months.

# ¿ Oct 12, 2023 16:24

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

corded ware culture posted:

i work in private security management. been doing this 18 years. i'm 40, i make ~90k in the seattle area, i max my 401k. i do not have a college degree or any significant debt.

i like my job for the most part. but i am tired of being in a management position. almost all my friends and family around here have jobs where their hours are mostly predictable, they are rarely (if ever) disturbed on weekends, etc. i'm willing to invest time and money in a career change, and sacrifice some earnings, if the end result is a job like that. i feel like it's way too late to go to college. this might be a dumb question but are there any obvious career options and paths for someone my age that just wants to do their time and go home?

Even if you switch fields, the real money is going to be in managing people. You may want to look into a switch to government work? Like, not as a cop. There are government institutions that use security (hospitals and such) that pay decently.

# ¿ Oct 21, 2023 18:55

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

Do you have a clearance?

# ¿ Oct 22, 2023 01:16

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

19 o'clock posted:

I just started last week. I just finished week one.

But also thank you for confirming my thoughts: just business. It sucks and is not the way I wanted it to work out but I can't ignore such a substantial bump in comp and vacation.

If they discovered they could make an extra $5 a week in profit by firing you a week into your new job, they would not hesitate for a moment.

Get paid.

# ¿ Oct 29, 2023 23:41

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

As an IC in an IT roll, money has so far been largely negatively correlated with stress. I make more now than I've ever made before, and in my least-stressful role.

Touch computer.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2023 22:09

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

knox_harrington posted:

When you're working out your household income do you include everyone in the polycule or just the primary couple?

Not a polycule, but it depends upon the context. Taxes everyone files single (since we're not married, no choice), but if it's like a survey or whatever we put down all three of us.

The highest-earning member of the household got started on that path from food service at least partially due to a referral to a job from me while he was my roommate, so communal living can be good with money in other ways, too (the initial job was telephone bank teller, he's doing back office stuff now for six figures). Always be networking.

# ¿ Nov 8, 2023 17:00

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

Lieutenant Dan posted:

That's good to hear - the last time I did QA for a company was 2010, but I've been doing it for my own games/company since 2022, so I'm up to date on everything Jira and could handle everything a 2024 game company can throw at me QA-wise, I'm just worried that giant gap isn't going to look good / doing QA under my own oversight from 2022-onwards isn't gonna hack it. I do run a full-rear end Jira triage and everything, I think I'm just a little concerned I won't be taken seriously.

If you want a job that is personally fulfilling in an industry you feel passionate about, stick with games and academia. If you want a job that is going to pay you enough to live and allow you time to pursue your passions outside of work, get a job as a Jira monkey in government or at a company that does boring poo poo (manufacturing, finance, defense work if you must). As was recommended, go to the resume thread, they will show you how to bullshit up your resume to properly express your Jira bona fides. I promise you you're far more competent than you think you are.

It sounds like you've been relatively successful on the creative front (like, more successful than probably 99% of creatives out there) and still aren't paying the bills, so that should tell you what lies down that path.

# ¿ Feb 1, 2024 00:32

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:

What do you mean regarding poor social support? The US sucks rear end for anyone below like the top 5-10% in terms of income but with the type of role you describe you would certainly have good employer sponsored health insurance etc.

If you are not living in one of a scant handful of places in the U.S., you will need to have a car, and those scant handful of places are wildly loving expensive. Having to drive yourself everywhere every day is loving awful for your health, both physical and mental, especially in the environment you're driving in in the U.S. Even if you have good health insurance, it is entirely possible for you to be heavily out-of-pocket on a health expense. If the health expense isn't due to something that happened to you at work and you get fired because you can't work any more, you are completely hosed. If it is due to something that happened at work, it will likely be loving years before you get paid out, and in the meantime you aren't going to be able to make rent, which goes double if you're living in one of the places where you don't need a car. If it's a car accident that causes you to not be able to work, and it's the other person's fault, it's very likely they aren't going to have enough insurance to cover you, and you're going to be falling back on your own insurance, only now that insurance is going to be fighting you saying it's not their problem because you should be getting it from the auto insurance. If you're from the U.S., navigating the healthcare bureaucracy to try to get treatment is a Lovecraftian loving nightmare; if you're not from the U.S., I can only imagine it's much, much worse.

This is to say nothing about having to manage U.S. taxes and U.S. credit reports, to say nothing of the relatively constant everyday stressors of things like everything being more expensive than its price, having to figure out whether or not whatever item you're buying from even "reputable" retailers is a scam with no fallback if it is, trying to get prescription medicine if you need it, etc. If I weren't American, and my options were "move to any of several industrialized countries that's not my native country or the U.S., or move to the U.S.," unless they're paying me "hire someone else to deal with all the bullshit American society foists on its citizens" money (and I strongly suspect 1.55x ain't it), I would be writing off the U.S. as well.

Money is happiness, but also happiness is happiness.

# ¿ May 11, 2024 18:38

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# ¿ May 12, 2024 04:35

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

Spoderman posted:

hey c�mon. that�s not a fair assessment.

it doesn�t even begin to touch on the costs of raising children in america

Oh, yeah, if OP has young children, the difference in the costs of childcare is likely to immediately chew through any additional salary.

# ¿ May 11, 2024 19:06

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Career Path Thread: Money is happiness