I have been without a job for a few months now, and I finally got some offers. Two fabulous offers, I might add. The problem is, they are very different, and I can’t make up my mind between the two.
The first one is a great job, it pays well, and is in San Diego. It’s in construction management. I love San Diego and I like construction.
The second one is a FABULOUS job, and it pays even better, but it’s in Livermore, which I don’t like at all. They want me for management at the National Ignition Facility, as in, nuclear fusion ignition. They take 192 of the world’s most powerful lasers (about 500 terawatts), point them *all *at one tiny little ball of Deuterium and Tritium, and try to make it go “boom.” Pretty cool!
For reference, I’m 27, male, and single. I doubt I’ll ever have another opportunity like the one in Livermore, but I really had my mind set on living in San Diego - it’s a lot of fun! So yeah, it’s a tough choice and I could really use some advice - not necessarily what choice would you make, but *how *would you make it?
I’ll be honest, I didn’t know what to title this thread, so if anyone comes up with a better title (or a better forum) please let a moderator know. For now, I’m on my way to the beach - you should see the weather today. And there is a college women’s volleyball tournament here, I’ve been watching it all morning from my back yard (I live next to SDSU)… God, I love San Diego.
I agree that it is pretty obvious that you should take the job in Livermore. Choosing where you live over what you are learning and doing is the domain of people somewhat younger or much older than you are. What you choose to do now is critical and San Diego (or Hawaii and everywhere else) can wait. Your job now is to get yourself firmly established which is critical in your late 20’s through your 30’s. Every single area in the U.S. (except maybe Detroit) has somewhere decent you can commute from and learn to love. Don’t ever pass up offers that others may consider to be “once in a lifetime” because they probably will be. It wouldn’t be much of a decision in my mind.
I was recruited away from my dream job for less money but more prestige and better hours. Plus, I got an office and mileage and get to wear pretty clothes and got two assisstants and interpreters and holidays off and room for advancement. I’ll probably never make as much as I could at my former job, and I hated to leave my friends but I didn’t burn any bridges and can always go back.
Money vs. prestige
Money vs. less wear and tear on my physical and emotional self
Rigidity vs. flexibility
Dependence vs. autonomy
Actual life-saving vs. improving lives
You might look at it as
Bay area vs SD
weekends?
money?
friends/family?
advancement?
Good luck!
Any chance you could find a way to like it up there? Its not like its the middle of nowhere (no offence to anyone who lives in the middle of nowhere) – Unless the thought of moving make you sick, I’d give it a chance. You sound like a bright young guy who likes to get out and about, I’m sure you’ll find something up there to keep you busy (even Detroit has Ann Arbor). If you absolutely hate it and move back in 2 years, you’ll have a good enough excuse – you missed San Diego.
There isn’t one single, definitive answer because it comes down to your own personal priorities.
In terms of how to make the decision, I think there are basically two ways of looking at the problem.
The first way is the ‘long-term financial security’ approach. Look, either choice will have its pros and cons, and there’s never a ‘perfect’ job. Every choice is a compromise between idealised perfections. So for now, given your age, just go where the money is best and save as much of it as you can to build up your capital. This is good for whatever comes next, and good for your long-term financial security. As soon as you can, turn some of your capital into property. Property always goes up in value in the long-term. And if you still have money left over, invest in land because they’ve stopped making it. In other words, even if the job is less fun than San Diego, stick with it for 2-3 years and use it to strengthen your financial status. This gives you greater freedom after those 2-3 years to do whatever you want. Even move to San Diego.
The second way is the ‘we never know the hour or the day’ approach, in other words, live life to the full now because you never know when it will all be over. If there are things you want to do, places you want to see, then do them and see them now - you never know when it will be too late. So, if you want to be having fun in San Diego, go have fun in San Diego. It’s that simple. It’s still pretty well-paid, it’s still a good job, and at the same time you have the immense inner satisfaction of knowing that you haven’t compromised too much, and that you are where you want to be, doing what you want to do. Not many people can say that.
So in the end it’s down to whichever of these two ‘ways of seeing’ resonates most with you.
Personally, as a 45 year old who can look back and see a LOT of mistakes I made when I was your age, I would follow the money. The fun can come later. In your 20s is a good time to be focus on building your financial position and advancing your career.
We’ve had a number of posters over the years posting about this basic issue, which job should I take.
The piece of advice from one such thread that stuck in my mind is to take the once in a lifetime offer. So take the Fabulous offer in Livermore. If you hate it, in a year or two you can still get a construction job in San Diego.
Definitely go with the once in a lifetime job. You might not be thrilled about the location, but it’s sure to open doors in places that are more to your liking down the line.
Hey, what’s wrong with Livermore? I grew up there, most of the dads in my neighborhood worked at the Lab. Actually, so did my grandfather, and so do some of the kids of my generation. I also know someone who worked on building the NIF.
But it’s a prestigous job, you’re young, and better to get that on the resume now and do what commuting you have to now. Go for it! Construction management will always be around later.
A lot of good advice here, and I appreciate it (especially Least Original, always with the save).
I do say, although I originally intended to post in MPSIMS because there is similar content in those threads (real-life anecdotes that someone wishes to share), I certainly did object to having this discussion labeled as “mundane and pointless.” It is obviously neither. Perhaps one day we can start another, more appropriate forum. Thanks all.
Least Original will no doubt be pleased to see where this thread wound up.
I will. They’re telling you to do what I told you to do. Who wants to live in a place that’s getting zapped with lasers?
I’m glad you didn’t actually HAVE to zap San Diego with lasers. I’ve heard it’s beautiful there and I’d like to visit there at least once before you, in a fit of rage, zap it with many large lasers.
I don’t know much about the Livermore area, but unless it’s a toxic hellhole that has a significant chance of actually shortening your life (like Baghdad or East St. Louis, for example), I’d take the job there.
Every place has good and bad points, and things that looked really attractive at first glance have a way of seeming pretty insignificant in the grand scheme after just a short while. If you turn down a job you’re really interested in, pays better, and has a many cool points as fusion research does (chicks dig lasers), just to live in a neighborhood you think is more fun, I guarantee you’ll be kicking yourself 5-10 years down the line.
Well, I guess I missed the party. I went to eat dinner and bam!, the party’s already over.
But you asked what I would do in your situation, so I still want to share my thoughts.
First, I’d go to a salary calculator like this one, but there are others. Just for grins and giggles, I input a $50,000 salary for San Diego. The salary for Livermore would have to be $58,621 to afford the same standard of living. The cost of living in Livermore is 17.2% higher than in San Diego according to this particular calculator. So if your offer in Livermore is not at least 17.2% higher in absolute dollars than the San Diego offer, then you’re getting a decreased standard of living on the Livermore offer. And btw, you don’t get the cost of living bump when you move out of the area. For the same transferable skills, they take away the cost of living increase depending on the area you move to.
Then I would look at the job itself. Are there many transferable skills? If not, is there a career path in this (sounds like) pretty specialized field? Will you get stuck in the same place because there’s nowhere else you could do this particular job? Specialized skills are only great if you want to be in the field that uses them.
I would also consider taking a trip to Livermore, if you haven’t already. The last time I was there, it was a bedroom community that was basically on the way to everything else. If there isn’t anything to do there, you might spend a lot of time traveling to other places for entertainment and that can cost money too.
And then most importantly, I would decide which job appeals to me in terms of which one I’d like to wake up to everyday.
Let me introduce you to the patented Rhubarb Decision Maker[sup]TM[/sup].
Step One:
First, you must be totally committed to accept whatever answer the Decision Maker[sup]TM[/sup] gives you. This is an absolute requirement for the process to work properly. If you feel that you are ready to abide by the Decision Maker[sup]TM[/sup]'s decree, then you are ready for step two.
Step Two:
Flip a coin.
If you feel like you want to flip it again and go for best two out of three, then you know what decision you really want to make.
You may kick yourself later for following your heart instead of your head, but you will definitely be dissatisfied if you talk yourself into doing something you didn’t really want to do in the first place.
I just want to say the thread title is one of these.
Aside from that, I had this same decision to make three months ago: making a choice between two seemingly desirable positions. As a place to be, it doesn’t suck.
But in truth, there was really only one position, the one I could see myself in. I never could adequately picture myself in the other. It was just that simple. It was nice to have that other one there, though, for comfort whenever I got shaky.
That, and I’d check out which one has the better office.
