Do you guys entertain anyone that is interested just to see if it is worthwhile even if it would be kind of a crappy move to your current employer because you haven't even been with them that long?
Even if you do leave you don't have to completely abandon your former colleagues. Note - I say colleagues not employers. You could let any colleagues you are close to know that if they have a question they can contact you and that if you can you'll give them an answer.
Obviously, this needs to be reasonable in scale, and once again I remind you this is for people you effectively consider friends, not for your employer as such.
I had a similar situation a few years back. I had a job that I liked with good pay. I received an offer of a 20% pay increase from another company.
I felt like I needed to accept the higher offer, so I went to the new company.
I hated the new job, I wished that I could have my old one back. After 8 months, there was a downturn in the business and I was laid off. I believe the main reason was my high salary. The company kept most of the younger, entry level engineers with significanlty lower salaries.
Luckily, my former employer took me back.
My advice is stay with your current job if you enjoy it. Having a job that you enjoy going to every day is worth quite a bit. It is difficult to know what a new job is going to be like just going through the interview process. A company that is trying to recruit you will definitely make it sound like their company is a great place to work.
I got the job and I like it a lot. My wife comments on how she can tell I like working at this new company. I think about stuff at work even when I am not at work. My current employer doesn't play games and treats me fairly. Fairly enough that sometimes I wait for the other shoe to drop. I look forward Monday mornings to going back to work minus the getting up at 6 AM. I miss working with my previous coworkers but this is better across the board. The last place rubbed me the wrong way with some of the games that were played and I realize now maybe I am not a good fit for a larger organization. I am glad that I wasn't just happy with having a job or too scared to give a very small company a serious look. I honestly have nothing to complain about and only hope my current employer is happy with my work and continues to be successful.
Just how old are you vc66, from earlier conversations and photo's I was guessing younger than me but with references to the Andrew's Sisters I'm starting to wonder!