Improving my circumstances - feel pigeon-holed 8

[PSE]

If you wait until you are "financially ready" to have kids, then you will probably never have them. On the flip side, it is good that you know where you currently stand and the potential impacts involved. My 2 cents is that it is always a good thing to be aware of possibilities to increase your salary either with your current employer or perhaps another. Also be aware of things you can do to reduce some of your expenses as those savings drop directly to your bottom line.

Regards,

 

[mechmama]

This reminds me of a friend and her husband. Her husband got his BA degree and never left his college town because he liked it so much. He has worked as a bookkeeper at a grocery store for about $25K/year for 20 years now because he doesn't want to move 40 miles down the road to the real city where there are better jobs. Now the two of them are 40 y.o. & 30 y.o. and live in the college town, in an apartment, with two babies, and neither one of them makes more than $30K per year. They never can afford anything nice, and most of all those friends that made the college town so great finally grew up and moved away.

I'm not saying this will happen to you, Evil. I'm just sending out a cautionary tale that wages & jobs don't get better in a college town.

 

[evildopey]

Jordonlaw

Essentially that's what a job is. Since close to 100% of your income comes from your boss.

Now, let's turn that around. What if your boss didn't give you a raise as promised. What if he turned around and bought the yacht instead of raising you? You'd be a little upset, wouldn't you?

 

[Jordonlaw]

evildopey,

If I was a boss and someone came in said I want more money as I just had kids and I don't want my wife to work anymore then I'd refuse. What happened to your skill set in the day between you not having kids and having them ? Maybe now you can change nappies (diapers ?) but you can't do anything else that develops you as an engineer. Now if you came in and said you had worked more complex projects, met all your objectives, taken on more responsibility equivalent to a higher grade and done homework on areas you were shown weak in your last review then I would give you a raise. This is the route I followed in the past.

If you want to start a family then fine but don't expect that gives you any automatic right to get more money; it doesn't.

 

[mechmama]

jordonlaw,
Where did evildopey say he was going to go tell his boss he wanted more money so he could have kids??? Sounds to me like the guy is just thinking about having kids & realizes he might need a bigger salary to support a family. That's a smart thing to do - figure out how you will support your family before you have one. Wish more people would do that. Nobody just walks into their boss & says, "Hey, I bought a new house (yacht, car, bad investment). . .can I have a raise?" Who is really that stupid?

 

[evildopey]

okay, put it this way. Not to be cocky, but I'm doing the same thing as the contractors from different firms, same location, same projects. I'm doing as good a job they are, but making half as much. Personally, I think I'm worth more than 30K.

 

[dgowans]

Are you now comparing what you make as a direct employee to what a contractor makes? This is apples to oranges.

Contracting is a whole different animal. Contractors will typically make more because they're essentially self-employed and must pay for their own benefits and payroll taxes. If you're a direct employee, you get company paid benefits, correct? If you don't get company paid benefits and you knew you wouldn't when you took the job, don't complain about it after the fact.

I go back to my earlier advice: figure out what it is you really want and go after it. The sour grapes bit is getting old. We all make choices in life that we have to live with or move on. It sounds to me like you're having trouble with this.

 

[evildopey]

No. My firm has a contract. I am comparing myself with other contractors from different firms. We are all working for the same agency which gave out the contracts.

 

[IRstuff]

But are these other contractors also working for a similar company?


Our company charges my time out at $150+/hr, but do you think that I make that much?

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[evildopey]

The other contractor is a national company. The statement of work is the same.

I have decided to look for jobs within a 90 minute drive time radius, as I don't see a future with this company. I am going to try to move on. I have the resume sharpened up.

Thank you all for the advice.

And for all you folk who criticized my "whinging" I challenge you to live off of $30K and maintain your standard of living. You can't. If you can, I will be first to admit you're the better person.

 

[vc66]

I'm afraid what you've decided may be your best option, unfortunately.

Either way, good luck!

V

Mechanical Engineer
"When I am working on a problem, I do not think of beauty, but when I've finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong."

- R. Buckminster Fuller

 

[IRstuff]

Sounds like your best bet would be to go for this competitor ;-)

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[dgowans]

If you've decided to move on from your current position, and what you really want is to stay in the same town, I would recommend looking into how enforceable your non-compete clause actually is. I would surmise that you can get around it in some fashion. That may just be your best option.

You have to understand that we've all dealt with people who thought the grass was greener elsewhere. These types can really be a drain on an organization, and nobody likes a whiner except another whiner. Nobody will begrudge you for trying to improve your station in life but there's no magic pill to do this, lottery tickets excepted. In this profession, the true key to getting ahead is to either be insanely brilliant or to work your tail off - in most cases it's the latter.

I think you'll find that future posts that state your problem and what you're doing to solve it will receive a substantially warmer reception. I think a lot of the perception of your plight (mine included) was that you wanted something but weren't willing to take the necessary steps to obtain it. If in fact you are now hopping back into the job market, I applaud your efforts. Please post again if another situation arises where you need to bounce things off people who have undoubtedly already been there.

 

[Gymmeh]

Even Lottery tickets are a shot in the dark!

 

[plasgears]

Get out of town and work with a substantial engineering company. For an engineer, married or not, the career comes first, otherwise there will be complaining, whining, and gnashing of teeth.

When you retire you can make decisions to consolidate with the family. In my case I retired in Michigan; relatives largely in greater NYC. My children are at the four winds. I retired at my last job location, and I am doing light consultation on the side.

 

[Gymmeh]

"The career comes first..."

I totally dissagree to that statment without some additional information. IMO, Your family should come first in my mind, if making money to live is in the best interest of your family, then your career should be an important factor...

"No one ever died wishing they spent more time at work" -KWN

 

[evildopey]

dgowans,

You're correct. I do want to stay in this town. My wife is happy with her job here, we are active in our church and our community. I believe that when it comes to living, career doesn't come first. It is God, Family, Career in that order.

Thanks for the suggestion of testing the validity of the non-compete. I have a copy of the contract and will show it to a lawyer. It seems that I can work my tail off as much as I want and still wind up around $30K with the small firm that I'm working for.

Since I posted, I have followed leads to other agencies anywhere from 20 - 90 minutes away.

Thanks,

evildopey

 

[evildopey]

After months of searching, I found a new job. It is 5-10 minutes closer to home, pays 5K+ more than my previous job, picks up benefits for me and my wife, and is not applicable to the non-compete that I signed. I'm still not quite at 40K, but with the benefits package, some tell me that that is comprable to 46+. Based on these forums, it would seem that march is the time to switch jobs. Thanks for all the advice.

 

[vc66]

Good luck!

V