Well, 28 years ago a management job opened-up that I really wanted and before I could even ask about it, I was recruited for the position, and since they came to me, it was on MY terms. 17 months later, after I had accomplished the primary task that I had been asked to take care of, another job was offered to me, only this one was a move from Sales to R&D and by then I had my fill of management and sales. Granted, I really felt good about getting done what was asked and I had a good team, just that after the dust settled, it looked like to was going to be a lot less exciting. Again, since I was recruited I was again in a strong negotiating position which helped me make the decision. And I've never looked back. Note that these job changes were within the same company, just moving from a regional technical managers job in sales to a staff position in R&D. The only real hassle was that I had to relocate my family twice in 17 months, first from SoCal to Detroit and then back to SoCal. But I was working for McDonnell Douglas at the time and back in those days, being relocated by a big aerospace company had its perks. Like helping you buy and sell your houses and we hit the markets just right on both ends of the deal. It allowed for us to buy a much better house on our move back to SoCal than we could have ever afforded on our own. And since I was moving into a senior technical position, it was still technically a promotion with an appropriate bump in base salary. Granted, I lost my sales comp-plan but I liked the idea of not having to depend on my sales director making his number so that I could get that portion of my compensation which was based on sales performance. After living with that sort of deal for nearly 6 years, being paid a regular professional level salary again was a lot easier on my home life ;-)
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA Siemens PLM: UG/NX Museum:
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
