Thinking about finding another job

[PandaBear]

Sort of under paid right now and due to the SSD hype, firmware engineers for flash memory are in tight demand. Got calls by recruiters and spam with recruiting email (legit) multiple times a week.

Thinking about interviewing and going elsewhere, and ask for a 30% increase in salary (about 30k there), however since I'm still in school part time I don't think that will be good for my grade.

This company I'm working for right now is out-sourcing a lot, and I do not feel that it is a good place to work for after all the rush development are done (will lay off excessive workers and keep the off shore workers), however the people are nice and I'm used to the workload.

I do have a track record of switching between jobs because all 3 previous companies I work for went out of businesses (finance related), but I have stayed with this place for about 3.5 years now.

What do you guys think?

 

[Quest]

IMHO I'm more or less in a similar situation: my 2nd child is coming in about 1.5mnths and work/stress is killing me right now, on top of that: I'm only getting paid as a junior work sucked into doing intermediate work due to my tenure and experience.

mgmt promised me raise shortly but when? I'm just gonna lay low for now to suck some more training/certication off of my current employer before I jump ship... I deserve better treatment than that.

Q.

 

[daves87rs]

I would do it...it could be a refeshing change...

 

[CivicFan]

The part time school can be dealt with. Last year I was in evening grad school full time, had a full time job and had to do projects on top of that, too. And then changed jobs to a new industry while still full time at school. It's hard but doable.

Don't worry much about the grades. As long as you pass them, you'll be OK.

 

[Gary Allan]

I think the wisest thing anyone can do at this point is to be flexible. That is, regardless of your ambition or capability, to be 100% preemptively prepared to take a major cut in pay. Roll with the punches as they land. The days of "willing" yourself to the proper compensation out of requirements just doesn't work as well as it used to. We're not quite in a transitional labor market ..but more of a declining one ..at least for the short term. That is, while it may get better, it's never going to be as good.

 

[Billy_D]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
...Thinking about interviewing and going elsewhere, and ask for a 30% increase in salary (about 30k there), ....What do you guys think?


Only 30K for a firmware engineer. I thought that IT jobs paid more money. I was thinking IT salaries are in the range of 40K-50k. With the economy being what it is keep your job and lay low.

 

[Gary Allan]

I think he means the 30% raise is $30k above what he's making now. $30k in Silicon Valley is part time at McDonald's

It's like D.C. You need to make $100k to slum it.

 

[Billy_D]

Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
I think he means the 30% raise is $30k above what he's making now. $30k in Silicon Valley is part time at McDonald's

It's like D.C. You need to make $100k to slum it.


I was kind of surprised where he lives you can't do much with 30K. Thanks for the clarification

 

[BigCahuna]

I say if the company your with now is looking to thin the herd, and you may part of that herd, and you have the possibility of getting a better paying job now, Take it and don't look back. There's no loyalty in today's job market on either side employer or employee. Do what gets you the most and what makes you the happiest.Company's today won't spend much time worrying about how your getting along after they lay you off, after sending your job overseas.,,

 

[bretfraz]

Absolutely pursue other job opportunities. If you think the future at your current company is shaky, I'd be on the lookout for a new job tomorrow.

There aren't many job categories in high demand right now so if you are in one, you need to take advantage of it immediately. Negotiate a signing bonus, vacation days, flex time for school, tuition reimbursement, etc. If they want you, they'll pay to get you. It's not all about salary.

You don't sound like a serial job hopper. What do future employers expect you to do if your company goes out of business? As long as you have solid experience in your field, you should be good to go.

Tune up that resume and start making calls to recruiters first thing in the morning.

 

[The_Jeff]

School is there for your career success. Talk to your faculty advisor. They need you as a successful alum to make themselves look good.

 

[flanso]

Discreet interviews can't hurt as long as it doesn't draw attention at your current job. When offers are made, you'll have decisions to make.

 

[Familyguy]

Even when times are good and I'm happy as a clam, I make a habit of doing an interview or two every year just to see what's out there. Better to casually look for a better job when you've got the "luxury" of having a job already than to be out of work and forced to take whatever comes along.

I think the OP mentioned before that he was from China. A lot of Chinese are actually going back to China since they can demand bigger salaries with foreign work experience and the cost of living is very low. I just did a few years in Beijing. The government sucked and it was dirty/annoying at times, BUT you can really live it up if you're making even a modest income by American standards.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: Billy007
Only 30K for a firmware engineer. I thought that IT jobs paid more money. I was thinking IT salaries are in the range of 40K-50k. With the economy being what it is keep your job and lay low.


No, 90k for now, wanting 120k.

This is the situation: currently I'm a firmware guy for a flash company, and all of a sudden due to SSD there are huge demand for people like me, not sure for how long, probably another 2-3 years at least.

Then there is a market shuffle because people hire from each other and causing vacant spot. One of the major smart phone companies approaches me. What I like is the group is small compare to where I work (more opportunities to advance in a group of 5 than a group of 30-50), and it is a change that may let me venture into other more advanced tech. Salary will be good or else I'm not going to leave (since I'm underpaid, it should be easy for them).

The negative is the comfort zone thing. Any new job will be more challenging and especially when I'm working on my final graduation project. Here at my current job it is easy so no problem for me, but I heard the company I interview for is famous for working people hard.

Will report back tomorrow, and see what happen after the interview, it may not be what I like or they may not like what I have too (happened last time in their other team that works on a different product line).

 

[Texas Aggie]

I think it depends on how your career prospects look like for the future. If your skills are growing, and you're in a growing company, then stay. But if you're stagnant, and the company looks to be going downhill, you should probably look elswhere. I was in semiconductors until a couple of years ago. After surviving 3 layoffs, and foreseeing a 4th one, I decided there wasn't much left for me. Since I've left, they closed the office I was in, and a lot of my friends are still looking for jobs. My current job is much more stable, although I may be back in the same situation in a few years; who knows?

 

[NJC]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
The negative is the comfort zone thing. Any new job will be more challenging and especially when I'm working on my final graduation project. Here at my current job it is easy so no problem for me, but I heard the company I interview for is famous for working people hard.

The stress is a big consideration. The extra $$ can never cover for excess stress IMO.

 

[PandaBear]

Went for a 5 hr interview yesterday.

They say they know they need more people and they have been building by the approach of hiring people with individual expertise in critical skill set and industry (i.e. wireless, USB, flash memory, etc). Currently they are short of people to cover every area and they are getting by with self taught expert in house, but was worried that they will miss something critical.

Seems like they like my technical skill, and have confidence that I'll contribute well. I like the people, and the way this company operates: between the CEO and the individual engineers of a 1000 staff company is only 4 managers. I also like this company has money to burn and they seems to give what it takes to get the job done (that includes a reasonable salary and hire as needed instead of the typical daily fire fighting in a cash strapped company).

My only concern in this company is that they don't seems to be building anything from ground up, but from top down, so it is harder to build a raw technical skill than in a semiconductor company like SanDisk. So if I get comfortable there for a few years, I might become expensive, rusty, and dull, or be unfit for the startup/small companies that demand brute force technical skill.

The recruiter said he will contact me again and if things go well, I will probably need to come in again to interview with the director and VP. Last time he said the same but later they found out they interview the wrong kind of candidate (wanted a test engineer that can do some development work, but interviewed a development engineer that can do some testing).

We'll see.

 

[OVERKILL]

Has one of the companies you've talked to been RIM by chance?

 

[PandaBear]

I can't tell you which company it is, they are famous for keeping everything secret.

When I interview there, they have a dedicated interview quarter that is accessed only from the outside of the building and cannot get into the rest of the building inside, a self contained quarter with fridge (soda/water), conference room, and bathroom, for trade secret protection.

That quarter is packed with interviewer, interviewee, and based on how comfortable these people interview, they interview a lot of people on a regular basis. So I'm not sure if they are also using interview as a way to dig up other companies' trade secret as well.

 

[crinkles]

my problem is our long term goals and my current job are conflicting, so it's going to be party time soemtime in the next few months, esp since they think they can reward good performance with no effective pay rises.