Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post - I'm at a crossroad. Think about my life or career?

bantone · 02-25-2008, 12:52 PM

So I am in between jobs because I was affected by a reduction in force at work. Good news is I am on a severance package and in the process of looking for work. Turns out my mother's friend is starting up a company in Montreal, QC of all places. The idea of living up there a while seems really good opportunity to immerse myself in a different city, way of life, etc. Did I mention the women?

Anyways he told me the downers to it. The job would be consisting of me installing satellite systems for local residence (e.g. mostly manual labor) but most importantly I might take a pay hit of potentially 5-10K (maybe less due to the CAD being stronger than the USD now and I actually have the potential to make the same salary but I am not sure what that would require...more hours possibly). Oh and I very certain I will have to become bilingual but I'm not too worried about that.

So what do you think?

PROs:
- New city
- New experiences
- Different culture, lifestyle

CONs:
- Major pay hit
- Manual labor vs my white collar office jobs

The reason I am thinking about taking the risk is because I think how many times can you get the opportunity and live in another country? I live in the states and I have been out of college a bit but I find the area where I live is socially dead. It is always great to make money and work towards my career as a sales engineer in the IT field but in the area I live it is at the expense of not having much of a social life. I feel most 'alive' when I am around people and can have that avenue in life, outside my family of course.

I have a few leads here going and generally when I go after jobs I tend to make more than the previous job so if I stay here there is a good chance that I will be making 5 - 15K more than I was. I might have to relocate anyways.. Thoughts?

02-25-2008, 12:52 PM	#1 (permalink)
bantone Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 2	I'm at a crossroad. Think about my life or career? So I am in between jobs because I was affected by a reduction in force at work. Good news is I am on a severance package and in the process of looking for work. Turns out my mother's friend is starting up a company in Montreal, QC of all places. The idea of living up there a while seems really good opportunity to immerse myself in a different city, way of life, etc. Did I mention the women? Anyways he told me the downers to it. The job would be consisting of me installing satellite systems for local residence (e.g. mostly manual labor) but most importantly I might take a pay hit of potentially 5-10K (maybe less due to the CAD being stronger than the USD now and I actually have the potential to make the same salary but I am not sure what that would require...more hours possibly). Oh and I very certain I will have to become bilingual but I'm not too worried about that. So what do you think? PROs: - New city - New experiences - Different culture, lifestyle CONs: - Major pay hit - Manual labor vs my white collar office jobs The reason I am thinking about taking the risk is because I think how many times can you get the opportunity and live in another country? I live in the states and I have been out of college a bit but I find the area where I live is socially dead. It is always great to make money and work towards my career as a sales engineer in the IT field but in the area I live it is at the expense of not having much of a social life. I feel most 'alive' when I am around people and can have that avenue in life, outside my family of course. I have a few leads here going and generally when I go after jobs I tend to make more than the previous job so if I stay here there is a good chance that I will be making 5 - 15K more than I was. I might have to relocate anyways.. Thoughts?