Not a bad problem to have.. but still a problem

Since no one else asked, I will... are they hiring??

You plan on moving to Tejas?

You said 65... as in 65k?

I really need to start managing my money more efficiently...

HiTempguy wrote: You said 65... as in 65k? I really need to start managing my money more efficiently...

Yes. New job offer was 68k. They match 401k at 5%, my company matches 5% and then drops an additional 5% each year. So total compensation is about the same.

Just to much flexibility to not stay.

Thanks everyone!

i am in the same field, we got outsourced, and as i phrased it we went from managing for service to managing for a profit.......which means we had to cut corners on everything, 2 years later they took us back in house...

coolusername wrote: i am in the same field, we got outsourced, and as i phrased it we went from managing for service to managing for a profit.......which means we had to cut corners on everything, 2 years later they took us back in house...

I've worked for 3 places that moved to IBM Global Services. None of the companies renewed their contracts.

Flexibility is the one of the main reasons I have not moved to another company. The pay is decent and my Team Mgr lets me manage my team as I see fit. The icing is the ability to be availble for Mrs. Zero anytime she needs me.

I want to preface my comments with the statement that I do not know how long you have been in the field and I do not know what your skillset is nor do I have any understanding of what is important to you personally.

That said, I have been in the IT world for close to 15 years. I have worked for fortune 100 companies and currently work for a large vendor. My advice is that I would encourage you to consider the following points.

Education: I am not sure what is available today but consider that many managed services companies have a partnership with several vendors. That partnership usually includes some training and in your position I would certainly be asking about those training or certification opportunities for both jobs. These partnership arrangements can frequently lead to a job with a vendor as well.

Technology specialization: Most managed services companies specialize to a certain degree and that specialization frequently is determined by the partner they choose as I said above. In your synopsis you stated that you moved from VMWare to Hyper-V. While your vmware skills are still current, you will be building skills in Hyper-V which is currently a significant limitation in the world of server virtualization and may continue to be. Also, can you branch out and get training and certifications with Cisco, Microsoft, EMC, IBM, Oracle?

Growth opportunities: With either position what is the opportunity for advancement? Not everybody wants to run the gear for forever. Can you move up to an architecture position and what would it take to get there? Can you get storage training or virtualization training or network training and certification opportunities in any and all? What training is available and how often would you be able to take the training?

The technology environment: Being in the SMB space limits the kind and amount of gear you will be able to put your hands on compared to an enterprise environment. If you want to move up in the future, having that experience in larger environments is helpful. What would you be asked to support? How many servers, how much storage, how many ports, any mainframe or mid range? As in all things technology, scaling an environment is a skill than needs a certain amount of exposure. Running an email environment for 50k users requires a different skillset than for 1000 users. Running a 5 PB storage environment requires different skills than managing 300TB. Getting into a larger environment is frequently a "good thing."

Flexibility: Flexibility is a wonderful thing and has a cash value. You will get less of it at a managed services company or a vendor compared to an SMB shop. The importance of this item is really tied to what you see yourself doing in 5, 10, or 15 years and the opportunites at your particular SMB. Engineer? Architecture? Management? CTO or other executive position?

You should look to get as many training and certification opportunities as you can. This is usually easier in a larger company, service provider or vendor than it is in an SMB shop. While it is not always true, you should ask these questions of both companies as it is your career and you always have to protect it.

Good luck