After roughly one week of hitting the jobhunt scene, I've got a few offers to consider, which is more than I expected this early. There's a mix of startup and agency work in there, with some intriguing combinations of risks and opportunities. In fact, the higher the risk, the greater the opportunity. The usual inversely proportional relationships, thrown at me at about Warp 8.5.
So here I am with a 15 month old daughter and wife who has taken the vow of poverty to be a social worker, wondering if I'm allowed or entitled to roll the dice on the really exciting job that could implode in 90 days. I'm also wondering how many of these opportunities will still be there if the high-risk option does implode. And I basically have the weekend to make these decisions.
One the one hand, I'm damn lucky to have so many options so fast. On the other, I'm a little freaked at having to make a call of this magnitude so fast.
Heh, and you people thought I'd be posting geek stuff today.
Back in the mid 90's I left my job with a traditional media company (McGraw-Hill's BYTE Magazine) for a brand-new Internet venture called CNET. And it was without a doubt the greatest opportunity I've ever had.
ReplyDeleteBut here's the thing -- before making the leap I considered not just the opportunity at that one company but also what I thought about the whole market. In other words, I decided that even if CNET folded quickly the opportunity from the Internet shift was so great that I'd be able to find another job in that business if I had to.
So that's always the advice I give people -- it's not just the one individual opportunity you have to think about, it's the whole industry. So whatever these great opportunities you're looking at, judge them in light of what you think about the industry they are in. If there's plenty of other opportunities in that industry then go for it. The experience you'll pick up will be useful to getting work at the other companies in that industry if the one venture folds.
But if this one opportunity is from a company in a very narrow niche, give it careful thought. Even if you think they have a great business model, should they fail then where will you be able to land with the experience you pick up at that company?