FullMetalBracket
Mechanical
- Jun 3, 2009
- 14
There are a few similar posts floating around but I desperately need some advice on my situation from some more experienced engineers. I need to choose between 2 jobs (we’ll call them ‘A’ and ‘B’), and the choice is killing me. Some background on myself:
Graduated 2 years ago with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Got a job relatively quickly after graduating at a large local company doing relatively simple mechanical design, moved on to doing stress and vibration analysis about 6 months ago. I decided after 2 years it was time to move on as I felt there was a lack of expertise where I am now and I could find more challenges and higher pay elsewhere (I was right). Now onto my two options…
Job ‘A’ is in the same city I am in now (and the same city I’ve lived in my entire life). It is at a large, well known aerospace company. A manager called me out of the blue a month ago as he had dug my CV out of a pile. It caught his eye due to my academic performance. I went for an interview with him and then one with HR, it went perfectly and we got along very well, and I now have an offer from them. I would be working in a group with a lot of expertise (lots of experience and multiple PhDs in the group) doing stress analysis, and while the job is somewhat specific and specialized it does sound very interesting and exciting. They would put a lot of money into training me and making me an ‘expert’ over the following years. Before hearing from Job B I was definitely convinced and unbelievably excited by the opportunity.
Job ‘B’ is in a city that would require me to move a very large distance. I applied to an online posting with them a few days before I got the call from ‘A’. After a phone interview (happened after my first interview with ‘A’) they flew me out to interview me in person. It went well (actually I thought it was going badly during the process), and I now have an offer from them. They are a small start-up (~35 people) working on a very ‘cool’ project. While what they are working on is a long shot, if successful it will make them very very rich. The job is more of a design position, however since it is a small company I would obviously be involved in many aspects of the project, running experiments and doing general research. It would also be very hands on and I’d be spending less time behind a computer. The team is very multi-disciplinary and has many ‘experts’ from many different fields. The city they are in appeals to me as well.
Basically Job ‘A’ is a pretty safe bet, no surprises there. I’d get a lot of attention and training, and it is in a position I know I would excel in. My life wouldn’t change tremendously except for the fact that I’d be happy with my job and slightly more wealthy
Job ‘B’ is more risky, more adventurous and could be much more exciting if everything works out. I’d definitely be put in a position to learn more on my own and figure things out myself. I’m very young, have no children and few belongings, so the move out would be easy at this point in my life. My girlfriend is open to the idea and would look for a new job there. My main worry I guess is that the job lasts a year or less, and I’m put in a position where I want to move again but she has settled into a new position in the new location.
I guess this comes down to ‘Big company vs small company’, ‘Safe vs Risky’, ‘Re-locate or don’t’ all combined. Right now I’m leaning towards taking a chance, heading out into the unknown and dealing with the consequences if it doesn’t work out. However I keep thinking to myself “Go with ‘A’, spend a few years gaining expertise, and once your learning plateaus think about moving on to a smaller company or within the same company”.
Any advice from some more experienced engineers?
Graduated 2 years ago with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Got a job relatively quickly after graduating at a large local company doing relatively simple mechanical design, moved on to doing stress and vibration analysis about 6 months ago. I decided after 2 years it was time to move on as I felt there was a lack of expertise where I am now and I could find more challenges and higher pay elsewhere (I was right). Now onto my two options…
Job ‘A’ is in the same city I am in now (and the same city I’ve lived in my entire life). It is at a large, well known aerospace company. A manager called me out of the blue a month ago as he had dug my CV out of a pile. It caught his eye due to my academic performance. I went for an interview with him and then one with HR, it went perfectly and we got along very well, and I now have an offer from them. I would be working in a group with a lot of expertise (lots of experience and multiple PhDs in the group) doing stress analysis, and while the job is somewhat specific and specialized it does sound very interesting and exciting. They would put a lot of money into training me and making me an ‘expert’ over the following years. Before hearing from Job B I was definitely convinced and unbelievably excited by the opportunity.
Job ‘B’ is in a city that would require me to move a very large distance. I applied to an online posting with them a few days before I got the call from ‘A’. After a phone interview (happened after my first interview with ‘A’) they flew me out to interview me in person. It went well (actually I thought it was going badly during the process), and I now have an offer from them. They are a small start-up (~35 people) working on a very ‘cool’ project. While what they are working on is a long shot, if successful it will make them very very rich. The job is more of a design position, however since it is a small company I would obviously be involved in many aspects of the project, running experiments and doing general research. It would also be very hands on and I’d be spending less time behind a computer. The team is very multi-disciplinary and has many ‘experts’ from many different fields. The city they are in appeals to me as well.
Basically Job ‘A’ is a pretty safe bet, no surprises there. I’d get a lot of attention and training, and it is in a position I know I would excel in. My life wouldn’t change tremendously except for the fact that I’d be happy with my job and slightly more wealthy
Job ‘B’ is more risky, more adventurous and could be much more exciting if everything works out. I’d definitely be put in a position to learn more on my own and figure things out myself. I’m very young, have no children and few belongings, so the move out would be easy at this point in my life. My girlfriend is open to the idea and would look for a new job there. My main worry I guess is that the job lasts a year or less, and I’m put in a position where I want to move again but she has settled into a new position in the new location.I guess this comes down to ‘Big company vs small company’, ‘Safe vs Risky’, ‘Re-locate or don’t’ all combined. Right now I’m leaning towards taking a chance, heading out into the unknown and dealing with the consequences if it doesn’t work out. However I keep thinking to myself “Go with ‘A’, spend a few years gaining expertise, and once your learning plateaus think about moving on to a smaller company or within the same company”.
Any advice from some more experienced engineers?
