Decisions, Decisions

[mixedgas]

As many of you know I'm unemployed right now.

I have a interview on monday with a state university for a job that pays a bit less then 2/3s of what I used to make. I've been out since july. I'll probably need to make a call right on the spot at the interview.

Starting salary, 24.5K Basic medical care , dont have to move. get to keep house, but house is in worse region of US economy wise. I have eight years of working for another state university, so have 7.5 years of state retirement built up (basically teachers retire ment system, not social security) Job is AV technician doing distance learning/cabling repairs, I'm wayyyy overqualified. Like most state jobs, its a yearly renewal thing. Downside is if you quit with less then 6 months, it gets hard to get rehired by another institution.

Other choice, wait two weeks, possible job two states away , roughly 45K, doing production line elctro-optics supervision. have to move, probaby loose inheriting the house as mom will want to sell it if I'm not here to keep it up. Probably be stuck in a apartment.
Will loose home lab and home machine shop if I go. NOT A GUARENTEE that I get it, but say 60% odds.


One caveat, my degree, due to a strange quirk of fate is in teaching high school, I dropped out of engineering for bad math grades and switched to education when I was a dumb young punk who couldn't apply himself, although in my defense I had a lot of responsibilities with two badly sick parents my first two years of college. Got straight As and B+s as a ed major, guess it was too easy.

What would you guys do? I have two more months of unemployement left and nothing in the bank from medical bills. Do I hold out until somebody pays me what I'm worth?? Stay and inherit nice house of 7/10ths of a acre way out in the country, or make a living wage?

Moms a real blockhead, she will try to sell if I'm not here to help her.


There are a lot of smart people here on PL, advice appreciated.

Steve

[James Lehman]

I'd say stay with your mom. She needs you. You also have to count the fact that you already have a nice place to live. That would cost you a lot off the top of any salary you might get elsewhere. Besides that, what would you do with all your stuff? I really don't think you will have to go too long before you get another good offer.

You could always take up male, exotic dancing.

James.

[Stuka]

Home and family definitely makes things interesting - I can relate to a certain extent.

Long term idea - any thoughts to working contract basis with Uncle Sam? I know there are a lot of R&D projects going on with Department of Defense & Department of Energy around Oak Ridge, TN (ORNL) and Huntsville, AL (Redstone Arsenal & NASA). There might be a possibility for someone with your skill set!

As far what to do now - well, as James mentioned, the good thing about the state university position would be not having to move, already having a place to live, and proximity to family (which, as most of us know, can be a blessing, or not, depending on the day or situation). In this economy, I don't think anyone would fault you for pursuing a higher paying job if it became suddenly available.

Tough call to make, no doubt, but please.....

No Male Exotic Dancing !!

[mixedgas]

Tough call to make, no doubt, but please.....

No Male Exotic Dancing !!

[/QUOTE]

damn, I was going to order a tye dye speedo from the place that does buffo's shirts.

Seriously, I dont know what to do, and I cant take care of mom forever. I need a wife and wife and mom are mutally exclusive with respect to american girls. The french grad student I was dating saw mom as a possible baby setter and had other ideas about the role of family, but thats over now.

Steve

[Stuka]

[/quote]

damn, I was going to order a tye dye speedo from the place that does buffo's shirts.

.....
Steve
[/quote]



Oh great - now I have this image stuck in my head......

As a far as the other things -

I'm no Dr. Phil, but sounds like maybe a change of scenery might be in order, perhaps?

Good luck - I'm sure you'll make the most of whatever decision you go with!

[Laserman532]

as you know I am unemployed too. Looking for a high tech job here is futile, I could commute to Portland and be home on weekends but life is too short to spend with my kids. So I will apply at Costco, Home depot & Lowes...there is just nothing for me... Enough about me...

that job two states will be there in the future, your mom & house & shop wont if you go now. I would cut off one nut for a job at 24k these days.
My guess everyone on this forum is WAAAAAYYYY over qualified for what they actually do for a living. (i know I am)

Good luck, you deserve the best!

[MechEng3]

I have found my self in somewhat of the sharp teeth of the economy. My wife has been out of business for nearly 3 months now. The company has almost shut down.....furniture industry. My work continues on....not as much $ as I could take in , but I have the house for now and still manage to eat, fight with my cat, argue with the wife about the justification of more powerfull diodes, and flying when the wind isn't blowing over 25 knots in my neighbors plane....I pay for fuel,oil , and help with maintenance. I may have passed up a lot of opportunities at the big $...but now looking at the firms that had that dough up for grabs....they are gone, baught out and moved somewhere. I am not chasing $ any more. Tired of the trouble in moving. I think you should weigh the situation that seems best for you...then do a recheck of the list. Only allowing one outside influence.
My .02

[platinum]

Ugh, it's really sinking in about the economy. I'm stuck in HVAC-balancing here.

Steve, I don't know much about the field, but, as Randy suggested, why not look into research work? You seem to know pretty much EVERYTHING about lasers, from what I can tell.

All the major aeronautical contractors seem to be working on death star precursors. Why not help with that?

/My .02



-Jonathan

[mixedgas]

All the major aeronautical contractors seem to be working on death star precursors. Why not help with that?

If I went and worked on that project, for security reasons, I could never post here again.

Second of all, with the exception of blacker then black projects, and projects needed for the current war, science funding here was slaughtered by the current administration. That is why I'm out of a job now. That and a change in management where I worked. I've been helping out on one project that is shall we say interesting, and non-lethal. But its less then part time, waiting to see if it gets funded. The lasers your just hearing about now are old news, 7-10 year old technology.


I've been helping out downtown in the biotech corridor in the hopes that I get introduced to someone with funding. But they are all pie in the sky projects applying for grants or looking for angel investors., and I'm a operations and manufacturing guy, and none of them are at the "lets build it" stage.

I'm way overqualified for everything. I'm just wondering if property will ever get devalued enough that I could own land some place else. There is no guarentee that I will get this property, if mom gets really sick, the government gets her half and mine gets sold.
Medicare cost recovery act, ran into that one when dad passed. BTW you need the land passed to your kids or in a trust 3-5 years before you get sick or go into a nursing home.
We almost lost our home when dad died.

Steve

[James Lehman]

See.

That male exotic dancing idea isn't looking so bad now. Is it?

James.