Just got a job offer in TX with a different company.. should I stay or should I go?

[Armueller2001]

I graduated college about a year and a half ago and have been working in my chosen field in the Chicago area since then. The company I work for has treated me pretty well, and given me increasing responsibility which has been great for my experience. But, the pay relative to the area's cost of living is a little lower than I'd be satisfied with. My fiancé and I have been kicking around the idea of moving to TX or TN due to the lower cost of living, lower taxes, milder winters, and less traffic. Just for comparison, to buy a decent 4 bedroom house in this area would run $250-350k, whereas in Texas they are commonly seen with large plots of land for $150-200k. Also, her sister and brother in law just moved to Dallas so there would be at least SOME family nearby.

The fact that Illinois, and Chicago especially, demonizes legal firearm owners, is another thing that's pushing me to leave. I have a serious problem sending tax dollars to a state and city that does not respect my constitutional rights, when about 80% of the rest of the country does.

Well, I saw a job posting for my exact position based in San Antonio go up on one of our competitor's websites and went through the interview process. Flew down there and interviewed with several people, etc. and they extended me an offer of 15% higher than what I make right now. The cost of living in San Antonio is approx. 75% what it is in Chicago.

Bottom line is, I'd be stupid to stay right? My company has treated me pretty well, but I've given them every opportunity to transfer me to an area I'd be happier with. Since I started I've been checking the job postings, and have seen nothing. Have also talked to HR on multiple occasions expressing my desires for relocation. I have no doubt that it would happen in time since they have locations all over the country, but I do NOT want to continue throwing away four figures in rent, constantly hoping for something to come up. Still, I feel like a dick leaving after they've invested a lot of time and money in my career development.

Any advice? Have any of you guys left a good job for "greener pastures" and was it a better or worse for you?

[pedulla-2007]

JRight now we are going through a 99 degree cold front. I have to rebuild my privacy fence again because the ground has cracked so much &the foundation has cracked on my house. Come on down & buy a house and wait for the termites & carpenter ants eat up your biggest investment.

[Truktek2]

Originally Posted by Armueller2001

Still, I feel like a dick leaving after they've invested a lot of time and money in my career development.

You are joking right? Job loyalty? The only people you should be loyal to are yourself and fiance. Do what benefits you. I know of no company that would think twice of getting rid of you to boost their bottom line. You owe them NOTHING. If Texas is what makes your life better, go for it.

[bassbrad]

San Antonio is a wonderful city, lots of culture, great food and not too far from the coast, piney woods and other beautiful day trips.
OTOH the music scene is not particularly diverse. Follow your heart.

[Armueller2001]

Originally Posted by bassbrad

San Antonio is a wonderful city, lots of culture, great food and not too far from the coast, piney woods and other beautiful day trips.
OTOH the music scene is not particularly diverse. Follow your heart.

Thanks for the info. I hear Austin is a pretty good music scene, about 45 mins up the road?

[DigMe]

^ Closer to an hour and a half.

Between San Antonio and Austin I'd take Austin but I can appreciate SA as well. Honestly imprefer Waco over both for living because I've got everything I need in a city of 115,000 and I DON'T have the traffic. I've been to and lived in a lot of places in my life but I love Texas.

bc

[UnsungZeros]

One thing I'd consider is the business outlook for the new company that wants to hire you. It would suck pretty hard to uproot yourself and your fiance, move to a new state with no friends/family, buy a house, etc and then have the company lay you off or go bust. Unfortunately, that story is way too common than it should be.

Other than that, I'd say making the move would make sense for you. Don't feel guilty about leaving your current employer. If someone else offers you a better price for your time and labor, then tough luck for them. Such is the nature of the labor market.

[billiam5billion]

Austin's great, but you're overlooking a beautiful little town on the river known as San Marcos. It sits right between Austin and SA and it's really nice.

[Unrepresented]

Originally Posted by UnsungZeros

One thing I'd consider is the business outlook for the new company that wants to hire you. It would suck pretty hard to uproot yourself and your fiance, move to a new state with no friends/family, buy a house, etc and then have the company lay you off or go bust. Unfortunately, that story is way too common than it should be.

Other than that, I'd say making the move would make sense for you. Don't feel guilty about leaving your current employer. If someone else offers you a better price for your time and labor, then tough luck for them. Such is the nature of the labor market.

+1 on doing your due diligence on both employers to determine their long term viability as well as your own opportunity for advancement within either company. Seniority may play a role, either tacitly or explicitly. Find out if you're losing out on any potential promotions in your own company.

Also, I'd make it a point to visit the family that's already in Texas. Chicago and San Antonio are different cities. Find out for yourself if the change in scenery is worth the pay difference.

[Johnny Crab]

Originally Posted by Unrepresented

+1 on doing your due diligence on both employers to determine their long term viability as well as your own opportunity for advancement within either company. Seniority may play a role, either tacitly or explicitly. Find out if you're losing out on any potential promotions in your own company.

Also, I'd make it a point to visit the family that's already in Texas. Chicago and San Antonio are different cities. Find out for yourself if the change in scenery is worth the pay difference.

Worth repeating.

The COL difference and the respect for rights are very important but so is long-term viability. Your state's retirement systems are in bad shape and according to one commentator they are headed toward implosion. Who pays?

"Oh yeah, it's you, the Illinois taxpayer, who will be required to make up the shortfalls when (not if) this blows up in their face."
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/a...lepost=2139420

FWIW:
Sold every piece of gear I had in 1989 to move the family to Texas from New Orleans. Best decision that "happened" in my life. If you plan on children, seriously consider a smaller, great town outside of SA that has a reasonable daily commute. Texas has some beautiful small towns. Our six children(now grown) would agree.

[Munjibunga]

Originally Posted by Truktek2

You are joking right? Job loyalty? The only people you should be loyal to are yourself and fiance. Do what benefits you. I know of no company that would think twice of getting rid of you to boost their bottom line. You owe them NOTHING. If Texas is what makes your life better, go for it.

Wow. I'm glad my employees didn't believe that (I retired). We have a lot of folks who've been there over 20 years, and several over 30. Ten-year people are still a little green. One reason is that we take care of our employees, especially in time of need. Even after we gave pay cuts because of the economy we lost only two people over it (out of a couple hundred), and chances are they'll want to come back, as many have after leaving. As an employer I can say that, with that attitude, you won't last long in any job. By the way, all salaries have been restored ... except the owners'.

For the OP, I'd say the same thing I've said to every employee in my company: you should do what's best for you and your family. Many of our folks have received offers of employment for substantial increases in pay, yet they stay with us. There is significant value in working for a company that treats you well. You need to think about whether you're willing to give up what you have to jump into the unknown culture of a new company ... and live in Texas.

[Hookus]

San Marcos is indeed pretty cool. I was born in Austin in 1975, so I am a little partial. I have travelled most of the United States, and a great many countries overseas. Austin is where its at. The commute from San Marcos or New Braunfels to SA is not very long, and they are close enough to Austin that it is not far to go for your dose of music, culture, and entertainment.

[Ziltoid]

How crazy would it be to sit down with your current boss and share him your concerns and that you got an offer with a 15% higher salary? Who knows he might counter-offer.

Then again I'm 18 and don't know much about the "business world".

[MoireBass]

Originally Posted by Munjibunga

Wow. I'm glad my employees didn't believe that (I retired). We have a lot of folks who've been there over 20 years, and several over 30. Ten-year people are still a little green. One reason is that we take care of our employees, especially in time of need. Even after we gave pay cuts because of the economy we lost only two people over it (out of a couple hundred), and chances are they'll want to come back, as many have after leaving. As an employer I can say that, with that attitude, you won't last long in any job. By the way, all salaries have been restored ... except the owners'.

For the OP, I'd say the same thing I've said to every employee in my company: you should do what's best for you and your family. Many of our folks have received offers of employment for substantial increases in pay, yet they stay with us. There is significant value in working for a company that treats you well. You need to think about whether you're willing to give up what you have to jump into the unknown culture of a new company ... and live in Texas.

Loyalty is a great thing, when it works both ways. My last two projects and jobs left and went to China because AMD and Siemens got their Chinese Software R&D groups operational and looking for work. Supposedly a Ph.D. in China makes about $12K/yr, which is a bit less than they were paying me. Companies seem to have little or no loyalty to their employees anymore, except maybe a few isolated islands. In that environment, an employee has to put some limits on their loyalty to the company.

Several distant members of my family owned small stores, had employees who were happy enough to stay 30+ years. It just seems like those days are becoming/have become obsolete.

----

I grew up in Dallas, lived in Cleveland and near Ashtabula for more than 3 years, have spent time in Chicago, and live in Austin now. Be warned: you will find Texas VERY VERY different from where you live, in ways you'll likely find both wonderful and horrifying.

And within a couple years you'll be able to say the words 'ninety-six degrees' and 'cold front' in the same sentence without laughing.

[fdeck]

Are you planning on having kids? Do you presently live in a neighborhood with decent schools? When I lived in Texas, the conventional wisdom was that people had to figure the cost of school into their cost-of-living, either by moving into an exclusive neighborhood, or sending their kids to private school.

I moved up here from Texas to seek greener pastures, though I didn't have a job lined up when I arrived in Madison. Right now I've got everything: Nice climate, good schools, a great job with a 25-minute commute by bike, active music scene, educated population, and so forth.

[oldrocker]

Originally Posted by Truktek2

You are joking right? Job loyalty? The only people you should be loyal to are yourself and fiance. Do what benefits you. I know of no company that would think twice of getting rid of you to boost their bottom line. You owe them NOTHING. If Texas is what makes your life better, go for it.

The bigger the company the more this is true. If your Chicago based company's initials are MOT, run dont walk but run to Texas.

[MakiSupaStar]

Look before you leap, but at the same time a move could be a great adventure.

[DigMe]

Maki - quit posting your fortune cookie fortunes to random TB threads.

bc

[dangnewt]

Originally Posted by Armueller2001

Any advice? Have any of you guys left a good job for "greener pastures" and was it a better or worse for you?

My wife and I started our careers in NYC and left after 7 and 5 years respectively to move to Boston since neither of us were from NYC and couldn't see starting a family there without family reasonably close by. My hometown is 1.5 hours from Boston and my sisters had moved even closer.

While we enjoyed our time and jobs in NYC, we didn't think we could swing raising children in Brooklyn without any family ties. Iit was the right move for us (we took pay cuts to make this move happen).

I'm a little older than Ziltoid, but 18 years old or not, the point is a good one. Since you have already made it know that you would like a transfer, put it all on the table to your current company and have a number in your head and an idea of compatible locations. If they like you and they have something that might work, they'll make a counter-offer. It may not be an exact match of money or location, but they may give you an option worth considering. If they don't, they don't, but at least you would be leaving on slightly better terms and you'll have a better story to tell your third employer.

Two last pieces of advice (remember you asked ), even if house prices are lower wherever you are moving and you referenced throwing away 4 digit rent payments - I wouldn't rush out and buy a 3-4 bedroom house (no matter how cheap) wherever you are moving to. Rent first and see if you and your fiance like the area and can imagine raising children there, the flexibility of renting is huge especially early in a career.

The other is that while I would certainly take your word that cultural/geographic considerations are equal to or maybe even greater than the money considerations, your current firm, the potential new firm and any future potential employers will probably assume that it was all about the money. That may or may not impact how much they are willing to invest (training/responsibility) in you in the near future. I say that more to encourage you to stay with the new company for more than 18 months than to encourage you to stay with the current firm in an area that you don't like.

Remember that life is short and that it is your life. My wife and I have followed our hearts (even when family, friends, and co-workers thought we were nuts ) for 28 years and it has worked out fine so far.

[mike_v_s]

Originally Posted by fdeck

Are you planning on having kids? Do you presently live in a neighborhood with decent schools? When I lived in Texas, the conventional wisdom was that people had to figure the cost of school into their cost-of-living, either by moving into an exclusive neighborhood, or sending their kids to private school.

I moved up here from Texas to seek greener pastures, though I didn't have a job lined up when I arrived in Madison. Right now I've got everything: Nice climate, good schools, a great job with a 25-minute commute by bike, active music scene, educated population, and so forth.

Texas is a series of independent school districts, meaning none of them are under the control of the city or county. One district's performance has little to zero bearing on another's. Where I lived in Texas, private schools were considered an unnecessary expense. I'd say he ought to do some research on the school district that includes San Antonio (and maybe ask a few people here more familiar with that particular system) before making a decision.

Mike