Ask HN: Should I take a new job with less pay and responsibility?

[ccthr]

I am currently working as a contractor for the Government. I am paid around UK market average for my skill set at 520 per day (124k per year based on 242 working day - I am single and do not take a lot of holidays, most of the money goes towards saving for early retirement)

I am leading a small team of developers on a project with tight delivery deadlines, however we work in a sustainable way and follow good agile practices within the team. Outside of the team, like most Government projects, is a big waterfall mess, but the team is able to absorb change well due to a process I have fought hard to set up. This is my first lead role, I am in my early 30s and have been working in software development for ~5 years.

I am in the process of interviewing for another job at a start-up medical R&D company. This is a permanent role and they are offering 60k per year (a great salary for North England). I would go back to being an individual contributor.

If I stay in my current role I can develop my skills as a leader but my technical growth will stagnate as I am familiar with the stack and have little time to write code. If I move to the startup I will be learning new big data tech and a new domain - biochem.

In Summary:

I am finding it hard to decide whether sacrificing the pay and a high responsibility leadership role for the opportunity for further technical growth doing potentially more meaningful work is worth it.

[sloaken]

1) money is not everything. 2) I am not sure you have done a proper cost delta analysis

You mention the new job is in the Northern part of England, where are you now? Typically lower salary implies lower taxes. Depending on your life style, and where you live 124 in down town london might actually be equal to 60 in North England.

How much does your house / apartment cost each month? Is it more expensive to own a car in one verses another.

Add into the equation, and this is the hard one, how much is it worth to you to do more meaningful work?

How much is job security worth? I expect with your upcoming changes from leaving the EU, one of your possible jobs might be more at risk.

How many hours a week will you work at each? Do you have friends in one location you would miss? Do you fly somewhere for Christmas, which might cost more or less in the other town?

Will the lower salary prevent you from retiring early? Myself I love programming so I will do it forever. So a slightly later retirement has no meaning to me.

All in all there are a lot of quantifiable numbers you need to consider. There are the intangibles, but you need to list those out. Try and put a value on them, for comparison sake. You will have risks to consider - job security. Opportunity options - vesting in a startup. Although I think, mathematically your odds are 1 out of 10.

Good luck, and count your blessing you can make a choice.

[ccthr]

1) Agree 2) Partially agree - I haven't gone to the length of writing anything down but I have been modelling it in my head for weeks. As you say later in your post a lot of it is intangible hence the difficulty in deciding.

House/Apartment - I currently stay in Yorkshire so housing is cheap. As a contractor my Ltd Co can pay my rent as a valid business expense. Switching to permanent employment would mean that I have to pay this out of my personal income, so in that sense the costs would go up and not insignificantly so.

The job security is a strange one - I contract for a large consultancy with work for a large Government department. The work won't dry up anytime soon and when it does, my specific skill set would allow me to find more work (either abroad or in London). People I work alongside are being offered year long renewals - practically unheard of as far as I am aware.

The "startup" is a Government funded organisation so although a permanent position, there is always the chance the funding will dry up.

The hours should in theory be a similar 37-40 hours per week. Whilst sometimes in my current position I will work a 12 hour day to help with deployments or live issues, it is rare. The client is very flexible with regards to office hours. I imagine the new role would be similar, however there is a risk that it ends up being worse with longer and less flexible hours. The job posting specifically lists working from home as a perk so I suspect it's fairly progressive.

Friends is a big one - Yes I have made friends with people on the current job and I will miss them sorely, however I also have friends in Manchester which is within commuting distance of the next job. I would be looking to cultivate old friendships at the expense of newer ones. The Christmas journey home would be an hour less on the motorway so not a huge factor although would mean frequent visits are easier.

The million pound question is the retirement part. Whilst I don't think I will be ready to completely stop working in ~10 years, having the option to sounds very appealing. I would like to be free to spend time with my (imaginary) family and have the creative energy to work on other projects without worrying about financial viability.

Ultimately the tradeoff probably comes down to on the one hand having a job I can be proud of (I am working on a cure for X) that will also be incredibly stimulating intellectually, versus the surety of the job I have for now, with the contractor income that allows me to become financially independent a lot sooner.

[sloaken]

So you know writing it out makes is more intellectually honest, as well as help point out issues.

As for hours, I expect the startup to need more.

Work friends are nice, and I have had many who I go back to. Not as many real personal friends.

There is a classic proverb: You regret what you did not do, more than what you did do.

I do not regret leaving a perfectly good job to travel by bicycle. Sure it put me behind financially, but what I am to do with a lot of money anyway.

[deepaksurti]

You can always augment your technical skills through side projects. I know you may spend some extra time after/before work for this but exchanging this extra time for less money to work at a startup where you may anyways be working more than the standard working hours does not seem to be a good ROI.

Whereas with the augmenting route, you get to keep your high paying job, achieve early retirement and if you are still inclined to work after that, where you are not constrained by opposing choices, you can switch.

My 2$ and I hope whatever decision you take works well for you.

[wallflower]

I second this. You would be taking a massive 50% pay cut to get on-the-job training for big data. You get paid quite a bit more than my U.K. acquaintances in tech. Don’t go to the startup, start allocating some of your mental and physical energy to learning what you would like to learn outside of work. Also, if you are not already exercising regularly, start doing so as it is an investment in yourself that is priceless. Good luck!

[darreld]

It sounds as if you like your current position and saving for early retirement is a great idea (from a 60's dev who can't retire soon). I agree with others here that technologies you fear you might miss out on could be learned through side projects.

Just my $.02 and I'm sure you'll make the correct decision, whatever that is, since you are thinking it through.