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jim’s journal

Decisions, Decisions

· · 🌡️ 84°F

Oh Estrip, give me your advice:

Should I give up my business which is finally starting to come together after 2 long years of struggle, and go back to school and try to get a nice permanent job sometime next year at Roswell with @enknot and @paul?

Or screw security and keep working at Roswell a couple days a week for the next year or two and try to be awesome the rest of the time / the rest of my life as my own man? After all, big things could be in store!

Lifetime security versus trying for the stars? I have to choose what to do in the next month.

Edited to add: Well thank you everyone! There's really no need to make a decision this month, now that I think about it, I'll just keep trying to do it all :)
143 words

💬 14 comments

  1. drew ·

    It sounds like you want to reach for the stars. Go for it! Security is an illusion, anyway.

  2. jason ·

    "Permanent" job - that's gotta be public sector.

  3. theecarey ·

    The vibe I'm getting from your post is that you feel more in your element proceeding in "being awesome the rest of (your) life as (your) own man". Hell yes! Whatever means it takes, run with it. Yes, big things are indeed in store. Explore now, reach for the stars and if it feels right, DO it. If you are comfortable doing that, then that is essentially all the security you need. It's *all* good.

    I chose that path and I am not looking back.

    Whatever you choose, may it bring excitement and peace to you. :)

  4. jason ·

    Anyhow, something more helpful here. If you can land one of those cushy government gigs, why not go for it? Those kinds of opportunities are highly sought after, and 10 out of 10 sane people would take it if they weren't their own boss. Plus, going back to school is something that personally I think is fantastic.

    Of course, you would be sacrificing potential big bucks that may come through your business. I give you tons of credit, Jim. I read an article recently that rated Buffalo as the 8th worst place in America to run a small business. Yeah, shocker, I know, we do live in NYS. You have a brain-child, and you want to nurture it.

    As long as you are young, and have few financial obligations, I don't see the harm in going for it. Later on in life you might be in circumstances where you would be far more risk averse, and unable to rationally make the choice to just go for it.

    Whatever you choose, best of luck to you.

  5. james ·

    You should have asked me first Jim.

    ANd I think you should give it all up to become a stripper to the stars! Just imagine shaking your expensive booty on Star Jones' lap!

  6. mrmike ·

    Dare to be great!

  7. zobar ·

    "...I tell you, my man, this is the American Dream in action! We'd be fools not to ride this strange torpedo all the way out to the end."
    "Indeed," he said. "We must do it."
    "Right," I said. "But first we need the car. And after that, the cocaine. And then the tape recorder, for special music, and some Acapulco shirts."

    - Z

  8. paul ·

    I obviously made the choice to settle on the moderately high income in a city with a moderately low rates instead of going the self employment route. It is not like working at Roswell is deciding to work at a low income job.

    Moreover, I like the feeling that no matter how inane some of my projects are they all contribute in some way to the eventual treatment and cure of cancer and not to some materially obsessed sales objective for exotic whatsits.

    There is also plenty of money to be made at Roswell beyond the regular pay. As part of a fulltime employee contract you split patent proceeds from you inventions 60% Roswell, 40% inventor/inventors. Depending, what you make that could be huge. I am sure doctors probably make more money off patents and publications than they do off salary.

    Also, as I said at lunch, other benefits include stability of payrates vs self employment ups and downs, and that the job lets you concentrate on what you are good at doing (programming/design) instead of having to do business - which stresses me the hell out. Not to mention the union, pension and health care benefits.

    Either way I would go to school and get a degree, so that if it doesn't work out in the future with self employment you don't have to go back when you are 40 and feel really weird about it.

    I also just like having you there. Its great to work with someone who is really into what they are doing.

  9. imk2 ·

    why not do all three? you work at roswell part time, right? so go to school part time, one or two classes a semester, work at roswell part time and do a little business on the side. you may have to cut down on the business part, but you can always pick it back up when you are done with school or if you should decide that either school or roswell are not for you after all.

  10. jim ·

    Yeah, I am going to do all three for at least the next year, or as long as Roswell will have me.

  11. jim ·

    imk2,

    I am just freaking out this week about it because I'm making two pretty big pitches to big clients, and it is not possible to turn it on or off like a faucet. Doing really small jobs is not worth it in terms of money and time, and the bigger jobs require a certain amount commitment. If someone is paying thousands and thousands of dollars for something, you can't put them on hold if you have exams.

    I've got to find out from Roswell just exactly what the hiring requirements are, so I'll talk with my boss about that tomorrow and what I can realistically expect as a potential career path there.

  12. tinypliny ·

    A little late, but I think school does take a lot of your energy and time away if you want to finish it well. So multi-tasking could be a problem.

    But I would take going back to school any day over not going back to school and repenting later.

  13. jim ·

    I know what you mean tinypliny, but for me it would be intro programming classes - stuff I already know, and I would learn nothing. It would be merely for a piece of paper so that an employer could check that box off on a form. That is the lamest reason to do something ever.

  14. tinypliny ·

    I didn't realize that. And I agree. Getting a diploma/degree just as a bureaucratic requirement is an appalling waste of time. It seems absurd to me that Roswell would function like a federal body with rigid rules about such pre-requisites. If your vitaé includes prior experience, references and proof that you have the skills required for the job, couldn't they overlook the alphabet soup?

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