Please help me urgently make the right job choice! (Houston: apartments, hotel)

[nicksw10]

The cali company sounds like Google with the free lunch and benefits. If so I would go for it

[4decision]

Originally Posted by predatorprey

Hard decision for ya. Potential for growth is easily on the Cali company but more risk. Stability and safety is with HP. Not job security wise but company wise IMO

It is a very tough call. You right about both companies but HP has been downsized several times due to being less profitable.

[4decision]

Originally Posted by Seoid

That's a tough call. Having lived alone and then went back to roommates, I can tell you that's rough but you manage.

Good luck

Thank you. I know exactly what you meant and only if I am willing to do it all over again just to save up much more.

[4decision]

Originally Posted by MNCold

Both are good offer for you. More importantly, which job do you like better in terms of your career and the people that you will be working with. Which job will give you the satisfaction and the accomplishment at the end of the day? Which job will make you want to drive to work?
As young as you are, it is more important to gain the right experience that will set you well for the rest of the career.

I like the more technical one in the Bay area but both have good teams and future growth. Traffic in the Silicon valley is bad and unpredictable comparing to where I live here close to HP.

Actually I'm not young anymore but being still single can be a deal breaker

[Malvie]

Ok, everybody's got an opinion, so here's mine:

Financially, the HP job in Houston is a better deal than the new job in Cali.

There is also the factor of "the devil you know" vs. "the devil you don't know"; i.e., have you worked for this Cali firm before? Friends who work there who can tell you about it? How's the job with HP here? Good? Bad? Indifferent? If the job here is good to indifferent and you know nothing about the Cali company except maybe by reputation, you might go with what you know.

There is also the comfort factor (large house here with no roommates vs. tiny studio there with roommates). That cuts both ways: hot as blazes here vs. cool there.

Honestly, I read the thread and you've gotten some good advice on both sides, but this is actually going to boil down to an emotional, rather than practical decision.

The money is close, very close. Silicon Valley is certainly where it's happening. Bay Area is one of the most beautiful places in North America. Cold and clammy vs. blazing and sultry. Houston's nowhere near as pretty, but has family, more comfort.

You're going to have to decide which of the INTANGIBLES are more important to YOU and make your decision on that basis.

A friend of mine in Dallas, a senior pilot with Delta, is originally from San Jose; his folks moved here when he was in Jr. High and that's when he and I met. We've been friends almost our whole lives. When he was in the Navy, he spent a lot of time in San Diego. He loves Cali.

He lives in Dallas. He was based there (until Delta de-hubbed Dallas; now he's based in Atlanta, but continues to live in his paid-for high-rise condo in Dallas).

He can be based out of LA (for a bump in seniority) any time he says the word. They can't get enough people, because the pay is the pay no matter where you live. The bump in seniority is a tangible thing: he'd be #2 or #3 on the seniority list there for his aircraft; that means YOU tell THEM when YOU will fly. It also means you're one of the very last ones out the door.... He flies international, so his trips would go from Europe (now) to "hideous" places like Hawaii, Hong Kong, Tokyo, etc.

So he wrestles with the same thing all the time: Do I stay in blazing Dallas in a paid-for high-rise luxury condo and have plenty of money (he's deciding right now between a BMW or a Mercedes), or do I move back to California and go back to having to "watch it" financially, to having to think carefully about major expenditures---to quote him, "Is it worth it to me to give up EVERYTHING ELSE so I can jog on the beach every day?"

He asks himself every year, and every year it gets harder for him to answer. As of today, he's in Dallas.....

You'll have to make the same decision.


(What a grand place to be in, making a decision between two great alternatives).

[4decision]

Originally Posted by Oildog

Given the current economy, I wouldn't play hard ball negotiating salary. Bird in hand...

Agreed but at the same time it is hard to accept without trying and still being friends.

[Oildog]

Good post Malvie, I turned down an offer in El Segundo for the same reason.

[4decision]

Originally Posted by Malvie

Ok, everybody's got an opinion, so here's mine:

Financially, the HP job in Houston is a better deal than the new job in Cali.

There is also the factor of "the devil you know" vs. "the devil you don't know"; i.e., have you worked for this Cali firm before? Friends who work there who can tell you about it? How's the job with HP here? Good? Bad? Indifferent? If the job here is good to indifferent and you know nothing about the Cali company except maybe by reputation, you might go with what you know.

There is also the comfort factor (large house here with no roommates vs. tiny studio there with roommates). That cuts both ways: hot as blazes here vs. cool there.

Honestly, I read the thread and you've gotten some good advice on both sides, but this is actually going to boil down to an emotional, rather than practical decision.

The money is close, very close. Silicon Valley is certainly where it's happening. Bay Area is one of the most beautiful places in North America. Cold and clammy vs. blazing and sultry. Houston's nowhere near as pretty, but has family, more comfort.

You're going to have to decide which of the INTANGIBLES are more important to YOU and make your decision on that basis.

A friend of mine in Dallas, a senior pilot with Delta, is originally from San Jose; his folks moved here when he was in Jr. High and that's when he and I met. We've been friends almost our whole lives. When he was in the Navy, he spent a lot of time in San Diego. He loves Cali.

He lives in Dallas. He was based there (until Delta de-hubbed Dallas; now he's based in Atlanta, but continues to live in his paid-for high-rise condo in Dallas).

He can be based out of LA (for a bump in seniority) any time he says the word. They can't get enough people, because the pay is the pay no matter where you live.

So he wrestles with the same thing all the time: Do I stay in blazing Dallas in a paid-for high-rise luxury condo and have plenty of money (he's deciding right now between a BMW or a Mercedes), or do I move back to California and go back to having to "watch it" financially, to having to think carefully about major expenditures---to quote him, "Is it worth it to me to give up EVERYTHING ELSE so I can jog on the beach every day?"

He asks himself every year, and every year it gets harder for him to answer. As of today, he's in Dallas.....

You'll have to make the same decision.


(What a grand place to be in, making a decision between two great alternatives).

Thank you so much for a great real life example. It is exactly what I've been struggling over the past few days constantly discussing with family here. Married people who never lived in the best weather beautiful California would definitely said to stay in Houston with as paid off nice house and no state tax. For me I am not sure if I can AGAIN go through the lower living standards in the Silicon valley for more than $1K a month in savings. I've seen lots of married and single people still being happy there even on much lower income. Yes it comes down to personal preferences: family, weather, friends, savings, personal comfort and lifestyles, work environment, commute traffic, benefits..

[Malvie]

Originally Posted by 4decision

Thank you so much for a great real life example. It is exactly what I've been struggling over the past few days constantly discussing with family here. Married people who never lived in the best weather beautiful California would definitely said to stay in Houston with as paid off nice house and no state tax. For me I am not sure if I can AGAIN go through the lower living standards in the Silicon valley for more than $1K a month in savings. I've seen lots of married and single people still being happy there even on much lower income. Yes it comes down to personal preferences: family, weather, friends, savings, personal comfort and lifestyles, work environment, commute traffic, benefits..

My friend would be trading a 2br 2ba 2 (deck) parking space paid-for high-rise condo on the 26th floor with a skyline view in a "name" building on Turtle Creek (value arguably $750,000; was over $1m at one point) for a 1 br 1 ba surface parking similar-in-nature condo on the 6th floor or so (but with a Pacific view) directly on the Pacific Coast Highway in Santa Monica---for almost triple the price. Quick commute to LAX. Jog on the beach every day (he's a big jogger). Lots of friends still in the area. Nothing (in either his or my opinion) beats sitting on the beach under a palm tree with a good bottle of California red watching the sun sink slowly into the Pacific...

But, no new car. He has a nice 5 year old BMW, but it'd have to last. No big expenditures until place is paid for (we're all 55 now). No "extras". 10% instant pay reduction due to Cali income tax, plus increased cost of practically everything else. Maintenance fee on the new place - 4 times that of the old place.

You can sneak on the back roads to LAX, but if you try to go ANYWHERE else you're on the Santa Monica, the 5, or the 405, creeping along even at 3:00 am. The "High Five" in Dallas has nothing on the "Orange Crush".

And (here it comes), he says that, if possible, the idea that the women he'd be looking at in LA are even quicker to check the bank balance first than the Dallas variety. He's experienced that first-hand.

He says, in effect, he'd be going from being "comfortably well-off" here (his term) to being Joe-******* there.

But, there are those cool Pacific breezes....

So it's totally intangible.

I looked at it a few years ago when I was unemployed. If things get rough again with the employment picture here, I may look again (I can transfer to the Brea office easily enough, for a job/pay reduction). I'd have to give up my nice house here for a crummy apartment there, but it's cooler.

[Oildog]

Do you want to be near arguably the best medical complex in the world?