The good news is I got a job offer. The slightly less good news is that it pays less than my former job but I’m ok with it for a few reasons.
First, the team I will be working on seems great. I interviewed with four people and they were all funny, enthusiastic, and very knowledgeable about their profession. We hit it off instantly and this alone makes up for the difference in pay. This is a place where I think I will be happy and not over-stressed.
Second, the role is exactly what I’ve been doing for the past 16 years and fits me perfectly. I honestly couldn’t come up with another role that matches my skills and profession more than this role. I am excited about it because I could do this job in my sleep and be successful. There won’t be any learning curve for me except to simply understand the organizational structure of the firm.
Third, there will be a lot to do. I got laid off from my last job because there was simply no work to do and it made sense. I knew something would happen when my peers and other department members were being let go that I would eventually take a hit and I was the last person in my team to be let go along with my boss. This job has a ton of work for the foreseeable future and that’s great in today’s economy.
Fourth, it’s a remote job! Yup, I’ll be able to work from home but there will probably be some travel and that’s fine. The irony here is that there has been a big push for “return to office” by many firms to improve the “culture” of the firm yet these same large firms are announcing tens of thousands in layoffs in corporate office jobs. I guess the whole RTO was just a big smokescreen and not really about culture after all. It seems no one cares about “culture” if AI is doing the job.
Next Steps
The job offer has come at a time just as I’ve burned through all the unemployment that I’ve been banking. I will take the offer and proceed to bank as much of the money as possible and create a couple of emergency funds for my kids. I will also max the 401k preferably into a ROTH but I’m not sure what options are available yet since I haven’t received the benefits information. Ultimately, most of the money will simply go into savings of some sort.
I was on the fence about going back to work or simply retiring but taking a couple of months off to travel the world helped me decompress a lot and I feel refreshed enough now to give it another year or two.
I also have other job interviews ongoing at the moment. I will likely continue to interview with those firms in case they offer me a sweeter deal but I’ll likely take this job offer. I have some time before I need to accept and get onboarded.
The great news is I will end up collecting most of the unemployment funds and then start a new job.