April 2, 2016 at 10:16 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Would You Move For a Job?
April 3, 2016 at 3:50 pm
I guess my answer has to be yes, because I've moved for a job a few times over the years. But also a few times I've decided not to move and instead undertaken a ghastly commute (for one job change within a company switching from a walkable or 15 min drive commute to a 60 min drive, and on two occassions joining a different company and taking on commuting weekly - only home at weekends).
When I was young, my main concern was to have an enjoyable job - I didn't even insist on matching salary/cost of living to the previous job. Nor was I particularly worried about location - I would have liked a job in NW Scotland, but there were no interesting jobs in maths or computing there. But when I was inteding to get married I decided I needed to be somewhere civilised, and took a job (with ICL) just south of Edinburgh instead of various offers in places I wouldn't want to have a family in - that was the first time location was a deciding factor. And once I had a family to support the job had to pay adequately as well as being something I would enjoy and either somewhere civilised or paying enough to cover the costs of working too far from home to commute daily.
Right now, I wouldn't take on a job that didn't allow me to spend a lot of time with my wife, which would mean I had to be able to spend a lot of time in Puerto del Carmen in winter and a lot of time in Congleton in summer - and I wouldn't move for a job because it would be too much upheaval for Ann. So unless the job was based very close to one of those places, it would have to pay enough (after the tax people had taken their cut) to cover the cost of weekly commuting for a large part of the time (travel plus accomodation) as well as to give me some extra pocket money. So I'm fairly resigned to being effectively retired (except odd bits of voluntary work).
edit:typos
Tom
April 4, 2016 at 1:13 am
I found the question very funny ("Would you move for a job?") when in the UK, millions are doing just that from all part of Europe or even the world. Actually, it is so common that there are various word for it, such as "emigrating" for example.
I found the question and the article strange because for a lot of people I know, giving up everything - house, nearby parents and sometimes even children and spouse - for a job in the UK is just mundane. This article reminds that moving for a job is not a reality - yet - for everyone, and some people can have the luxury of wondering whether they would prefer stay in their current job or moving for "better weather".:-)
I guess that for us, the 1% of the population that is the richest in the world, we have very different concern that the 99% remaining of the world...
April 4, 2016 at 1:26 am
For me there are several variables at play.
After I finished university, I got the opportunity to go and live & work in Japan on the JET Programme. I was single and it was my first time fulltime job. It was in a country that I expected to be very different to my own (but actually wasn't, once you got beyond the surface layer). In this case, I wanted to leave my home-country and experience another.
8 years' after that, I moved country again (having moved back to my home country from Japan). I was dissatified by the way by countrymen [1] and colleagues handled their newfound wealth. They displayed the financial acumen of children in a sweetshop. In this case, I wanted to leave my home-country and find somewhere where I didn't stick out like a sore thumb. I missed my family and friends and they were only things holding me back.
3 years' after that, I was engaged and the parent company announced that all daughter-companies must be in the same city. My fiancée and I were living in a flat and she was just finishing up her Master's degree. She found a job in the new city within a few months. In this case, the decision to move city seemed sensible. Only my fiancée's family were unhappy. We would only be 100km away. It's not that far.
Now we are married and have a house & children. We are slowly building roots here. The absence of grandparents and kin is noticeable. Do we regret it? A little, but we are happy with what we have so far. I am not especially greedy. I only ever wanted enough of something so that it would never be a problem.
In the past, I looked forward to changing city regardless of whether it was on account of the job or not because I enjoyed the change.
Now, having settled, I would rather not move. I am no longer footloose. Either my current position would have to become much worse or a new opportunity would have to be so much better to justify the commute of moving for a job.
[1] Hint: it's in Rightpondia...
April 4, 2016 at 1:37 am
I moved from NW England to the South of England for my first job. Then I moved from there to Birmingham for my next job. This was a pretty big move because it was Birmingham, Alabama that I moved to!
But now I am older and more settled (back in the NW of England), I probably wouldn't move again unless it was an amazing opportunity, like Apple or Google wanted me 😀
April 4, 2016 at 1:52 am
I have worked freelance for over 17 years now and I have done the weekly commute, like Tom, and long daily commutes (circa 2.5 hours each way) but this has in part been driven by a desire to keep my family near to some of the wider family. (My wife's side so a bit of a cliche but worthwhile.)
Unless our two children end up some distance from our current location and near to each other (e.g. moving to the same county or the same continent) I cannot imagine moving. Having said that, we have discussed that when both of the kids are post-university age considering taking up contracts anywhere and the Mrs and I moving with the work. This is all a bit pie in the sky thinking and is unlikely to happen.
It all comes down to work/life balance for me. Work is important but until I absolutely need to move to make a living then I prefer to stay settled where I am (a safe 25 miles south of Tom during the summer, apparently ;-)).
On a separate note, Kyrilluk makes a good point. This is very much a 1st world problem. As many of us are 1st world residents then I do feel that it is a reasonable thing to discuss. World poverty and distribution of wealth are different topics and I, for one, do take it seriously but do not think that this is the right forum to discuss - maybe under a different editorial, perhaps.
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
April 4, 2016 at 2:49 am
TomThomson (4/3/2016)
Right now, I wouldn't take on a job that didn't allow me to spend a lot of time with my wife, which would mean I had to be able to spend a lot of time in Puerto del Carmen in winter and a lot of time in Congleton in summer - and I wouldn't move for a job because it would be too much upheaval for Ann. So unless the job was based very close to one of those places, it would have to pay enough (after the tax people had taken their cut) to cover the cost of weekly commuting for a large part of the time (travel plus accomodation) as well as to give me some extra pocket money. So I'm fairly resigned to being effectively retired (except odd bits of voluntary work).
Is there much in the way of IT / DBA opportunities in Lanzarote, or the Canaries in general?
April 4, 2016 at 2:54 am
I moved from my home town to a city about 40 miles away to get a first step in the IT industry, with a plan to get 12 months experience and then find a job back in home town. That was 15 years ago and I'm still here now! There's nothing more permanent than something temporary it seems 😀
April 4, 2016 at 4:20 am
I'm lucky enough to live in a nice part of central London, and the good jobs (and salaries) seem to be mostly based here too, so I can't see me choosing to live anywhere else in the UK at the moment. I'd definitely consider living abroad for a few years in the States/Australia/New Zealand though. Somewhere with good hiking and/or wildlife would really appeal.
I'd also consider short term contracting roles in big cities in mainland Europe (language skills permitting) for sure.
April 4, 2016 at 5:21 am
I've moved around for a job for various reasons, but mostly so I could find something I liked doing and still have a reasonable commute (1/2 hour tops for me).
In a little bit of irony, I found out the company I presently work for recently opened an IT center literally a 15 minute bus ride from the house we had in Pittsburgh a number of years ago. There's even a bus stop smack in front of the building.
____________
Just my $0.02 from over here in the cheap seats of the peanut gallery - please adjust for inflation and/or your local currency.
April 4, 2016 at 5:54 am
TheFault (4/4/2016)
TomThomson (4/3/2016)
Is there much in the way of IT / DBA opportunities in Lanzarote, or the Canaries in general?
In Lanzarote, not much - very little in fact; I'm told there is much more in Gran Canaria and in Tenerife, but much more than hardly anything may still be not very much. Someone did send me details of a job in in Arrecife once about 8 years ago, but at that point I was happy working for Neos and wanted to stay with them until the move of most technical functions from London to Beirut was complete - having started that off I wanted to see it through. People sometimes send me details of jobs in Barcelona and Madrid because they think they must be within commuting distance of P del C, but they are no more commutable from the Canaries than are London, Dublin and Manchester. A job in Malaga might be viable if there are flights at the right times, but there doesn't seem to be anything that matches my profile there.
Tom
April 4, 2016 at 6:04 am
Haha I did exactly that!
Moved from a Limerick company that was brilliant at application programming but saw the database as "dat ting dere you put da stuff into" and had no desire to in-house promote a DBA to a company in London for a Junior DBA position because I wanted to become a DBA and increase my knowledge.
I'd do it again in a heartbeat even though I went from "yeah I know a few things about databases" to "wow I know nothing about databases" 😀
April 4, 2016 at 6:11 am
I can think of two companies that I would pull up roots and move right away for. One is a company that is breaking into a industry that has been very, very closed for a long time now, and what they're doing is something that excites me. The other is a company that develops products that I enjoy using...
Both companies, though, are in areas of the country (USA) that I'm less happy with as far as political things go, California and Washington.
The companies?
SpaceX and Valve Software.
The downside though, is both are in areas of the country where the cost-of-living is bordering on outrageous. In CA, housing is insanely expensive. I recently bought a new-build house, about 2000sqft (+basement, 2 car garage) for ~$240k, in CA that *might* get me 1000sqft, no basement and a 1 car garage, in a bad neighborhood...
April 4, 2016 at 6:24 am
Is it just a first world question? I get that if you're not working, all options are on the table, and the same if you can make a decent change in your standard of living (to a point). But even then, the tug of remaining near family vs the perceived opportunities of moving are real forces in our life.
Gary, I saw your comment about it and I'd like to see someone tackle that editorial, preferably from the not first world view.
April 4, 2016 at 6:57 am
I have moved for a job a few states over. But got homesick and moved back a couple years later.
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