Other Anyone else considering changing jobs in this current economic climate?

[mxmark4]

Ok so I have run into a bit of a conundrum and I am gonna throw it out here and see what creative suggestions yall can give me . Last 6 years at the same shop, currently I am in nursing school and have cut back to part time. My boss was cool enough to let me go part time, but on the days I go in to work , I am standing around waiting for something to do,all damn day. We are extremely slow right now, but I still go in ready to work hard and do whatever they need me to do. Keep in mind i am on flat rate so if theres no work I make no money and my day is basically wasted standing around. Its hard to walk away considering my boss is amazing and treats us like his kids, and when theres work there the money can be really good. On the other hand I have kids to feed and a brand new house to pay for.Any job I take is gonna be a huge pay cut from what I make now, but if Im not making money, im not making money whether its a lower paying job, or making crap hours at the shop. So im just not sure what to do here, try and get a lower paying hospital job that will work with my school schedule, keep wrenching and hope it gets better? Any suggestions are appreciated as I have no clue what to do here.

 

[E350]

IMHO, the answer to your question wouldn't be any different whether you are making money at your current shop wrenching job or not. You are going to nursing school to start a new career. School will only get you so far. In your new nursing career every entry level nurse will have the same degree. So, it will be who you know not what you know that will get you your first good nursing job.

Assuming that you are passing your exams at nursing school and will graduate, you need to step off the shop platform and onto the moving train of your new nursing career. The good people you will meet as a low wage hospital student/employee will take you farther in your new nursing career than the good people you already know wrenching at the shop.

So, what do you want to be on Graduation Day? A wrench competing for a nursing job? Or a cool guy who wrenches on the side who is student/employee who already knows the people who have the power to hire him as a nurse? Time to grow up...

Edit: 10-4 OCD Solutions. I don't mean to be harsh. mxmark4, you mention kids and a new house but not a wife, if you are married, have a heart to heart with her for her opinion. It will only make your relationship stronger. And if he really considers you his children, after your heart to heart with you wife, have one with your boss. He knows even his children need to leave home.

And these for your spirit:

 

[OCD Solutions]

The wording is a little harsh but I agree with everything else.

I wouldn't make a move just for the sake of moving though. The part time gig will allow you to be a little strategic about your choices. Feel out your options and try a few on for size.

 

[Turtle]

The wording is a little harsh but I agree with everything else.

I wouldn't make a move just for the sake of moving though. The part time gig will allow you to be a little strategic about your choices. Feel out your options and try a few on for size.

@E350 pretty much nailed it directly on the head as to what I was going to say

 

[Ducky]

@mxmark4 , I have a lot of family and friends that are nurses/doctors/hospital leaders. IMO, I would get yourself a healthcare job ASAP. You will possibly take a pay cut, but consider your future, and what you may want to shoot for after you finish nursing school. I would honestly look at the possibility of becoming an NP or CRNA after you finish nursing school. Yes, those positions require another 2 years of school or so, but it would be totally worth it since you are already in the rhythm of being in school. If you have any reason to consider something bigger than nursing, having a job in healthcare will help your chances of succeeding because a lot of those programs require you to have a certain amount of real world experience working in a hospital to be admitted into those programs. Just my 2 cents. Good luck!

 

[Big Kahuna]

Ducky got some good advice there, plus he knows how to turn 2 cents into 3 cents. He also knows how to turn 1 duck into 5 or 6 baby ducks, but we will not go into this today.............

 

[mxmark4]

Thanks for the inputs, Nurse practioner is the end goal here, wife wants me to quit and not have to work, but I dont think I can just not work as I will go crazy just being at home. I know I need to get into the hospital and get working and making connections, but I think I am just a bit scared to leave the only thing I really know behind. I think the next couple of months are gonna be make or break and will decide how/where I go from here.

 

[Ducky]

Thanks for the inputs, Nurse practioner is the end goal here, wife wants me to quit and not have to work, but I dont think I can just not work as I will go crazy just being at home. I know I need to get into the hospital and get working and making connections, but I think I am just a bit scared to leave the only thing I really know behind. I think the next couple of months are gonna be make or break and will decide how/where I go from here.

Change is all about perception! It can be perceived as scary, or it can be perceived as exciting! Just go for it man! There is no harm in applying and interviewing. It's pretty much free, plus it is good experience.

 

[Big Kahuna]

Go ahead and find a job in your field. But explain this to your boss. Maybe you could pick up some time in the garage when not in class or at your nursing job.

 

[E350]

Edit: Time to grow.
Not time to grow up.
(Growth is scary, it is easy for us to tell you what to do, but it is scary for all of us. I probably should be making some changes in my life too, but I have been putting them off because they are scary. Maybe you can report back and be a cheerleader for people like me...)

 

[Quinc]

A lot of medical software companies hire nurses as consultants and pay them very well. Only thing is you will have to travel. But something else to look into.

 

[DAG]

What a ride it has been. It was announced earlier in the year that the manufacturing facility I’ve been working at for the entirety of my short professional career, of only 10 years, will be shutting its doors and moving to China. With that we were told everything would be “business as usual” for about a year as we built up buffer stock to cover demand as the machines get put on the slow boat headed to Qingdao. Man let me tell ya, it’s tuff to stick to it and train the acquiring plants on how to do your job especially when it requires hiring in a translator. All things considered and as slow as the process was it was a blessing in disguise as it gave everyone time to make contingency’s and find the perfect next steps and not jump on the first thing that came available.

As I first started to pull my resume together I was approached about a transfer opportunity to a newly acquired Deutsch connector facility in Oceanside, CA. How great would that jet skiing be right? I have absolutely been loving everything about what I do here but I believe it’s mainly been all the guys I work with. Reflecting back it’s amazing how much the guys you work with play apart into why I enjoy coming in day after day. It doesn’t seem like work when you have a great team. I ended up putting Oceanside on the back burner and decided to at least first start looking to see what still made in the USA around my home town of Charlotte, NC.

Quickly after hopping on the job boards It was amazing to see how many products are still made here in the good ole’ USA. Right out of the gate I had several interviews lined up. It took a couple times getting my feet wet to hone in my interview skills before I got my first offer with DeWalt in what seemed like a kick ass R&D job. If you are not aware DeWalt has historically been made overseas but they have switched gears and bring a lot of that work back to the USA. I was certain I was going to take this role and loved the irony of how my current employer is offshoring and they were bringing work back. With that after they dragged me along for several interviews I found out this role involved spending a week out of every month at an overseas facility and I don’t think I would enjoy that much international travel and it pained me to turn down a job I could walk to work from that I was first so excited about.

I wont ramble about all the places but I just found it so cool to see common name places like, Siemens, Honeywell, 3D Systems, Wix oil filters, Britax, Northup Grumman, John Deer, exc.. all in the neighborhood. Fast-forward, 30 or so applications, 9 in person interviews and the agony of tuning away 4 job offers when I know I’ll be losing mine any day I have finally, omg finally, accepted what I feel like is going to be a kickass opportunity to work within a small group of 30 guys at a little tiny 3M site that’s a 2 minute skateboard ride from home. Super stoked I waited so long and turned away temptations along the way and looking forward to this next chapter.

For those thinking about transition into another opportunity the market is on fire right now. It’s a great time to get your feet wet damn phone has been ringing off the clip. For those that are cozy and content just make sure you keep buying American

 

[Aidan Burns]

What are you doing for 3m?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[yamanube]

Giving up my 40+ hour, work at home position for a 32 hour/4 day work week in the office, not a drastic change but I am looking forward to solid 3 day weekends.

 

[DAG]

What are you doing for 3m?

Oops, similar manufacturing/process engineer work just a different product. This building is responsible for producing 3M's Liqui-Cel membrane contactors. ..Yeah not nearly as cool as the power drill we all have

 

[DAG]

Giving up my 40+ hour, work at home position for a 32 hour/4 day work week in the office, not a drastic change but I am looking forward to solid 3 day weekends.

Gonna be tuff putting on all your clothes not just the tuxedo shirt. How many pants did you buy over Black Friday? *Kidding

32hrs does sound nice

 

[yamanube]

Gonna be tuff putting on all your clothes not just the tuxedo shirt. How many pants did you buy over Black Friday? *Kidding

32hrs does sound nice

To be honest, I wear sweatpants and a hoodie till noon every day now so it will be a bit of an adjustment. I did go buy a pile of new shirts and pants this past week, hoodies and blown out jeans might not cut it.

 

[bird]

I'm so glad I took the job with my current employer. One year ago I started looking at three different companies A, B, and C.
A turned out to be my current employer and I'm more than happy, growing like crazy and we're getting increased benefits starting Jan 1st(More PTO, better stock and 401k options, 3% assimilation pay increase, tuition coverage).
B turned out to be a nightmare to work at. I found this out from a past employee who now works for my current employer. They're looking for same supervisor position now twice in two years, someone must like to micromanage over there.
C just laid off half of their staff starting March 1st, 2018!

I'm learning Angular software development right now, which is gaining lots of momentum in the industry. Riding dat gravy train choo choo!

 

[hydrostyler]

OK, here's my story so I'll try not to drag it out too long. I have always had jobs loosely classified as an install or repair technician. I started off in the car audio industry in 1994 and spent nearly 17 years combined as an installer/supervisor. I liked the job and met some cool people along the way, but the wages made it very hard to support my family. After moving on, I ended up staying on as part-time up until this past summer. My previous full-time gig was repairing commercial type office equipment. Printers, scanners, copiers, fax machines, etc.... I became pretty content (or lazy) after 7 1/2 years. The pay was decent, a company car is ok, and plenty of vacation time had me in cruise control. I had wandered into that job because I ended up absolutely hating my previous job as a commissioned based residential electrician. With the economy being pretty tough in 2010, I pretty much jumped on to the first thing I found. Year after year I kept imagining myself possibly retiring as "the copier guy". I wasn't very stoked on this and tried to keep my head up while collecting the paychecks. Socially, I kind of distanced myself from most of my friends as I wasn't very proud of the career moves I had made in the past. I felt kind of ashamed that I had given up trying to better myself and that I had "settled". To help pull through those last 5 or 6 years, I resorted to focusing more on my hobbies than my career. This involved lots of flatland bmx and riding jet skis with my buddies. As some of you may know, during the winters, I researched and practiced composites until I was able to build my own hull. Besides my family, that finally gave me something to be proud of. I then look forward to chatting on here and meeting new X members at whatever free-rides I could make it to. At this point, life is good, but my job still sucks... After posting a few ski build pics on fb along with already having some car audio build pics on there, I was contacted by a customer I had done some work for over 15 years ago about a possible career move. What's the odds of that happening? He told me about a high profile, but low key company he works for 15 minutes from my house that builds autonomous vehicles. I had no idea something like this is going on in central Illinois. He thought that with my skills and background, I would be a perfect candidate. Long story short, I went to check the place out and was blown away! I packed some carbon fiber samples and pictures with my resume. They were blown away as well!!! I've been working there for the past 3 months installing the self driving systems as well as doing some composite work integrating some of the sensors and components. The pay is great, I'm working in a cutting edge industry, and I get to travel once in a while to our shops in Germany, Silicon Valley, Detroit, and China. Already been to Germany and am going to SV in 2 weeks.
Anyway, thanks everyone for helping me out whether you knew it or not. Remember to keep grinding and try not to burn any bridges. Hopefully luck will come your way. p.s. I'm back in the garage working on a new hull for next year.

 

[MarkWalker]

OK, here's my story so I'll try not to drag it out too long. I have always had jobs loosely classified as an install or repair technician. I started off in the car audio industry in 1994 and spent nearly 17 years combined as an installer/supervisor. I liked the job and met some cool people along the way, but the wages made it very hard to support my family. After moving on, I ended up staying on as part-time up until this past summer. My previous full-time gig was repairing commercial type office equipment. Printers, scanners, copiers, fax machines, etc.... I became pretty content (or lazy) after 7 1/2 years. The pay was decent, a company car is ok, and plenty of vacation time had me in cruise control. I had wandered into that job because I ended up absolutely hating my previous job as a commissioned based residential electrician. With the economy being pretty tough in 2010, I pretty much jumped on to the first thing I found. Year after year I kept imagining myself possibly retiring as "the copier guy". I wasn't very stoked on this and tried to keep my head up while collecting the paychecks. Socially, I kind of distanced myself from most of my friends as I wasn't very proud of the career moves I had made in the past. I felt kind of ashamed that I had given up trying to better myself and that I had "settled". To help pull through those last 5 or 6 years, I resorted to focusing more on my hobbies than my career. This involved lots of flatland bmx and riding jet skis with my buddies. As some of you may know, during the winters, I researched and practiced composites until I was able to build my own hull. Besides my family, that finally gave me something to be proud of. I then look forward to chatting on here and meeting new X members at whatever free-rides I could make it to. At this point, life is good, but my job still sucks... After posting a few ski build pics on fb along with already having some car audio build pics on there, I was contacted by a customer I had done some work for over 15 years ago about a possible career move. What's the odds of that happening? He told me about a high profile, but low key company he works for 15 minutes from my house that builds autonomous vehicles. I had no idea something like this is going on in central Illinois. He thought that with my skills and background, I would be a perfect candidate. Long story short, I went to check the place out and was blown away! I packed some carbon fiber samples and pictures with my resume. They were blown away as well!!! I've been working there for the past 3 months installing the self driving systems as well as doing some composite work integrating some of the sensors and components. The pay is great, I'm working in a cutting edge industry, and I get to travel once in a while to our shops in Germany, Silicon Valley, Detroit, and China. Already been to Germany and am going to SV in 2 weeks.
Anyway, thanks everyone for helping me out whether you knew it or not. Remember to keep grinding and try not to burn any bridges. Hopefully luck will come your way. p.s. I'm back in the garage working on a new hull for next year.

If you have not seen his hull, stop and take a look. It is a work of art! Amazing