In the last few months my job has gotten incredibly boring for me, so I’ve been looking around for a new position. I am a software engineer with a fair bit of experience who specializes in control systems and automation, am married with one two year-old son. I live in Hyattsville, MD, an inner suburb of DC surrounded by a traffic-clogged Prince George’s County. Most recently, I’ve also been doing some contracting work for an old boss and that has helped to ease the boredom and has also been lucrative.
Well, finally an interesting job opportunity that looks up my alley has presented itself – in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. I should see the offer letter in hand on Wednesday or Thursday of this week. Last month, while in the middle of the interview process, I looked around the area and found a couple of nice houses with some property for reasonable prices. There’s a strong home-schooling community out there, which suits us, and if the job doesn’t work out I could always commute to northern Virginia, which has the bulk of the jobs in this region’s IT industry anyway.
Problem is, now I have to decide whether or not to move out there (which, if course, isn’t that far “out thereâ€). Cons are, as I see it, we have to derail our son’s preschool and jump right into a full, home-schooling regime, we have to pack up the homestead and move, we have to sell the current place (of course), and what with interest rates already climbing now would be the best time to do this for some years to come. We have to move away from the friends we’ve made over the last five years in this neighborhood, and there are some things I don’t like about small companies I already see in the new employer.
Pros are, no mosquitoes, better riding, interesting work (plus, I could probably keep contracting on the side), raising our children somewhere quieter with less traffic, and maybe getting some land and some elbow room. The last two items, more generally, are things we’ve always set out as life goals but sort of thought were some distance in the future. Of course, we’re in our low thirties now, and things aren’t going downhill from here. FWIW, my father and mother ran out to the country (southern Virginia) in the late sixties and pretty much found the quiet and space they were looking for.
Oh – and, no mosquitoes, and better riding in West Virginia. Though, I’m not sure I could take bolting a West Virginia plate on my ‘Busa…
I need input – advice – ideas – anything I’ve missed in my analysis that will support my decision making process. I’m not looking to be told what to do, of course. Thanks!
Well, finally an interesting job opportunity that looks up my alley has presented itself – in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. I should see the offer letter in hand on Wednesday or Thursday of this week. Last month, while in the middle of the interview process, I looked around the area and found a couple of nice houses with some property for reasonable prices. There’s a strong home-schooling community out there, which suits us, and if the job doesn’t work out I could always commute to northern Virginia, which has the bulk of the jobs in this region’s IT industry anyway.
Problem is, now I have to decide whether or not to move out there (which, if course, isn’t that far “out thereâ€). Cons are, as I see it, we have to derail our son’s preschool and jump right into a full, home-schooling regime, we have to pack up the homestead and move, we have to sell the current place (of course), and what with interest rates already climbing now would be the best time to do this for some years to come. We have to move away from the friends we’ve made over the last five years in this neighborhood, and there are some things I don’t like about small companies I already see in the new employer.
Pros are, no mosquitoes, better riding, interesting work (plus, I could probably keep contracting on the side), raising our children somewhere quieter with less traffic, and maybe getting some land and some elbow room. The last two items, more generally, are things we’ve always set out as life goals but sort of thought were some distance in the future. Of course, we’re in our low thirties now, and things aren’t going downhill from here. FWIW, my father and mother ran out to the country (southern Virginia) in the late sixties and pretty much found the quiet and space they were looking for.
Oh – and, no mosquitoes, and better riding in West Virginia. Though, I’m not sure I could take bolting a West Virginia plate on my ‘Busa…
I need input – advice – ideas – anything I’ve missed in my analysis that will support my decision making process. I’m not looking to be told what to do, of course. Thanks!