I'm a recent college grad, BS in computer science. Been looking for a tech job for over a month now with not much luck.
And now I have two opportunities and I'm not sure what to do.
Company A has interviewed me twice (the second interview was today) for a programming position and promised me an answer by Friday. My chances are good, they've interviewed a bunch of people and I am only one of two who made it to round II. I told them I can work as soon as they need me to. They asked me how much I was hoping to make, I told them I wanted to make what I was offered when I left my last job (a year ago) which was $40k salaried with full benefits. The guy interviewing me (who also owns the company) said he was embarassed that with the economy being the way it is, he could only offer me something in the "mid to upper 20's."
After asking some questions, this job is not quite ideal for me: The hours are 8-5 and my brain doesn't start working until noon. Dress code is business casual, and I pretty much exclusively own/wear jeans and t-shirts. Hours are not that flexible so I may not be able to take some community college classes I had been interested in taking to defer my student loans and learn some interesting stuff outside of my major.
Yeah, I know, grow up right? 8-5 business casual is the norm and I should get used to it. But.........
The county library headquarters called shortly after I got back from my interview with company A and wanted to schedule a skills assessment test for Monday the 11th. The details of this job suit me better:
Schedule is Monday-Thurs 12:00PM-9:30PM and Sunday 11:30-5:30
Judging by how I've seen library employees dressed, they're not going to have a problem with jeans. And I believe the position pays at least $15/hour, so we're in the same compensation range as company A. The only problem is that the position is Application Specialist, and I'm not quite sure what that entails.
So...what do I do if Company A offers me the job on Friday? The assessment test for the library is on Monday, but I don't know how long it'll be after that before I hear back from them. It would be wrong to take the job from company A and then quit after a week to take the library job, wouldn't it? I don't want to jeopardize a sure thing for something that might fall through, but working for the library is more my kind of work environment/schedule. Do you guys know what an application specialist does?
A little about my background:
Worked for a small software company in Michigan for a year as a software engineer programming in MFC and C++ making $17.50/hour with full benefits (medical, dental, 401k), offered $40k when I left to return to my school in Florida in order to finish and get my bachelor's degree. I successfully graduated with high honors with a BS in Computer Science and am currently living in Florida because I have no interest in returning to MI or going to MA where my family is.
I consider myself to be exceptionally skilled with computers, not only because I know a lot about them but because if you're having a problem with a computer, be it a problem with the OS or an application or some piece of hardware is failing, it won't take me long to figure it out. I learn fast; I taught myself how to program in MFC in a matter of weeks, because I had never touched it before I got the job as a software engineer. I have built hundreds of computers, administered dozens of networks, and even designed and wired a 10 computer network in a new building from scratch.
I know PHP and mySQL, Perl, VB, and have experience with a dozen other languages. There really isn't much I can't do with computers, given a little time to prepare/train myself. I enjoy some things more than others, however.
And now I have two opportunities and I'm not sure what to do.
Company A has interviewed me twice (the second interview was today) for a programming position and promised me an answer by Friday. My chances are good, they've interviewed a bunch of people and I am only one of two who made it to round II. I told them I can work as soon as they need me to. They asked me how much I was hoping to make, I told them I wanted to make what I was offered when I left my last job (a year ago) which was $40k salaried with full benefits. The guy interviewing me (who also owns the company) said he was embarassed that with the economy being the way it is, he could only offer me something in the "mid to upper 20's."
After asking some questions, this job is not quite ideal for me: The hours are 8-5 and my brain doesn't start working until noon. Dress code is business casual, and I pretty much exclusively own/wear jeans and t-shirts. Hours are not that flexible so I may not be able to take some community college classes I had been interested in taking to defer my student loans and learn some interesting stuff outside of my major.
Yeah, I know, grow up right? 8-5 business casual is the norm and I should get used to it. But.........
The county library headquarters called shortly after I got back from my interview with company A and wanted to schedule a skills assessment test for Monday the 11th. The details of this job suit me better:
Schedule is Monday-Thurs 12:00PM-9:30PM and Sunday 11:30-5:30
Judging by how I've seen library employees dressed, they're not going to have a problem with jeans. And I believe the position pays at least $15/hour, so we're in the same compensation range as company A. The only problem is that the position is Application Specialist, and I'm not quite sure what that entails.
So...what do I do if Company A offers me the job on Friday? The assessment test for the library is on Monday, but I don't know how long it'll be after that before I hear back from them. It would be wrong to take the job from company A and then quit after a week to take the library job, wouldn't it? I don't want to jeopardize a sure thing for something that might fall through, but working for the library is more my kind of work environment/schedule. Do you guys know what an application specialist does?
A little about my background:
Worked for a small software company in Michigan for a year as a software engineer programming in MFC and C++ making $17.50/hour with full benefits (medical, dental, 401k), offered $40k when I left to return to my school in Florida in order to finish and get my bachelor's degree. I successfully graduated with high honors with a BS in Computer Science and am currently living in Florida because I have no interest in returning to MI or going to MA where my family is.
I consider myself to be exceptionally skilled with computers, not only because I know a lot about them but because if you're having a problem with a computer, be it a problem with the OS or an application or some piece of hardware is failing, it won't take me long to figure it out. I learn fast; I taught myself how to program in MFC in a matter of weeks, because I had never touched it before I got the job as a software engineer. I have built hundreds of computers, administered dozens of networks, and even designed and wired a 10 computer network in a new building from scratch.
I know PHP and mySQL, Perl, VB, and have experience with a dozen other languages. There really isn't much I can't do with computers, given a little time to prepare/train myself. I enjoy some things more than others, however.
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