New Job, Should I Take It?

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heyzeus
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Re: New Job, Should I Take It?

Post by heyzeus »

The #1 thing is to get on the same page with your wife and decide what would make you both the happiest. Sounds like you're already doing that, which is great.

#2: You could become an Albuquerque Isotopes fan! That would be pretty sweet.

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#3: Sounds like an awesome opportunity in NM for a number of reasons, which would make it quite tempting. I have a colleague with a vacation home in Santa Fe, and he loves the hell out of it. Most people I know who have been there, in fact, love the hell out of it. It's definitely a small city, though, so you're right to consider that aspect. But because it's an artsy city, you might find that there are a good number of concerts and other cultural activities there.

#4: From your description of your present job, it seems like a substantial risk you'll be laid off, and if that comes to pass, your other options aren't optimal professionally or in terms of pay. You were smart to go ahead and start exploring other options now instead of waiting for the shoe to drop. But your ability to line up this NM job does beg the question - could there potentially be other jobs you could get in cities that you might prefer?

#5: Man, I hate cold weather. I'd get the f out of Minnesota pronto. But you're not me (wait, ARE YOU ME?) so that may not be a real factor.

cardsfantx
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Re: New Job, Should I Take It?

Post by cardsfantx »

Living in north TX, NM is a place to go on vacation a lot...like you said it’s not all what you think. Coming from St. Louis, I always thought of NM as a desert? Had no idea...mountains/skiing...it’s not Colorado, but it’s pretty damn nice. Plus most areas with the elevation, the summer, I’m in a jacket.

I know nothing about it other than the areas where we vacationed, but I’d have no prob living in NM if given the opportunity.

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Schlich
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Re: New Job, Should I Take It?

Post by Schlich »

heyzeus wrote: It's definitely a small city, though, so you're right to consider that aspect. But because it's an artsy city, you might find that there are a good number of concerts and other cultural activities there.
solid point. check out Meow Wolf (and their concert schedule). Always have wanted to go there.

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Swirls
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Re: New Job, Should I Take It?

Post by Swirls »

To answer questions...

1) Kids are on the docket, but not for another couple years. Wife wants to finish her MBA before we start trying to have kids. Depending where we go, there are some terrific awesome schools, and some [expletive] ones in other areas. We can always relocate to a different district if necessary once the kids get closer to that age.

2) It turns out there is no true pension. Just a 401k with an annual contribution on top of that (essentially the same as what I have now).

3) Not Sandia, Los Alamos. About 2 hours from Albuquerque (like 45 northwest of Santa Fe).

4) Renting out the house here in Minnesota isn't really an option, mostly because of the nightmare experience I had with renting out my house in Iowa when we lived in New York, South Carolina, and Minnesota (it's detailed here somewhere). We would definitely put it back up on the market, but the real estate market isn't ideal in the winter time (especially for log cabins, which seem to terrify people for some reason).

5) Family would be further away than they are now. My family is all in southwest Missouri, and the wife's family is all in upstate New York. Right now it's a 10 hour drive south to see my family and a simple nonstop flight to Syracuse to see her family. From the Santa Fe area, it would be about a 12-13 hour drive to see my family and essentially an all-day flight to visit the wife's family, as we would have to stop in a hub city somewhere for a layover.

6) We actually quite enjoy winters in Minnesota. It is indeed cold as [expletive], but we love the cold. We HATED living in Columbia, SC and couldn't wait to get the hell out of that humidity and move back some place colder. If we were in Charleston or perhaps Greenville/Spartanburg, we may not have hated living in the south as much as we did. But "getting away from the winter and snow" isn't a reason we have for looking to leave. That's one of the nice things about NM though, is there will still be a ton of snow in the winter time, but not quite the frigid bone-chilling temperatures we have here. It's like the best of both worlds in that regard.

7) I've essentially had the exact same job since I graduated college. 4 companies in 4 states, but the same job. In talking to other employees at other utilities, everyone tends to make roughly the same amount - except where I currently am, because they're union for some reason. Looking on Indeed and SimplyHired, there are potential opportunities for my job description at other utilities, but I don't think they would be super desirable locations. Keep in mind, nuclear plants aren't traditionally near huge metropolitan areas - they're usually in small towns. I have a 40 mile drive each way to work every day, which is fine with me since the house we bought checked all of our boxes for what we were looking for.

So, to answer the question, if I were to go to another power plant, it would also be a pay cut, and probably a bigger one than I may take in New Mexico. There would also be a bit of hesitation and fear in the plant staying open. Not sure if any of you see it on the news, but sadly more and more nuclear plants are closing these days. Roughly 1-2 a year. And now that Westinghouse filed bankruptcy, they stopped building the new ones 3/4 through construction, so job opportunities are likely to be in flux at a lot of places over the next several years.

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Schlich
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Re: New Job, Should I Take It?

Post by Schlich »

The weather is nice in NM for sure. The only complaint i ever had was the ungodly winds during el nino season haha

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Re: New Job, Should I Take It?

Post by Michael »

This is a tough spot, but as long as your wife is on board ultimately I think I would make the move. This swayed me:
Swirls wrote: So, to answer the question, if I were to go to another power plant, it would also be a pay cut, and probably a bigger one than I may take in New Mexico. There would also be a bit of hesitation and fear in the plant staying open. Not sure if any of you see it on the news, but sadly more and more nuclear plants are closing these days. Roughly 1-2 a year. And now that Westinghouse filed bankruptcy, they stopped building the new ones 3/4 through construction, so job opportunities are likely to be in flux at a lot of places over the next several years.

But your wife needs to be ON BOARD with a move and not just okay with it.

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ThatGuy
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Re: New Job, Should I Take It?

Post by ThatGuy »

Holy [expletive]! Swirls, I was born in Los Alamos and lived there for 17 years. My dad (nuclear engineer) worked at LANL in various capacities for about 20 years. Lots of his coworkers commuted from the Santa Fe area, but we lived in Los Alamos/White Rock and took advantage of the excellent public schools. We still have lots of good friends who live there.

I miss the scenery/weather all the time. As you go from Los Alamos to Albuquerque (90 miles south), things change when you come down out of the mountains, but Santa Fe is still about 7,000 feet above sea level. Tons of sunshine, doesn't really get too hot during the summer, four distinct seasons, usually a good (but not overwhelming) amount of snow ... all things I prefer. My parents grew up in Missouri and hated the lack of humidity, but I loved it.

I am already jealous thinking of all the amazing food you'd be able to eat in New Mexico - there is nothing like it here in Tennessee, unfortunately. Santa Fe certainly pales in comparison to the population of the Twin Cities area (I think it's probably around 70,000-75,000), but it's absolutely one of the coolest, most unique places in the entire country. If you want big city stuff, Albuquerque isn't too far away. I'm actually curious about cost of living, too, as I know Santa Fe isn't exactly cheap.

If I got the right gig, I'd definitely move back to New Mexico.

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Re: New Job, Should I Take It?

Post by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 »

Good luck with whatever you decide, Swirls.

I changed positions in the same city a year and a half ago and that was an incredibly stressful decision. Can't imagine what it's like having to weigh in a 1000+ mile move into the equation.

Personally, I'd head to NM given your situatoni but I tend to value stability. Also, it sounds like it would be an interesting position. I've never been to NM and have only been to MN once during the summer of like 1992, so I don't know anything about either place.

Moving away from friends is always difficult, though it sounds like that may be an inevitability. I'll echo what zeus said in that it may be worth exploring all your options if you haven't already done so.

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JCShutout
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Re: New Job, Should I Take It?

Post by JCShutout »

I value security as well as job fulfillment over salary (when things are close). Given that, if it was me, based on what you described, (likelihood of a layoff and the new job seeming very fulfilling) if the wife was on board, I'd make the move.

That's just me though. Whatever you decide, best of luck!

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Re: New Job, Should I Take It?

Post by CardsofSTL »

Swirls wrote: 4) Renting out the house here in Minnesota isn't really an option, mostly because of the nightmare experience I had with renting out my house in Iowa when we lived in New York, South Carolina, and Minnesota (it's detailed here somewhere). We would definitely put it back up on the market, but the real estate market isn't ideal in the winter time (especially for log cabins, which seem to terrify people for some reason).
The guy trying to sell me gold keeps saying that past performance does not dictate future results. Rent the house and be a land baron and start signing your name with an Esquire at the end of it.

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