A fat cheque or a job U love

What would you do, opt for a job with a big pay packet, which perhaps a few years down the line would enable you to go on a RTW trip or would you rather opt for a job which you love doing but which does not pay well?

With the Indian rupee not being that strong, saving enough money to go abroad is always a problem. This adds to the confusion.

Curious to know what other members would opt for

Dusty

If the RTW trip is a definite go? I'd take the crap job at fabulous pay because the ends justify the means. Especially if it is short term. Doing the horrid yet big money job would probably cement and solidify my eventual RTW plans.

If it's freelance or contract, even better. I've been holding out for over a year for a job that I hate but I know will pay my way RTW. Lucky for me at the mo I found a job I love (for now) with the added bonus of a large paycheck AND I'm freelance.

Why, do you have that kind of decision to make right now, Dusty?

Tough question Dusty. I suppose you must decide what is most important to you. I think you know what is...and inside you know what you want to do. Of course, you will get all the encouragement in the world on these boards to go for the RTW trip!

I would take the job with the Big Fat Cheque. It would enable me to live well, buy the things I want to buy and save some money for travelling. Instead of working for 2 years years at a low paying job, I could work a year and relax a year. I don't want a low paying job just enough to pay the bills.

Secondly, the low paying might appear to your liking now, but things change. I would use my situation as an example. I worked at XYZ company. I love it because of the environment, the company's culture, the location and the atmosphere. A year later, it was outsourced to ABC. ABC treated the employees like crap. The manager is a total *blep* *blep*. One by one, I see my colleagues leave. The culture, the environment, and the company's culture are longer like it use to be.

I don't have the full details of the jobs you provided. Therefore I opt for the job with the big pay. But that's only me.

Whatever you decide, dont look back. Press forward with no regrets.

=== TasTas ===

I must disagree with all of the above posts. I was in this exact situation. If I had to take a crap job for a few months it would be one thing, but taking a job you hate for several years is another.

Yes, you can save up money, but in the mean time you are compomising your everyday life. Saving to travel and then being able to take time off is great, but not at the expense of being miserable at a job for an extended period of time. Your life at home is just valuable as time on the road, so why waste either? There is always a way to find the money....

I chose the crap job AND to travel, just on a scaled back budget.

PhotoChick

I think it depends on whether you "don't love" the job with the big money, or you absolutely hate it. If you hate it, don't do it! If you don't love it, then it might still be salvageable. There's satisfaction to be had from most jobs, and it's nice to get ahead in the savings (especially since you've mentionned that it's hard to get a job in India that allows you to save enough to travel).

Besides, your job is not your whole life. What you do after work counts a whole lot towards life satisfaction.

Good luck!

sometimes I forget the things that I say....but, Delara...why not ask your boss why he ..never mind..I don'tlike the new angry face...it isn't conducive to my anger.

I meant to say in the above response that I took the crap PAYING job, not the crap job. Oops.

PhotoCHick

Thanks everyone. Maybe, just maybe Photochick is right. I share the same opinion.

thanks guys
Dusty

Taaka, ask which boss why he what? Come on, don't leave me hangin'...

Well, I've done the career thing now for the past 12 years. So I think I'm reasonably qualified to pontificate.

The day I started Law School I knew I hated it. I've hated more of my working days than enjoyed since.

Had a good degree, 2:i, in History & English that back in 91 qualified me for the dole and/or teaching/labouring. The recession had really kicked in back then in John Major's Britain. Had the chance of 2 graduate school places in subjects I was interested in. No money to pursue them though as the banks wouldn't lend cash by way of a career development loan unless I was a medic/dentist/lawyer/architect/accountant.

So law was the only suitable choice.

Two post-graduate professional legal qualifications, a Masters degree and a bucket load of hands on "real" job/life experience later I've had a number of "wake-up" calls recently. My quack tells me that my blood pressure is sky high, try 170 over 120 when it should be 120 over 80. My immune system is overloaded. He's just signed me off work for another 3 weeks with a viral illness with further tests due. He's talking to me about my liver. All those stress-filled years of toadying and keeping my gob shut when I really wanted to tell obnoxious bastards where to get off have taken their toll. All those nights swigging back the booze to offset the shitty working environment and to enable me to get up in the morning. Burnt out at 36.

What have the golden handcuffs provided for me?

Well, I've got a nice house in a nice area with a nice mortgage to pay off. I've got a reasonable standard of living and I can take 2 weeks off a year holidaying somewhere nice. I work with people with drink/drug problems, (yeah, they're the staff not the clients), and we all turn up day after day just to pay the bills. I've paid my dues. Now it's pay back time.

I'd say to anyone, thinking of doing the high stress, high pay work to be very careful not to get sucked in. Don't believe the hype. All those all adages are true, you are a long time dead, you can't take it with you, you can be the richest man in the graveyard. Do it if you must but don't forget your dreams. Get out whilst you are young.

Yeah, rage against the machine.

Just do it.

To bastardise Kipling, "when it comes down to it there are really only two types of men, those that stay at home and those that don't."

Here endeth the lesson.
Amen.

Maybe you could take the high paying job to give you a bit of a kick start in life, then do a radical change- I did! I left oz and my high paying career job and became a farmer and tour guide- one thing I notice too, when guests come, particularly if they comer from high stress environments, they often suffer from migraines, hair loss and skin conditions. Remove them from that environment into a laid back one and the change in their health is often amazing-remeber, your health and your family is a high priority too.

I used to live in India, and I know how the job situation is there. I admire you, Dusty, to be willing to take a chance and do what you love. I have not come across too many youngsters in India who do that- which is not saying I haven't met any.

I have taken the other way- taking the big pay check, and not doing the job I love. I would not say I hate it, after all I spend a lot of my time on the bulletin boards here... but the extra cash sure feels good.

Like a friend once told me, "You can't always do a job you love, but if you can find something that you don't hate, and stick with a couple of years, things have a way of working out." Make sense to me.

Anyways that was my 2 cents worth. Best of luck on whatever you decide.

hi guys
thanks again for the messages and the best wishes. i have given myself time till the next four months to make a firm decision. Mickey i could not agree with you more, but then the work profile is similar.... sigh. hope you are taking care of yourself. ever thought of going on a sabattical? i am sure this is something which even the "dreary law firm" would approve of, this is a better alternative, if you cannot take off completely and change your job profile
thanks everyone

The number one thing to remember, in my cobweb-infested mind at least, is that no matter what choice you make now...it's your life, and not matter what anyone else tells you, you have the right to change your mind at any time. no matter what you get yourself into, if your not happy, than leave. It seems like a huge decision to quit a job. But speaking as one who has quit corporate jobs after 4 months of employment (using the Phat-paycheck-to-travel method is one of my favorites), I've learned how easy it is...as long as you don't feel like you need to build a subsantial resume (which most people lie in anyway). Seriously. The world is yours. Do whatever you want with it and do whatever you have to do to get there. It's not your responsibility to be "good" for corporate america. It's not your duty to serve the people of the world, even the good ones. The only responsibility you have is to die. What you do in the meantime is up to you, so you might aw well make the best of it.
You all rule!!!
grey

ummmmm, where am I? oh yeah, , hehe, here.
what time is it?? oh yeah, , hehe, Now.