New job opinion...people who travel

[Lihu]

Well, I accepted the new offer and turned in my notice with my current company. I'm pretty excited to see where this takes me!!

Good choice! Best wishes! And congratulations. :beer:

[newtogolf]

Well, I accepted the new offer and turned in my notice with my current company. I'm pretty excited to see where this takes me!!

Good luck, I think you made a good choice, hope it goes well.

[TN94z]

Well, I've got my first week in the books. I met many of the people that work in the office and they are all great. I like what I've seen so far.

Question for you guys...what cards would benefit me the most for earning points, hotel stays, air miles, etc...?  I'm thinking about a Mariott card and maybe a Southwest card to help double points and miles maybe.  A southwest card may not be the best choice considering I may use other airlines. So maybe I should concentrate on the Mariott card and use it for everything to get free stays. But I've never been concerned with this stuff so I don't really know the tricks or what is the best route to take. Thanks

[mchepp]

Whichever you pick you need to try your best to be loyal even if it means taking later flights, staying an extra day, whatever. I have a southwest card because I think they have the best rewards program. But I fly a bunch on United though. Still it is easier to utilize the rewards on the southwest.

[TN94z]

Whichever you pick you need to try your best to be loyal even if it means taking later flights, staying an extra day, whatever.

I have a southwest card because I think they have the best rewards program. But I fly a bunch on United though. Still it is easier to utilize the rewards on the southwest.

Absolutely. It's looking like I'm going to get a Marriott rewards card because the new company prefers that we stay at Marriott. And I'm thinking about getting a Southwest card as well. I'll use those as my "business" cards. That's about the best I have seen for rewards of this nature. One of the guys I work uses the Marriott card exclusively.

[TN94z]

So far so good. I am loving this job! I don't like the travel so much, but it hasn't been to bad so far. I get so much more experience here than my old employer. Now I will have the hands on to better backup my certifications.

[Lihu]

Nice! More is needed!

[TN94z]

Update:

The new job was awesome for the first 6 months. Then the management did a complete 180! They were micromanaging even more than my previous company. There were several things that happened along the way that I did not agree with whatsoever. I gave it multiple chances to get better but it only got worse. So I was about to the point of looking for a new job when my previous boss called me and asked if I would be willing to return to my old job. He said he would make it worth my while. So I agreed and I return to my old job starting tomorrow. I hate that the new job did not work out, because I really liked the type of work I was doing. They had me working ALL OF THE TIME with me being on salary (that was really beginning to be an issue with my wife). So once it was all said and done, I really wasn't making much more money than before. I am lucky to have the old job to fall back on. The good news is that the new job will give me my Sandtrap time back. My step son has started high school golf practice which has fired me up to get my game back, so the forum will be an integral part of our success.

[Ernest Jones]

12 minutes ago, TN94z said:

Update:

The new job was awesome for the first 6 months. Then the management did a complete 180! They were micromanaging even more than my previous company. There were several things that happened along the way that I did not agree with whatsoever. I gave it multiple chances to get better but it only got worse. So I was about to the point of looking for a new job when my previous boss called me and asked if I would be willing to return to my old job. He said he would make it worth my while. So I agreed and I return to my old job starting tomorrow. I hate that the new job did not work out, because I really liked the type of work I was doing. They had me working ALL OF THE TIME with me being on salary (that was really beginning to be an issue with my wife). So once it was all said and done, I really wasn't making much more money than before. I am lucky to have the old job to fall back on. The good news is that the new job will give me my Sandtrap time back. My step son has started high school golf practice which has fired me up to get my game back, so the forum will be an integral part of our success.

I am not 100% how this is viewed by the NLRB, but in Canada that is unlawful. You cannot put someone on salary and say it covers whatever overtime is required, regardless of how much you pay the employee or how you word the terms of employment. It happens all the time and typically it is acceptable to both parties because the monetary aspect has been negotiated accordingly, but it is still contrary to Employment Standards and you are not allowed to contract out of the law. Just an FYI. 

[TN94z]

6 minutes ago, Ernest Jones said:

I am not 100% how this is viewed by the NLRB, but in Canada that is unlawful. You cannot put someone on salary and say it covers whatever overtime is required, regardless of how much you pay the employee or how you word the terms of employment. It happens all the time and typically it is acceptable to both parties because the monetary aspect has been negotiated accordingly, but it is still contrary to Employment Standards and you are not allowed to contract out of the law. Just an FYI. 

I'm not sure either. I just always assumed that when you were salary, you were agreeing to work whenever they needed you. They were supposed to give us "flex time" for the days we spent working on the weekends, for example. But that was at our manager's discretion and seemed to only apply if we were out of town or traveling home. I rarely received the flex time for all the work I did while at home. Either way, it was not working out aside from the time spent working.

[Ernest Jones]

17 minutes ago, TN94z said:

I'm not sure either. I just always assumed that when you were salary, you were agreeing to work whenever they needed you. They were supposed to give us "flex time" for the days we spent working on the weekends, for example. But that was at our manager's discretion and seemed to only apply if we were out of town or traveling home. I rarely received the flex time for all the work I did while at home. Either way, it was not working out aside from the time spent working.

Most people do make that assumption, but it is false - at least in Canada and I am in the high 90% range sure that it is the same in the States. 

It can work out fine as long as the employer is reasonable. I'm on salary and travel tons, work weekends when needed and nights too. I don't get any OT pay, which again, is technically unlawful, but I take personal days whenever I need them (provided I'm on top of everything and there are no active crisis to deal with). I also start late on some days and just generally balance out work and family to healthy ratio. I have great bosses so there is no issue. I also love what I do and am very well compensated for it. 

That's not the case for everyone and there are plenty of salaried people that are getting ****ed over big time, but they think there's nothing they can do because they are salaried. It's a bit of a catch-22 though because generally these people are not unionized so if they do make an employment standards complaint, they will likely get compensated retroactively for any documented unpaid overtime, but they will have very little recourse if the employer just lets them go with two weeks notice afterwards. 

[newtogolf]

US has exempt and non-exempt status for job classification.  Exempt employees are salaried (white collar jobs) usually require college degrees and typically don't qualify for overtime, though may be compensated with comp days and flex time.  

Non-exempt are hourly jobs where every hour worked must be paid, with time and a half or double time applying once a certain number of hours per week is exceeded.  

[Shindig]

14 minutes ago, newtogolf said:

US has exempt and non-exempt status for job classification.  Exempt employees are salaried (white collar jobs) usually require college degrees and typically don't qualify for overtime, though may be compensated with comp days and flex time.  

"Exempt" means one is exempt from having a social life

 

Welcome back @TN94z -- sounds like it worked out well in the end.

[Strandly]

Yeah this is way late but the only time I traveled for work I didn't mind it at all.  I got to stay in a place that I didn't have to clean and made more money than I'd ever made in my life.  I also didn't have a wife or kids.  Ha.

Anyway, too bad your plan didn't work out.

[gregsandiego]

On 7/29/2015 at 11:41 AM, TN94z said:

 

I didn't mind it when I was younger. I hate the thought of flying nowadays as crazy as the world is getting.I am 37...some consider it young I guess...haha

 

Yes her parents are in the next town over and my mom and step dad are about 10 minutes down the road. From what I'm being told, as an example, I would be gone a week for a project, come back home for at least a week maybe more to configure, then go back for a week for cutover and support. We decided that my wife would not go back to work so that she could finish her RN next year and the company told me that they can come with me. BUT we also have a 13 year old that will be in school most of the time.

 

Missing out on our newborn's stuff is what I am most afraid of...No plans of any more children...we didn't plan this one...haha

 

Yeah, like I said above, missing out on her stuff would bother me the most. I cherish every minute that I have with her now. I don't mind stating it, I make about 75k now and really have zero chance for advancement unless I'm lucky and the work I am doing now has really changed to be much easier and not challenging at all...so I feel my skillset is dropping....    In the new job, I would most likely make around 100k, get tons of experience and they encourage advancement. I am a CCNP Voice right now (for those that know Cisco Certs) and they would encourage me to try for CCIE in a few years. I figure with a few years of experience (even without achieving the CCIE) I could find a more "onsite" type job where I didn't travel at all.

 

I honestly never thought the decision would be this difficult....

So are you a Sales Engineer? Or a support engineer? Tell me more about the actual position.  I've been in tech for a long time and I want to get a better idea about how the travel may add to the opportunities.....

[Natural Patrick]

On 7/29/2015 at 1:34 PM, Kenny Lee said:

I did this for 7 years. Wife, daughter 5, newborn son.

 

I'd leave the house Monday morning, return home Friday afternoon.

 

It was well worth it for me. I retired when I was 42 (6 years ago). I'll never work again.

 

But, even with all the free time to practice my golf game, I still suck.

You can't put a price on being able to retire before your 50. That maybe selfish of me  but, I won't live to see 65.

[Shindig]

2 hours ago, Natural Patrick said:

You can't put a price on being able to retire before your 50. That maybe selfish of me  but, I won't live to see 65.

I'm sorry to hear that Patrick.  I'll miss you whenever that happens.  But I completely understand why you'd avoid a traditional retirement date with that on the horizon. 

[TN94z]

20 hours ago, gregsandiego said:

So are you a Sales Engineer? Or a support engineer? Tell me more about the actual position.  I've been in tech for a long time and I want to get a better idea about how the travel may add to the opportunities.....

I guess you would call it a support engineer. Basically installation or migration to new voice over IP phone systems (Cisco).