New job opinion...people who travel

**newtogolf** · July 29, 2015

That's a good question. I could possibly return to my current company. I have even thought about leaving my 401k with my current company just in case I come back. The problem is, there just aren't many options in my area. I mean, I could find a job, but not making the money I make now....

I think it helps mitigate the risk if you feel somewhat confident you can go back to your old job if things don't work out. Fortunately today with Skype, Facetime and other apps you can see and speak to your kids when you're away, which is something I wasn't able to do when I first started my company. I think the opportunity sounds almost too good to pass up and if you have some certainty you can go back to your old job then I think it's something you should explore more.

Beyond missing your family and being there for your wife, travel can wear you down so be prepared. Get the quick pass to minimize the time to get through security, buy some good headphones or ear buds so you can block out the screaming kid behind you and a tablet to watch movies or read books on. Traveling is rough but if you can get those seats with a bit more legroom, shorten your times in lines and either sleep, read or watch movies while it in the air it's bearable.

**mdl** · July 30, 2015

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.

My best friend's in IT. He had a few certs, no BA, got the right opportunity at the right company, started ~$50k, hourly, worked his way up to ~$100k, salary plus benefits, in 4-5 years, made himself indispensable, negotiated a 10% pay cut to cut back to 30 hrs/week. He's spending the extra time building out an IT consulting business, which is going well, and pursuing one of his dreams.

Not that that needs to be your story of course, but I'd say you might consider the new job if you see it opening up the equivalent kinds of opportunity for you in the future. Otherwise, it's a huge raise, but it sounds like you're not super worried about money with your current salary, and like you feel it would be a big personal cost to you to be away so much, so...

**isukgolf** · July 30, 2015

At the end of the day only you and your family can make the call. Sounds like people have been really successful traveling ... and we heard from the ones that traveled ... it would be interesting to hear from the other side of the fence. Those that stayed at home and raised kids while their spouse traveled, or those that had a dad/mom that was away traveling.

**mdl** · July 30, 2015

At the end of the day only you and your family can make the call.

Sounds like people have been really successful traveling ... and we heard from the ones that traveled ... it would be interesting to hear from the other side of the fence. Those that stayed at home and raised kids while their spouse traveled, or those that had a dad/mom that was away traveling.

Good point. I'd be interested to hear too. The only people I ever knew relatively well with traveling parents were military kids, and obviously a parent going on a 6-13 month stint (whether at war or a peacetime navy tour or whatever) is very different from what the OP's considering.

**dave s** · July 30, 2015

My job requires travel. What's interesting is it used to be about that same 30-35% number stated by the OP. Now, the corp edict is this: Go if you HAVE to, take care of things by phone or video conference if at all possible. Many of my work projects are with teams in Asia. We take turns over who has to be on at 8am or 8pm on longer projects.

Here's why the 'take care of it over the phone' is becoming much more preferred by large companies: Last week I totally blew all day Wednesday and all day Thursday for a 2.5 hour meeting in Denver area. Couldn't get from Cleveland to Denver in time for Thursday morning meeting so I had to go Wednesday. The only flights that got me to Denver to meet up with the rest of my team (2 people) left at 8:30am Wednesday. This mean I was out of the house Wed. morning at 6:45 and didn't get home until 11:00 or so Thursday night because of the time difference and the reality of 'you can't get there from here' airline schedules.

Business travel SUCKS. You want to be unproductive? Schedule out of town customer meetings / visits. It probably took me 2-3 days to catch up on everything else for a 2.5 hour meeting 1800 miles from home. Total waste of time.

Back to the OP: If you can convince your manager(s) that you can take care of MOST situations that would require travel, you might be in my situation where business travel takes up only about 10-15 of my time. I'm away for 1 or 2 days every other week. Everything else can be done from my home office and over video or phone conferences. Plus the money you save the company?

dave

**GolfLug** · July 30, 2015

So I have a job offer which includes a 15-20k pay raise. Similar benefits. Opportunity for far more progression which would set me up for an even better job in a few years. The problem is it also requires 30-35% out of state travel each year. My issue with this is that I love my hobbies and I have a 2.5 month old at home now. I am trying to decide if the pay raise and advancement opportunities are worth being away from my daughter.

Anyone in this situation or has experienced this situation have any insight??

Just out of curiosity, is it sales or travel for actual service, etc.? Also, how many days travel avg. at a time? BTW, $15K a year etc., can go a long way towards paying for college and nest egg if that's what you would plan.

As she grows older, priorities will change, things she will want/need, circles she will run in, TYPE and places of vacations you will want to go to .. etc., With a 8 year old daughter and 6 year old son... I can tell you 10K+ year can and will make a HUGE difference in all these things. But, the wife has to be on board.

**TN94z** · July 30, 2015

I think it helps mitigate the risk if you feel somewhat confident you can go back to your old job if things don't work out. Fortunately today with Skype, Facetime and other apps you can see and speak to your kids when you're away, which is something I wasn't able to do when I first started my company. I think the opportunity sounds almost too good to pass up and if you have some certainty you can go back to your old job then I think it's something you should explore more.

Beyond missing your family and being there for your wife, travel can wear you down so be prepared. Get the quick pass to minimize the time to get through security, buy some good headphones or ear buds so you can block out the screaming kid behind you and a tablet to watch movies or read books on. Traveling is rough but if you can get those seats with a bit more legroom, shorten your times in lines and either sleep, read or watch movies while it in the air it's bearable.

I wouldn't say "confident," but more like a possibility.

My best friend's in IT. He had a few certs, no BA, got the right opportunity at the right company, started ~$50k, hourly, worked his way up to ~$100k, salary plus benefits, in 4-5 years, made himself indispensable, negotiated a 10% pay cut to cut back to 30 hrs/week. He's spending the extra time building out an IT consulting business, which is going well, and pursuing one of his dreams.

Not that that needs to be your story of course, but I'd say you might consider the new job if you see it opening up the equivalent kinds of opportunity for you in the future. Otherwise, it's a huge raise, but it sounds like you're not super worried about money with your current salary, and like you feel it would be a big personal cost to you to be away so much, so...

The new job would for sure set me up for much better opportunities in a just a few years. Honestly, I am looking at it as a stepping stone to something bigger. Yeah, we don't really "want" for anything money wise but the raise would make it much easier on me until my wife finished her nursing school which will be in 2017.

My job requires travel. What's interesting is it used to be about that same 30-35% number stated by the OP. Now, the corp edict is this: Go if you HAVE to, take care of things by phone or video conference if at all possible. Many of my work projects are with teams in Asia. We take turns over who has to be on at 8am or 8pm on longer projects.

Here's why the 'take care of it over the phone' is becoming much more preferred by large companies: Last week I totally blew all day Wednesday and all day Thursday for a 2.5 hour meeting in Denver area. Couldn't get from Cleveland to Denver in time for Thursday morning meeting so I had to go Wednesday. The only flights that got me to Denver to meet up with the rest of my team (2 people) left at 8:30am Wednesday. This mean I was out of the house Wed. morning at 6:45 and didn't get home until 11:00 or so Thursday night because of the time difference and the reality of 'you can't get there from here' airline schedules.

Business travel SUCKS. You want to be unproductive? Schedule out of town customer meetings / visits. It probably took me 2-3 days to catch up on everything else for a 2.5 hour meeting 1800 miles from home. Total waste of time.

Back to the OP: If you can convince your manager(s) that you can take care of MOST situations that would require travel, you might be in my situation where business travel takes up only about 10-15 of my time. I'm away for 1 or 2 days every other week. Everything else can be done from my home office and over video or phone conferences. Plus the money you save the company?

dave

Well, with the type of work it is (installing and configuring Cisco voice over IP solutions), I would have to be onsite. It would go something like this...spend a week out of town installing hardware. Then spend the next week or two weeks at home configuring the equipment remotely. Then another trip onsite to perform a cutover to the new equipment and post cutover support. BUT I have a friend that has worked with this company for a few years and he is telling me that they are starting to hire "technicians" that will go out of town to perform the first week tasks and that we would only go onsite for the cutover portion. So that will cut travel time down quite a bit in the future. He says they ultimately want the engineers (the position I am looking into) to stay local for the most part.

Just out of curiosity, is it sales or travel for actual service, etc.? Also, how many days travel avg. at a time? BTW, $15K a year etc., can go a long way towards paying for college and nest egg if that's what you would plan.

As she grows older, priorities will change, things she will want/need, circles she will run in, TYPE and places of vacations you will want to go to .. etc., With a 8 year old daughter and 6 year old son... I can tell you 10K+ year can and will make a HUGE difference in all these things. But, the wife has to be on board.

Not sales. It would be actual service, hardware installation and data gathering included. Out of town is usually 1 week at a time unless it's just a huge job. Yes, a nest egg is a part of my plan. We also have a 13 year old son. And my wife is on board. Actually, I was leaning towards not accepting the position because I was afraid of being away from the family that much. She would just agree and just stand behind me. Well, I asked her again one last time the other night and she said that there is a big part of her that wants me to take it because she thinks it will open up a lot of possibilities for me and our family in the future. She said that she would support me no matter what route I choose to take..

**rkim291968** · July 30, 2015

I actually made a similar decision 15 years ago. My wife and I decided that my wife should retire from work (6 figure income) to spend more time with our only child. By freeing her up from full time job, we were able to spend more family time together. I don't regret the decision although we could have both retired 5 - 6 years ago if she kept her full time job. (more) Family time spent together while my child was young is priceless.

Pura Vida.

**TN94z** · August 1, 2015

Well I had my formal offer phone call Friday. He was telling me that dependent on how I did within the first year, I could get a rise of 10k within that first year. If that were to happen, it would end up being a total of a 30k per year raise by taking this job (actually sat down and figured up my base pay now, the initial pay raise would be 20k).

**Kenny Lee** · August 2, 2015

When do you have to make a decision? Which way are you leaning?

Best wishes, man.

**Hatchman** · August 2, 2015

So I have a job offer which includes a 15-20k pay raise. Similar benefits. Opportunity for far more progression which would set me up for an even better job in a few years. The problem is it also requires 30-35% out of state travel each year. My issue with this is that I love my hobbies and I have a 2.5 month old at home now. I am trying to decide if the pay raise and advancement opportunities are worth being away from my daughter. Anyone in this situation or has experienced this situation have any insight??

Congratulations on the job offer. I faced similar challenges early in my career and opted to take the offer. Cross country. It was a tough decision but led to further benefits not only career wise, but travel, family education opportunity, etc. I was called upon to travel sometimes on very short notice for extended periods of time to support or complete a submarine project, deliver Navy Seal Delivery Vehicle Team training, etc, so there was some urgency to it and the travel wasn't always well planned. Hopefully you'll be in and out and back home if you choose to accept. On the bright side, lots of miles if you fly, plus I laid over when I could out of state or country to do things. Saying this to give you a snapshot from another perspective who has completed the process.

**Osnola** · August 2, 2015

I spent the last 25 years traveling with work. Not real bad when it started, but went to hell in a hand basket after 9-11....I got to the point that I hated it and really did not like it at all. Over the last couple of years I chose to drive if at all possible. I would rather drive from New Orleans to Augusta than fly.

Airlines have gotten worse. This is what I found and by means this list is not all inclusive:

Fewer flights

All flights packed

Upgrade opportunities almost nil

Seat selection not good

More delays because airlines have cut crews and you may be stuck in a place like Atlanta waiting for your pilot and crew to come in on a flight from Newark...you don't leave til they get there

More mechanical delays and cancelations

Security is a hassle and many times a long wait.

You have to get to airport much earlier than in the past

Carry on baggage storage is at a premium and if you do not board in first 3 groups you probably do not get to store our bag overhead.

People flying have become more rude and self-centered than ever before

Lots more but I gotta go.

I retired this past April. I still had a few more years in me but the air travel made my decision for me...

Good Luck....

**Osnola** · August 2, 2015

One more thing, when you can, fly Southwest and pay the extra for the Business Select. You get on as one of the first 30 to board, allowing you to pretty much select your seat and a spot for your carry on. When flying other airlines, I would check bag and not have the hassle...kick back, earphones and your iphone/ipad are your friend...

**TN94z** · August 2, 2015

I spent the last 25 years traveling with work. Not real bad when it started, but went to hell in a hand basket after 9-11....I got to the point that I hated it and really did not like it at all. Over the last couple of years I chose to drive if at all possible. I would rather drive from New Orleans to Augusta than fly. Airlines have gotten worse. This is what I found and by means this list is not all inclusive: Fewer flights All flights packed Upgrade opportunities almost nil Seat selection not good More delays because airlines have cut crews and you may be stuck in a place like Atlanta waiting for your pilot and crew to come in on a flight from Newark...you don't leave til they get there More mechanical delays and cancelations Security is a hassle and many times a long wait. You have to get to airport much earlier than in the past Carry on baggage storage is at a premium and if you do not board in first 3 groups you probably do not get to store our bag overhead. People flying have become more rude and self-centered than ever before Lots more but I gotta go. I retired this past April. I still had a few more years in me but the air travel made my decision for me... Good Luck....

Yes they will allow me to drive as much as I want to. They said they will either pay me mileage or rent me a car. Of course, I'll need to figure out a breaking point though. It wouldn't make much sense have to drive all weekend to work a week and turn around and drive all weekend again. BUT I would MUCH rather drive these days than fly. People are just nuts!

**Osnola** · August 2, 2015

Idea....Rent a small car out of your own pocket that gets good gas mileage. Calculate the benefit of getting the mileage less what car rental and fuel cost. You may make a little $$$ and save the wear and tear on your vehicle...

I kind of set a mileage/time criteria towards the end to make a decision on whether I would fly or drive....6 hour drive one way was my decision maker plus availability of flights and if I had to make a connection or not...I like to be able to leave and head home when I was done and not have to go back to the airport and wait for a late flight. Changing flights today is very expensive....

**Lihu** · August 4, 2015

Quote:
Originally Posted by Osnola

I spent the last 25 years traveling with work. Not real bad when it started, but went to hell in a hand basket after 9-11....I got to the point that I hated it and really did not like it at all. Over the last couple of years I chose to drive if at all possible. I would rather drive from New Orleans to Augusta than fly.

Airlines have gotten worse. This is what I found and by means this list is not all inclusive:

Fewer flights
All flights packed
Upgrade opportunities almost nil
Seat selection not good
More delays because airlines have cut crews and you may be stuck in a place like Atlanta waiting for your pilot and crew to come in on a flight from Newark...you don't leave til they get there
More mechanical delays and cancelations
Security is a hassle and many times a long wait.
You have to get to airport much earlier than in the past
Carry on baggage storage is at a premium and if you do not board in first 3 groups you probably do not get to store our bag overhead.
People flying have become more rude and self-centered than ever before
Lots more but I gotta go.

I retired this past April. I still had a few more years in me but the air travel made my decision for me...

Good Luck....

Yes they will allow me to drive as much as I want to. They said they will either pay me mileage or rent me a car. Of course, I'll need to figure out a breaking point though. It wouldn't make much sense have to drive all weekend to work a week and turn around and drive all weekend again. BUT I would MUCH rather drive these days than fly. People are just nuts!

Depends upon how far you go on your trips. Anything under 200 makes sense, but over 400 is getting borderline anti-flying fanatical. I used to travel a lot for my company, 2 times a month to Asia, and several times around the country.

No matter how bad the Airlines are or how bad you think it is to fly, traveling by air is still going to be the best. You'll be less tired, and the time it takes to drive can be spent working.

Get TSA pre-checked.

**TN94z** · August 5, 2015

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!!

**Ernest Jones** · August 5, 2015

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!

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