Ask the .Org

Well, slight conundrum that I apparently now face, so I thought I'd put it to you lot.

One of those who "must be obeyed" came over to me before with the comment of "Have you seen the trainee developer that we've got a vacancy for? Well, no-one else knows, but I'm also going to be offering other developer vacancies shortly - I'd appreciate you preparing your CV...".

That comment didn't come from my line manager, and he was being pretty quiet about it.

So decision time... do I go for it or not?

Pros:
- More money, though I don't know the range being offered.
- Development work again, instead of customer facing application support.

Cons:
- I've gone from support to dev before, and ended up acting as a go-between for the departments. It wasn't pretty. I was assured in the last company that I could back out of the transfer if I wanted, but they replaced me in support & then that wasn't an option.
- Extra stress of more deadlines to meet.

Now, the money would be handy, but I don't really relish the idea of the extra stress/workload. However, dev's in this company do get some perks, like less BS office politics than we get.

So, .Org'ers... what would you do?

Ooo hard choice. Depend on what kind of person you are? I'd prep a C.V anyway, gets you up to date which is never a bad thing. Then find out about the job, go away and have a think.

Would it be more stressfull really, or is that a comparison to just another job? Would it be stress you realished, or loathed? Would it enhance your career and do you want another step up?

If you find out everything and like it, go for it? Whats the worst that can happen, your only looking internally, not externally for a job. At worst, you do it, don't like it, either move back to your old role (if possible?) or use the time to search for another job.

Me, if it entails a lot more stress, is it worth it? It would need to be, and I could only do it for so long. But thats just my outlook. I could only get really really stressed for a company of my own, which I don't own.... yet anyway.

[Jayneflakes]

It is always good to keep yourself up to date adn this time it could be a role you relish, try the interview and if at the end you don't like it, stay where you are...

If you do like it, feel free to run your life decisions past us again...

Trust the Org, we do know even better than yer Mum!

My CV is prep'd, it was the day I got this job. Always keep it up to date as I don't know what may crop up.

It'd certainly be more stressful that the current job. At the moment, I sit here doing naff all until something screws up, then have a finite amount of time to resolve the issue, whatever it may be. To me, that's not stressfull at all.

Probably 75% of the time, I'm sat here twiddling my thumbs (and ligitemately so), which leads to boredom.

In a development role, I'd be constantly doing something and those jobs would all have deadlines.

It was due to my last employer that I wasn't interested in development work, and that's the reason I opted for a support role. My old job was basically the same as this potential new role, with the added fun of a sales team selling products you don't have, setting deadlines you can't meet, then blaming the dev team for not working hard enough.

In development, I also tend to take work home with me, which means I rarely get down time for myself/family. In support, that's impossible.

A lot of the decision is down to the amount of money they're offering really I suppose. The extra stress/workload would be worth it if they wanted to double my pay.

I suppose I could always apply for it, have the interview etc, and then I could turn it down if I wasn't interested at that point. It'd also demonstrate to the company that I'm keen to move forward, but only if it was right for me.

Hmmm, long contemplations ahead I think...

[Bibio]

only thing i can say is when an IT company starts getting into financial troubble the first people to go are usually the support/tech staff. the support/tech usually gets outsourced then its all the hangers oners that go next. develipers are usually the last people to get the boot.

keep an eye on whats going on and vacancys. dont push, drop hints that you wuld be intrested if any developers positions come up (oviously to the right ears) and bide your time.

with more money always comes more stress/work load.

Do it In my rarely humble opinion customer facing support is the 9th circle of hell. No matter how good the first line folks are you always somehow end up talking to someone who inserted a jam sandwich into a switch gbic port (in order to enable "sticky" port security of course) and is incencsed WITH YOU that his switch is now broken.

i did this recently (feb) took the plunge and optied for more money and more stress, i find the job difficult but more rewarding + my 10hr day seems like 5hrs because i'm always busy.

you've got to be in it to win it. As Jayne said, you can go through the whole process, get offered the post, and if it doesn't feel right, say 'no'. (and if they make you lots of promises, get them in writing).

[Biker Biggles]

Dont know,but basic advice------Go for the job where you are happy to be at work.
Theres nothing worse than being in a job you hate whatever the money.

More money and not customer facing? Baph, what are you waiting for???