My New Job

It may come as no surprise that in the last few weeks I have not generated as many posts as I would like here at “from 0 to one million.”  And that is primarily because I have found myself thrust into the spotlight of transitioning to a new job.

Without getting into too many details I will try to summarize with this: I am still with the same employer I have been with over the last 5 years and am staying within the same division I was previously working in – I will be just moving to a new team.

Please don’t misunderstand one aspect though, I previously enjoyed my old team and its daily job functions.  But when management came knocking to inform me of the vacancy and offered me a promotion and raise to fill the vacancy, it was something I decided to consider accepting.

In my fiscal journey leading up to this point I have been evolving an interesting point of view towards my career.  I have been finding that a top priority in getting our fiscal house in order is to get my own time back into my life - time to spend with my wife, time to spend with our future family, time to travel whenever I want and time to volunteer for organizations and programs that inspire my soul.

So when it comes to my career in the short/medium and long term there is definitely some interesting debate that occurs.  When it comes to pay hikes, promotions, long hours and devotion to a company the truth is that we really don’t need it.  Our bare bones living expenses come out to around $22,000 a year, so when new work avenues present themselves I definitely take a holistic approach in evaluating the change.

Apart from the obvious perks this new role requires me to get into the office a bit earlier, but I also get to leave a bit earlier.  Long term if we have kids in Chicago, it may mean, if my wife chooses to be a stay at home parent, that I leave before she wakes up and come home with some daylight left in the day. If she works then she can take our kid to daycare a little later and I can pick up from daycare a little earlier.  And truth be told, if we still are in Chicago in 5 years, I would like to be with my current employer in the overall division that I have been in for the last 2 years.  So this new role helps me show management that I’m a “team player” and I get to add a completely new skill set to my resume, a win-win scenario for myself and my employer if you ask me.

But overall it was a tough decision to make.  I gave myself a week to weigh the pros and cons and discuss it over with my wife. In the end accepting this promotion and moving teams helps me be the employee I want to be without damaging or harming the husband and person that I am.

Admittedly, it was the very first time for me that money was not a major factor in taking a new job.  Granted I still found the idea of change to be a bit nerve wrecking, having the financial aspect of changing jobs not play a major role really helped me to evaluate the offer in ways I had never considered previously.  “The bottom line” of a dollar offer really only touches the surface when it comes to a job transition, and I’m surprised at how my evaluation has changed from today, against when I first walked through the doors of the company I work for 5 years ago.  So with a big learning curve ahead of me, I feel blessed that I only have to worry about stress on the job, rather than being compounded with the stress of mismanaged personal finances.