Double Journey

I wrote this post a while ago and never posted it.  However now is as good as ever, especially given my distance to the situation.

1. I didn’t want to be in Seattle - This was a relatively minor reason but a reason nonetheless.  I am at the point in my career that I was seriously thinking about what to do the next five years.  Being in Seattle wasn’t really on the list of things.
2. Broken promises - I came to Microsoft with certain expectations and certain things were told to me would happen.  They didn’t happen.  I’ll leave it at that.
3. I just didn’t enjoy work - I know it is work, and that you shouldn’t expect it to be a party all the time, but I’m the type of person who wants to really enjoy my work.  Give that I am the type of person who works long hours and spends most of my time at work, it is important that I enjoy what I do.
4. The wrong things are rewarded - I saw a few instances of people being recognized for things and behaviors which I just didn’t think were appropriate.  It honestly seemed to me that it paid off to be a jerk.
5. It was too hard to get things done -This was a combination of things.  Part of it is just being at a big company with large interest to protect.  Part of it was people trying to do other people’s job for the sake of increasing their scope.  Part of it was just being a very small fish in a huge Windows/Office Ocean.
6. Slow Career Growth - Probably the biggest reason I left.  I thought about where I wanted to be and how long it would take me to get there.  Today’s Microsoft is not the Microsoft of old.  Microsoft is top heavy with people with long tenure.   Microsoft’s employee base was doubling every few years.  You could advance simply because of the rising tide.   That’s not the case anymore.  It would have taken me twenty years to get where I wanted to be.  No way I could see myself working there for the next twenty years.

I could probably go on, but this outlines the biggest reasons.   Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of reasons Microsoft can be a great place to work. The resources are fantastic, the benefits outstanding, and the quality of people who work there is generally pretty high.

It wasn’t an easy decision to come to, even though I knew it was the right decision.  Looking back, I absolutely made the right choice. I can say that even though I have issues with my current job.  The problems I was encountering were deal breakers.  I could have stuck around and just “floated” along.  It would have been easy not do much work and just get by.  But it just wasn’t me.  Besides, the opportunity cost was too high.  Every day I stayed at Microsoft was a day I wasn’t doing something else.  I just couldn’t have that.

I want to say thanks to my friend Rick who provided me with a fantastic piece of software, Paint.NET.  It’s what I used to crop the above picture.

When it comes down to how to have a successful career, I tend to think it only comes down to a few key things.  It’s an odd paradox because I tend to think that it is not easy to achieve what I have but at the same time I tend to think my job isn’t that hard.

The one thing that I’ve noticed in all the jobs that I’ve had is there is a lack of people who have strong opinions.  I’m not one of those people.  If you know me, you know I have strong opinions.  Right or wrong, I’m going to have something to say on most topics.  Most people sit quietly and just accept the opinions of others.  I can’t tell you the number of meetings I’ve sat in where nothing gets done because nobody has an opinion on something.  It also is startling to think about the number of times I’ve seen someone win an argument because they had such conviction when they spoke only to be absolutely wrong.

To be successful at any job, you have to be a leader.  Being a leader doesn’t mean having 20 people report to you, it really is about charting out a course for others to follow, and then getting those people to follow you.  Sure, it is easier to do if you are responsible for performance reviews for those people, but being someone’s boss doesn’t mean you are leading them.  It just means you get to tell them what to do.

Most companies have leadership voids.  It’s odd because most people want desperately to move up the ladder, yet so few are willing or understand what it takes to do this.  Probably the first and most important steps is to learn to form an opinion on any decision that needs to get made.  Most people are paralyzed when it comes time to make a decision.  Don’t be one of those people.  It is far better to be on the wrong side of an argument than to always stay in the middle.  You will inevitably make mistakes, that’s life and people expect it.  However, it just takes that one great right decision to propel you forward.

This is not to say you should randomly pick a side and argue for it.  I’ve seen people do that too.  They just end up looking like idiots over the long haul.  You have to think about you are arguing about.  You need to use data to drive your arguments.  Good analysis is key.  But, after you analyze the date, you need to have strength in your convictions.

Part of being a Program Manager is dealing with ambiguity. But like all people, I sometimes have problems with this myself. Especially with my current job. I am the trailblazer at my work when it comes to Program Management. It never really had a program management office which means I need to start it from nothing.

In the past few weeks, I have found myself in a situation where I didn’t know what to do next. For someone like me who is action oriented, this can be very frustrating. There seems to be so much to do, I don’t really know where to start.

In times like this, the best thing you can do is just try to break it down into really small and manageable steps. That is, just do something, evaluate, and then do something again. Otherwise, you will find yourself in decision paralysis. It’s the same in all aspects of life, especially financial. Can’t save money? Start small and build on it? Don’t know how to invest money? Open up a brokerage account and invest a small sum of money in an index fund. Don’t know how to make money fast? Start a website and just figure it out

Despite the fact that most humans have unlimited wants, most people can’t articulate exactly what it is they want. I’ve been searching for an apartment the last few weeks. I’ve looked at a lot of apartments to try and figure out exactly what I want. Just the other day I thought I finally found a place that was good enough that I wanted to submit an application. I wasn’t sure though, so I wanted to think about it and discuss it with my girlfriend.

Well right before I could submit an application, someone else did and got the apartment before me. It got me thinking about how I should have just made a decision about the apartment when I saw it. Before I spent all the time looking around, I should have really narrowed down what I would and would not accept. It’s so often happens with people. People just don’t know exactly what they want, and when faced with making a decision, they have decision paralysis. You would think that given my job as a decision maker, I wouldn’t have a problem making decisions, but I guess I’m only human.

I think this plays out in so many ways that are even more important than finding an apartment. People have this problem when deciding what they want to do with their career. I’ve talked to so many people who know they don’t want to be doing what they are doing now but can’t tell me what they really want to do. Worse, I’ve seen people switch to a job just to leave their current job, without really considering what was wrong with their current job and if it would exist at their new job.

Do you ever face decision paralysis because you don’t know what you want? If so in what situation?

Is it worth it to move to California? I’m in California now, ready to start my new job on Monday. Pretty excited about it. One of the things I struggled with was whether or not to leave Seattle and come back to California. I obviously made the decision to do it but how did I come to that conclusion? Is it really worth it?

Taxes

I’m going to start with this one because taxes is one of my favorite topics. According to one survey, California and Washington state have a tax burden of 11.5% and 11.1% respectively. This is a virtual wash. However, they go about how they collect their taxes very differently. California income tax is pretty high reaching 9.3% at the top,They also have a pretty high sales tax which can reach upwards of 8.75%. California also has fuel tax ,property tax, and a cigarette tax.

Washington also has a pretty high tax burden, but structures it very differently. Washington has NO income tax. Seattle has a sales tax of 8.8% and a Restaurant tax of 9.3%. This is of course higher than in most places in CA. They too have a property tax, and derive 30% of all revenue this way. They have a fuel tax, but it is lower than California’s. They too have a Cigarette tax which is MUCH higher than in California. I don’t smoke, so this doesn’t affect me.

In the end, most of the taxes are a wash. BUT the fact that I don’t smoke, don’t own property, I earn a high income, and I don’t spend very much, Washington is the clear winner.I estimate that I probably pay about 5% more in total taxes in California than I do in Washington. Winner: Washington

Housing

I rent. So I’ll start there.

This really depends on where you live in each area. So for sake of comparison I will use the two places I have lived, Pasadena and Redmond. Pasadena is much more “urban” which means that rents are going to be slightly more. When I left Redmond, they were about to raise the rent on my apartment to $1300 for a one bedroom apartment that was a little over 700 sq. feet. That was probably a little higher than the average, but it was close. So I would say market rate for this place was right around $1200. A similar place in Pasadena right now would probably be about $1400 right now. However, if you were to live in say Santa Clarita, a city closer to the type of town Redmond is, rents would probably be about the same.

Buying is a different matter. Despite the fact that housing prices are coming down in LA and are staying relatively flat in Seattle, buying a house is still more expensive in LA than it is in Seattle. I would estimate that buying in LA is still probably about 15-20% more expensive right now. But I expect this to correct itself in the coming year. Winner: Washington

Weather

As I type this, it is about 68 degrees in L.A right now and is very sunny. It is 43 degrees in Redmond and cloudy. I’m actually not a person who is affected that greatly by weather, but having left it and come back, I can say that it does make a difference in more ways than is obvious. First off, I don’t have to plan around weather. In Seattle, I often have to change my plans or not make them at all because of the rain or cold. I have found myself reluctant to leave the house because it was so cold.

If you are a guy, a side benefit of the nice weather are the short skirts. I also contend, that the women are just better looking in CA than in other parts of the country. Sure, it may be fake, but what does it matter if you are only looking anyway

The one advantage Seattle has here is that it is not quite as hot in the Summer. There is a week where the heat might be really uncomfortable, where LA probably has about a month of that. But hey, isn’t that why they invented Air Conditioning?

This is one thing money just can’t buy. No matter how much money you throw at it, you aren’t going to be able to make it sunny or warm outside. Winner: California, by a lot

Cost of Living

I’ve already gone over housing, so I won’t factor that in here. A common thing you hear about living in California is that your salary will be adjusted because of the higher cost of living. I can tell you right now it’s a big lie. I am going to be making more money here than I was in Washington but that is because I’m taking a better job. I had similar offers and positions in Washington that I was considering, and I can tell you that the salaries can’t adjust for the fact that it is just plain more expensive to live in CA than in WA.

At my last job in CA, my company was acquired by a company based in Ohio. I was talking to the head of the CA operations who had moved from OH and we were talking about salaries. I asked him if he was interested in moving more of the engineering jobs from CA to OH to save on the salaries. He let me know that he wasn’t because, much to his surprise, the salaries weren’t all that different. In the end, CA loses because it is more expensive to live here but you won’t get compensated for it.

Other than that, goods cost the same. Food and other items are a push. Gas is slightly more expensive in CA by a couple of cents. Winner: Washington

Jobs

If you are looking for a tech job, California wins here hands down. Seattle tech jobs are dominated by Microsoft and Amazon. Google is also starting to make strides in the area. But if you decide, like I did, that you don’t want to work for one of these firms, you are going to be out of luck. You could take a tech job in a company like Boeing, Washington Mutual or Starbucks but if you are like me you want to work for a tech company, not do tech work at a company.

The Southern California job market is just much more diverse. No one employer dominates the area. This hold true outside the tech industry as well. If you are looking for jobs in Entertainment, defense, finance, bio-tech, or any number of other industries you will have better luck here. If you are like me, and your partner is not in the tech industry, this becomes a crucial fact because your partner has to be able to find a job too. Winner: California

Things To Do

This is barely even worth talking about. Southern California just has more to do. Almost anything you can find in Seattle, you can find in Southern California, but the reverse is just not true. Seattle has some great outdoor activities, but so does California, and in California they are accessible year round. California has better arts and entertainment, museums, beaches, shopping, restaurants and attractions. Winner: California

Traffic

However much Seattlites like to complain about the traffic, California is worse. If you don’t like traffic, if it grates on your nerves, then LA might not be the place for you. I try to live close to work to minimize this effect, but the fact remains. Traffic is a bitch in L.A. Winner: Washington

Bottom Line

There can be many factors which way in on your decision to move. The above are mine. I also have family in the L.A. area which is a factor. I also grew up with the smog, so it doesn’t bother me at all. I figure it is probably about 8%-10% more expensive to live in California than Seattle. If you make six-figures like I do, that can be more than $10,000. For that money, you get the nicer weather, more things to do, more job choices, and of course, the short skirts.

What’s that worth to you?

Free Money Finance wrote a post the other day about when to not take a job offer. I actually think it is a pretty interesting topic. I’m touching on it a little bit earlier than I want but when I take into account that I just accepted a job offer, it makes sense to talk about why I took this one as opposed to other job offers.

As I started writing this post, I realized it really depends on the particular situation. Therefore, I’m going to write this post in a few different parts to address each situation. The situation I think most people will find themselves in is that they still are at their current job (company A) and they are looking for a change in scenery. For this exercise, I’m going to assume you are trying get as high on the corporate ladder as you can in the shortest amount of time. So given this situation, imagine you receive a job offer from Company B, should you take it? Here are situations I would not take a job offer.

You are not 100% sure that whatever is bothering you about your current job is not going to happen at the new job - Most people fail to realize that a lot of problems they have with their job is not specific to their team, company, etc. They fail to realize that whatever they hate about their current job is going to exist at their next job and so get stuck in a vicious cycle.

You are going to take significantly less money for the same role - This is actually an extension of above. If you are going to switch companies to do the same work, why would you take a pay cut? Pay is important. It isn’t strictly about what it will buy you. It’s the fact that it is a signal to you how important the job is to the company. If one company is going to pay you less, you have to wonder if it really is the same job.

You are going to take a lesser role - I have actually fallen trap to this. I was eager to leave Company A and took a position where my role would be less than what it was at the time (the money was about the same). While it worked out for me, this is generally not a good idea. If you want to reach the top of the corporate ladder, it is critically important that you have steady progression upwards. If you take a lesser role, and it doesn’t work out, this will impact you as you look for a new job at Company C. Here is a little secret. Changing jobs is often the BEST time to go for a promotion. That’s right. Often, it is easier to get a BETTER role going to a new company than it is at your own, so you should almost never take a lesser role. Keep looking if this is the case.

You haven’t mapped out what you want in your career - If you don’t know what you want, hoping to find it at your next job is the wrong way to find it. Changing jobs should be a very thoughtful exercise, you need to do it for the right reason. You should not jump from job to job hoping that someone will tell you what you should be doing. Nobody cares about your career more than you do. If you think you are going to find a manager who is suddenly going to tell you what you should be doing and how you will get there, you will be looking for a long time.

You haven’t really tried to make it work at your current job - The grass isn’t always greener. A lot of people just move from job to job hoping to find that “perfect” job. They don’t actually realize that their current situation isn’t all that bad, and haven’t tried to work out the issues they have. Most companies and managers want to retain good people and don’t want to see you leave. If it can be worked out, you should at least explore if staying is a legitimate option.

Despite all these reasons not to take a job offer, let me give you something to think about that was said by a friend of mine just last night. If the only reason you are at your current job is inertia, you need to get out. I can’t tell you the number of people I have talked to who have told me that they are “comfortable” at their current job so they don’t want to look for another. They only reason they are where they are, is that it is “too hard” to find another job or they are too lazy. That is the absolute worse reason to be at a job, and a sure sign you need to be looking hard to go somewhere else.

Those are my reasons not to take a job offer if you are deciding between your current job and a new one, can you think of any more?