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Well, the company I work for has been bought out, incredibly by a company which is not worth as much as us, but which can use the money we have in our bank to pay for the loan it has just taken out to buy us.
The upshot is, I'm likely to be made redundant pretty soon. It is a Scary Thought.
So, do I go for broke and start my own company from scratch, and work for me... or do I scrabble about and sell my soul to another conglomerate that will probably screw me over yet again, forcing me to work for people who do not understand what I do, and who have not the vision to step beyond making the elusive quick buck????
Help me out people. Have any of you ever been in this kind of situation? How did you cope? Do any of you run your own company? Is it worth it?
It really is "brown trousers time" for me, the jobs in my industry (web development) have become either scarce or do not pay enough to keep the wolves from my door.
The upshot is, I'm likely to be made redundant pretty soon. It is a Scary Thought.
So, do I go for broke and start my own company from scratch, and work for me... or do I scrabble about and sell my soul to another conglomerate that will probably screw me over yet again, forcing me to work for people who do not understand what I do, and who have not the vision to step beyond making the elusive quick buck????
Help me out people. Have any of you ever been in this kind of situation? How did you cope? Do any of you run your own company? Is it worth it?
It really is "brown trousers time" for me, the jobs in my industry (web development) have become either scarce or do not pay enough to keep the wolves from my door.
funkygamer wrote:
> What kind of work are you after? You were pretty brave to do that!
> Was it an easy decision to make, did you just go for it?
It was quite an easy decision to make cos I knew I wanted to go back to uni and the driving job paid well and left me with a lot of time in the evening to think about my future. The main reason was that I had a degree in Chemistry and the job I was doing was a million miles away from anything technical, in fact it really left me unsatisfied and I felt I wasn't using my brain! I figured I was only 22 and could afford a year living on beans on toast to get another degree, one where I learnt programming.
As I get my MSc in September (touch wood!) I want a job which uses my chemistry training and also the programming skills I learnt through this course. Basically I would like to work as a scientific instrument engineer. Visiting people on site and fitting instruments, writing the software to control them and then problem solving.
> What kind of work are you after? You were pretty brave to do that!
> Was it an easy decision to make, did you just go for it?
It was quite an easy decision to make cos I knew I wanted to go back to uni and the driving job paid well and left me with a lot of time in the evening to think about my future. The main reason was that I had a degree in Chemistry and the job I was doing was a million miles away from anything technical, in fact it really left me unsatisfied and I felt I wasn't using my brain! I figured I was only 22 and could afford a year living on beans on toast to get another degree, one where I learnt programming.
As I get my MSc in September (touch wood!) I want a job which uses my chemistry training and also the programming skills I learnt through this course. Basically I would like to work as a scientific instrument engineer. Visiting people on site and fitting instruments, writing the software to control them and then problem solving.
Thanks for your reply Lörd Hümüngöüs
Lörd Hümüngöüs wrote:
> Although this is not a nice predicament to be in, I always think that
> change is good.
That is the attitude I'm trying to have.
> Why don't you do both? Get a temporary job and start your own business
> whilst you work in a job with no real commitment.
I have thought of that to, saw a part-time job yesterday that was doing exactly the kind of thing I can do for about 18.5 hours a week, not too much commitment, leaves me two days per week to get the company going. It's really tempting.
> What did I do in that situation? Left, got a job driving a truck for
> three months and then went to uni to do another degree. It is a
> decision which I have never regretted and I am now in in much better
> position to do the kind of work I want to when I finish in
> September.
What kind of work are you after? You were pretty brave to do that! Was it an easy decision to make, did you just go for it?
> Are you in a position where you could go and do further study? Perhaps
> work on your company part time whilst you are studying?
Hmmm, I already have a degree, and over 4 years "real-world" experience, so I don't really want to go back to study, I want to get down and dirty with stuff. There will be a point at which I eventually "re-train" I suppose if my skills get too out of date, but until then, I'm the kind of person who doesn't want to go back to student life just yet!
Thanks for your thoughts, I had a feeling that this thread was going to die a horrible death.
Lörd Hümüngöüs wrote:
> Although this is not a nice predicament to be in, I always think that
> change is good.
That is the attitude I'm trying to have.
> Why don't you do both? Get a temporary job and start your own business
> whilst you work in a job with no real commitment.
I have thought of that to, saw a part-time job yesterday that was doing exactly the kind of thing I can do for about 18.5 hours a week, not too much commitment, leaves me two days per week to get the company going. It's really tempting.
> What did I do in that situation? Left, got a job driving a truck for
> three months and then went to uni to do another degree. It is a
> decision which I have never regretted and I am now in in much better
> position to do the kind of work I want to when I finish in
> September.
What kind of work are you after? You were pretty brave to do that! Was it an easy decision to make, did you just go for it?
> Are you in a position where you could go and do further study? Perhaps
> work on your company part time whilst you are studying?
Hmmm, I already have a degree, and over 4 years "real-world" experience, so I don't really want to go back to study, I want to get down and dirty with stuff. There will be a point at which I eventually "re-train" I suppose if my skills get too out of date, but until then, I'm the kind of person who doesn't want to go back to student life just yet!
Thanks for your thoughts, I had a feeling that this thread was going to die a horrible death.
funkygamer wrote:
> The upshot is, I'm likely to be made redundant pretty soon. It is a
> Scary Thought.
Although this is not a nice predicament to be in, I always think that change is good.
> So, do I go for broke and start my own company from scratch, and work
> for me... or do I scrabble about and sell my soul to another
> conglomerate that will probably screw me over yet again
Why don't you do both? Get a temporary job and start your own business whilst you work in a job with no real commitment. I'm sure that there are a lot of companies which need people for a few months to simply sort out some problems on a sort-term contract. By doing this it could also be productive as you will get known and may be called back as a consultant (if that's the kind of business you are planning to do).
> Help me out people. Have any of you ever been in this kind of
> situation?
I haven't been in a situation where I was going to be made redundant but I have been in a job where I had a short space of time to get out or I would've been chained to the company for three years (I was going to do a course paid for by the company which I realised was a very bad idea!).
What did I do in that situation? Left, got a job driving a truck for three months and then went to uni to do another degree. It is a decision which I have never regretted and I am now in in much better position to do the kind of work I want to when I finish in September.
Are you in a position where you could go and do further study? Perhaps work on your company part time whilst you are studying?
> The upshot is, I'm likely to be made redundant pretty soon. It is a
> Scary Thought.
Although this is not a nice predicament to be in, I always think that change is good.
> So, do I go for broke and start my own company from scratch, and work
> for me... or do I scrabble about and sell my soul to another
> conglomerate that will probably screw me over yet again
Why don't you do both? Get a temporary job and start your own business whilst you work in a job with no real commitment. I'm sure that there are a lot of companies which need people for a few months to simply sort out some problems on a sort-term contract. By doing this it could also be productive as you will get known and may be called back as a consultant (if that's the kind of business you are planning to do).
> Help me out people. Have any of you ever been in this kind of
> situation?
I haven't been in a situation where I was going to be made redundant but I have been in a job where I had a short space of time to get out or I would've been chained to the company for three years (I was going to do a course paid for by the company which I realised was a very bad idea!).
What did I do in that situation? Left, got a job driving a truck for three months and then went to uni to do another degree. It is a decision which I have never regretted and I am now in in much better position to do the kind of work I want to when I finish in September.
Are you in a position where you could go and do further study? Perhaps work on your company part time whilst you are studying?
Well, the company I work for has been bought out, incredibly by a company which is not worth as much as us, but which can use the money we have in our bank to pay for the loan it has just taken out to buy us.
The upshot is, I'm likely to be made redundant pretty soon. It is a Scary Thought.
So, do I go for broke and start my own company from scratch, and work for me... or do I scrabble about and sell my soul to another conglomerate that will probably screw me over yet again, forcing me to work for people who do not understand what I do, and who have not the vision to step beyond making the elusive quick buck????
Help me out people. Have any of you ever been in this kind of situation? How did you cope? Do any of you run your own company? Is it worth it?
It really is "brown trousers time" for me, the jobs in my industry (web development) have become either scarce or do not pay enough to keep the wolves from my door.
The upshot is, I'm likely to be made redundant pretty soon. It is a Scary Thought.
So, do I go for broke and start my own company from scratch, and work for me... or do I scrabble about and sell my soul to another conglomerate that will probably screw me over yet again, forcing me to work for people who do not understand what I do, and who have not the vision to step beyond making the elusive quick buck????
Help me out people. Have any of you ever been in this kind of situation? How did you cope? Do any of you run your own company? Is it worth it?
It really is "brown trousers time" for me, the jobs in my industry (web development) have become either scarce or do not pay enough to keep the wolves from my door.