Hey, what's up, John Sonmez from simpleprogrammer.com.
I got this question basically about whether or not to go for a safe job or to pursue a
risky opportunity.
I thought this was a good one because this is a problem that a lot of software developers
face in their career.
Let’s be honest.
We all hate risk, right?
We want the safe thing, but sometimes that’s not the best thing for our career.
I’ll kind of read you a bit of the email here.
He says, “Hi John, I would like to start saying that I find your videos and advice
very useful.
Big fan of what you do.”
Thank you.
“I have a question I believe you may be able to help me with.
I’m 19 and have managed to go straight from college into junior software engineer job.”
Well that’s cool, okay.
“I started self-teaching programming to myself at age 15 and do quite a bit of programming
in the spare time.
I’ve been at my current job for about a year and they’ve just been bought by a large
American company that has 24 billion net worth.
My current job has a lot of future and current security.
I feel safe in this job.
Recently, I got a call from a different company through a recruitment company.
This company has a job which ticks a lot of boxes for me.
I have a love for martial arts and they do a lot of work in this sector.
This company is a startup which means that it would be going from a very secure; safe
job to a startup company.
The new place basically offers” he’s got about 5000 pounds more.
So what’s that US, like 7000, maybe 8000, probably more than that.
Anyway, it pays more money so basically he wants to know what to do.
The thing is you’re 19, right, so you’ve self-taught yourself.
You’ve sort of already overcome a lot of the obstacles and here’s an opportunity
for you early in your career to be able to make a leap up the ladder.
Personally, I would take this.
I mean I would check out the company and make sure that it is legit, the offer is legit,
the company has some staying power that they’re likely to stay around and they’re likely
to pay you.
If everything checks out then in my mind go for the more money for the job that you’re
going to like better that’s more aligned with you rather than going with the safe thing.
It’s very tempting in life to go with the safe thing so we have to make that choice.
You could end up at the same company for 15 years and, sure, you’ll be safe but your
career won’t grow.
I know tons of developers who basically stayed with the same job for a long, long time and
they never really got anywhere with their career.
They have the same title.
Now, you can advance up the corporate ladder.
It’s true.
But being as young as you are, being as this is something that you’re passionate about
that they’re going to offer you more money, I think this is good.
One thing I’ll advice to most young software developers, you’re getting into the field
is you want to switch jobs a lot.
It seems like counter advice to what most people advice, but the reason why I would
advise this is because you want to get a broad spectrum of not only experience but experiences.
You want to see what it’s like to work for different companies.
You want to work with different technologies.
You want to get well rounded in those kind of areas and that’s also going to help you
to climb up faster.
Now, when you get a little bit more settled in your career you might want to stay with
the same company, you might want to choose more of a secure thing, but you’re 19.
I’m assuming you don’t have a wife and kid.
Maybe you do, but I’m assuming not, so take the risk.
What’s the worst that could happen?
You’re self-taught, you’ve already overcome so many obstacles, hey, maybe you get laid
off from this job and then you get a new job.
But yeah, I would totally go for it.
Anyway, if you’ve got a question for me, you can email me at john@simpleprogrammer.com.
If you like this video don’t forget to subscribe to the channel.
Talk to you next time.
Take care.