I need your advice

[markomalley]

I need some advice please.

I currently have a job that pays the mortgage and the bills, allows me to keep my kid in parochial school, and allows me to save up for retirement. The upsides of this job are as follows:

• I work with a bunch of good folks
  
• I enjoy the work.
  
• My boss is very flexible with me:
  
  • I have to put in the proper number of hours each week, but its very flexible as to when I put in the hours.
    
  • If I need to work from home, due to bad weather, contagious sickness, or sick kid, I can do so.
    

  [*]The office has a culture of going out of their way to make sure not to have to lay people off. Although the work is (gasp) primarily working on government contracts (/gasp), they aren't the type to lay folks off immediately if a recompete for a contract is lost or upon the end of a contract.

The downsides of the job are:

• The commute. I live halfway between Baltimore and DC and the job is in Arlington VA. That means 30 miles worth of traffic each way each day. On a good day, the commute is 45 minutes. On a bad day, 1-1/2 hours.
  
• The hours. So that the job can pay us well while keeping us competitive in the market, we have to bill 45 hours each week. (On a Time and materials contract, that means our rates are 12% lower than they would be if we were on a standard 40 hour week). Fortunately, there is a lot of flexibility with the time. But, it is still 45 hours a week. And sometimes longer if the job requires (just as with any other job). It averages that I'm away from home about 11 hours a day.
  
• Career advancement. I am currently a senior analyst. Basically the only way I can move up the food chain is if somebody up the chain quits, retires, or dies.
  
• Stability. Although there is a culture of keeping people on to the maximum extent possible, it is still in the "consulting" field, the bottom line won't allow them to keep me on indefinitely if there I am not bringing revenue in. Same as any other business. And, the nature of the job is one of switching employers, even if the company culture is not that way.
  
• Travel. Frequently, I have to travel extensively. For example, last year I was on the road about 1 week every month. Although some travel is good, excessive travel stinks.
  

My wife is a teacher with about 13 years of seniority. Her income is used for the "extras." Vacation, summer camp for the kid, buying "stuff," etc. Due to some health problems, she is currently on extended sick leave from work. That sick leave runs out at the end of this school year and she will be filing for disability retirement. That will still bring in some money, but it is going to be cut by about 2/3's.

I just received a job offer at a company located about 10 miles from here, also in the Baltimore-DC corridor. This job is managing an $18 million program for a fairly high tech piece of satellite communications equipment. The program is currently in the "garage" phase of development, sort of like the Apple I (for those unfamiliar with the Apple I, it was developed and built in a garage). The CEO of this company (a subsidiary of a Fortune 500 company) wants me to operationalize the product line and bring some discipline into the program so that it will be able to respond to anticipated market demand. (The market is the military, civilian Federal, state, and local governments, as well as very possible foreign sales). The guy that designed the product is an entrepenuer type. A brilliant guy, he is rather eccentric and has little or no business sense. He definitely does not have the skills necessary to bring the product line into production. I do. However, he is sort of tempermental and, at this time, is literally the ONLY person who understands how this communications system works. As a result, if he gets PO'd before his knowledge can get captured, if he gets in a car accident, if he has a heart attack, the program is down the tubes...because nobody can duplicate what he knows (at least for now). Obviously, the CEO wants me to fix that situation, as well.

The upsides of this job:

• There is about a 15% pay raise compared to my current salary.
  
• The commute is 1/3 of the distance, and goes against traffic rather than with traffic...for me, rush hour would become a thing of the past.
  
• The workweek is 40 hours. However, as you can imagine, for a person in management, 40 hours may mean little to nothing, at least until production comes on line.
  
• This is a career advancement step.
  
• There is ample opportunity for career advancement. The company is a high tech systems integration and manufacturing company. As the company expands, the opportunities expand.
  

The downsides of this job:

• Especially during the initial few months, the job is high risk. As I said, while the entrepeneur that developed this system is "irreplaceable," he is the most important person in the company. As the system knowledge is expanded, the level of risk, though, goes down. If the program goes down, I will likely be looking for a new job.
  
• There will be a whole lot more work, particularly getting the program started. Initially, a lot of late nights and a lot of travel. However, that may improve over time.
  

Because of my wife's impending disability retirement, we are going to need to make some changes. Either some serious lifestyle changes or bringing some more money in. I have ZERO experience working in a high tech small/medium sized business (54 employees and between $30 and $50 million in sales last year). BTW, if somebody is asking about benefits, this business is a subsidiary of a Fortune 500 company, so they get large-business type benefits, but they are a subsidiary and so have minimal oversight from outside. And so benefits between the two companies are pretty comparable, as a whole. Minor differences, but nothing that is worth mentioning.

Anyway, I am looking for advice...any suggestions as to a decision...any suggestions on negotiating strategies...any thoughts on looking for a counteroffer from my current company (or is the new offer a slam dunk).

Any inputs that you can give me would be appreciated. I am possibly stepping out into new territory, so I will appreciate any insights that you all can provide along those lines. (Prayers for wisdom are also more than welcome, as well, too. Thanks)

[pawtucket]

Are they offering you an upfront bonus? In CA, they were plentiful for the tech market and equalled anywhere from 25% to 100% of your yearly salary. That can be a nice nest egg to offset the high risk.

Negotiate an exit package.

[Jim]

Mark,

First of all, I am not at all comfortable with giving this level of advise to a person that I've probably never met. So keep that in mind and here goes.

Don't do it unless you have money in the bank and a backup plan. The downsides are many. Your corporate culture and theirs are totally different. You will likely be resented for your attempts to bring order into the company. If things start to go downhill you *will* be made the fall guy for the downhillness. After all, if the developer gives management an ultimatum of keeping him or you, what do you think the choice will be?

The job will require a tremendous amount of tact and diplomacy. The developer will feel a strong sense of ownership over his ideas and the company direction. Unless you can develop a strong level of trust and an almost subservient relationship with him, he will channel all his frustrations towards you. Not a nice place for you to be.

At this point, first and foremost, you need to meet with the developer off-campus and alone and try to find out where his head is at. If you needs and wants you, it might work. If he treats you like an unwelcome dog, run away as fast as you can. If you can't read him, that's not a good sign either.

You might ask how I know this stuff. I've been the developer in this situation at least twice in my career and I've run off the hired gun both times. Not necessarily something I'm proud of, but I can at least give you a heads up.

In terms of compensation, you would not be out of line asking for some kind of stock option package. These days, companies don't give them away like they used to, but since the long-term success of the company would appear to be in your hands, it would be worth a try.

Feel free to send me an email or PT if you'd like to share more details.

Good luck.

[markomalley]

Paw,

Not in the initial offer letter, but if I accept the offer it will be contingent upon both those two things. I figure a six month termination package will be good and I was planning to ask for a 25% sign-on bonus.

Thanks.

Jim,

You are EXACTLY why I posed the question on the board. I have met the developer and so my observations on him are first-hand. This is not the only product line produced by the company, it has the potential to be the biggest money-maker if handled properly. And, yes, no doubt it will take a lot of tact. Yes, the developer has a HUGE amount of emotional investment in the item, and understandably so. Yes, I recognize that, until such time as the information is no longer exclusively in the developer's head, he will definitely have the upper hand in the situation. We met about three weeks ago up at his place in (of all places) Pennsylvania. I am not 100% confident, but I think that there is the ability to work together. The CEO and I used to work together a couple of years ago and so we don't have the issue of incompatibility, but, still, I fully recognize that business is business.

I hadn't really considered asking for stock options and am not familiar with the mechanics of them that much. When options are negotiated, on what basis are they negotiated? The number of shares, the percentage of salary, or the discount rate? I definitely will feel them out on that question as well. As this is a subsidiary of a much larger company, I'm not sure what the larger company's policy is on options and how flexible they are with their stock. But, they can't say "yes" if I don't ask the question.

I appreciate the advice though. Really helpful.