dilema :(

[shane_j]

Hi i am in a bit of a dilema hear, i am currently working for a company

doing programing but at the moment things are not going well. im basicly

doing a whole project on my own and my boss is piling too much pressure and tasks for me. to add salt to my whombs the salary im getting is not

great either for a programmer. as a whole, the whole project is abit of a mess has there is no real project manager involved in it and no methodology followed at all

now the problem is that i am getting a starnge vibe that they will sack me

sonner rather then later. now i have started re applying again and i am about to call someone who left a voicemail telling me to call and discuss a possible interview next week.

the job i applied for is similar but nearly double the salary and this time i will be joining a team instead of working on my own. if i do manage to get an interview next week, the only way i can attend it is if i go off sick. if i do that i know for sure they will probably sack me has they need the projects to be finished asap.

The thing is, these job opportunities dont appear everyday for me so i am debating as weather i should ignore the call or give it a shot.

[freddie]

you seem to be under significant pressure, beyond your job description if i'm reading right.

loyalty works both ways, if they treat you like a robot, i suggest you go to your gp and tell them about stress. if you get a certificate you'll have a few days off.

i know there are people who really take the micky about being sick, but if you think your on the fine line of being sacked without due reasonable reason then i say cover your back.

go to the interview!

[Mossy]

Speak to your boss and tell him the situation, you dont have to mention your at interview with the other company but you can say you have been offered the Job at twice the Salery. If you are confident in your work tell him about the pressure better being honest and if you are valued and needed as much as you say your are there is always a compramise in every situation.

Going behind their back at their time of need would not be a good option unless you can afford to be off work.

[MadduckUK]

to add salt to my whombs

ouch!

[Brucelles]

I have to say that I would take the time off sick. If anyone asks tell them it was stress-related. You do sound as though you are getting shafted a bit, and let's face it, more money is always good.

It is possible that you can get to the interview and back (especially good if it's late in the day or first thing in the am) and not miss the deadline, but face it, if they are relying on you for an important project they are hardly likely to dump you before it's finished.

[tiggerai]

You can always request that the interviewing company does the interview after work... The companies I intervied for 6 weeks ago were more than happy to do this.

Saves the stress then, as I was in the same position, where I'd shaft myself if I took a day off sick.

[TheAnimus]

If they're really busy, they can't sack you

[Honoop]

You would be absolutely barking mad not to go for this interview.

If your fears that your current company are going to sack you are correct you really have nothing to lose.
However if you don't go to the interview you are stuck in a job you don't like, which doesn't seem entirely secure and you will always be wondering "what if?".

Ps. I hope you got someone else to spell check your CV before you sent it out!

[MadduckUK]

Ps. I hope you got someone else to spell check your CV before you sent it out!

sage advice

[Kezzer]

Move jobs before you get the sack in my opinion. I've also been in a job where I'm the sole programmer with too much work piled on me. I just dealt with it by telling the big boss that there's been way too much responsibility for me to handle and to which he spread out the load to some other employees who were in a completely different field

Sometimes it's better to speak up then keep quiet and look like you're not doing your job.

[shane_j]

hi again thanks for all your advice. i called them up and the person i spoke to will not only forward my cv to the client but to also persuade them to give me an interview next week. the godo thing about it is that the place is actualy minutes away from my current work place! so in theory i could do my interview at lunch time if i happen to land an interview.

i dont talk too much to my boss but the person who is leading the project(has no knowledge on it) acts has a bridge between me and my boss in communicating with each other who i talk to explaining that we need more people and tools for the job to be done

[Disturbedguy]

This is kind of the same situation a friend of mine is in,

He works in as a software engineer for a company based in Preston he is currently on around 13.5K a year (first job out of Uni) he got a phone call from another company offering him 18K for 6 months then he will have a pay review and if he is able to complete taks and has that little bit more experience the company will up his wage to 25K (The job is advertised at 25K but due to his experience they will only offer 18K for now).

He went to his boss and told him about the job offer, his boss said he would increase my friends wages to match but wouldnt get into a bidding war, which made my friend quite happy.

The quesiton for my friend was, does he take the other job with propsects of being on better money in 6 months or stay where he is get the 18k but probably be there for a good year or so.

He was going to stick where he was until his boss made the mistake of thinking the younger less experience person doesnt know as much as the older more "experienced" person, which in this case, my friend knows that the more experienced people do and abit more.

Anyway, the last I heard was he is planning to take the other job with the prospects of being on the better money.

So after that long story you have to decide what is best for you, money isnt always important but it is a HUGE insentive.

GL with your interview

[TheAnimus]

Company i used to work for made this mistake, most specifically of trying to pay all the grads equally, I complained, saying that I felt we where a good 10k below the industry normal for a skilled c# n c++ developer with COM experiance. He told me he didn't agree. 3 days later i handed him my resignation, only then did they bother to try and apease me. The logic was simple, they didn't value me until they realised i was planning on leaving. **** them.

Intrestingly enough they bumped the next most technically skilled person by, wait for it, 10k. Gosh, can't think why.

Some companies need to be reminded now and again that retaining staff is hard work if the staff are good. There is no way they'd fire you for taking another interview unless they are very stupid. Odds are if you get a job offer, they will offer to improve your basic.

[shane_j]

Company i used to work for made this mistake, most specifically of trying to pay all the grads equally, I complained, saying that I felt we where a good 10k below the industry normal for a skilled c# n c++ developer with COM experiance. He told me he didn't agree. 3 days later i handed him my resignation, only then did they bother to try and apease me. The logic was simple, they didn't value me until they realised i was planning on leaving. **** them.

Intrestingly enough they bumped the next most technically skilled person by, wait for it, 10k. Gosh, can't think why.

Some companies need to be reminded now and again that retaining staff is hard work if the staff are good. There is no way they'd fire you for taking another interview unless they are very stupid. Odds are if you get a job offer, they will offer to improve your basic.

The thing is, if i do get the interview and succed, no matter how much my boss offer me i would still refuse has i wanna join a team of people with far superior experience then me so i can learn from them because at the moment i have no one to look up to and to learn new things on my line of work. i too have just graduated over a year ago and this is my first job at it and was not bothered about my salary has all i ever wanted was experience to help me join a potential large company with great prospects. the company i work for dont even do a pay review unless you beg them for it. i tried and simply got a no answer until i finish off this project.

now i do not care about a pay review as sooner rather then later i will be switching jobs

[TheAnimus]

The thing is, if i do get the interview and succed, no matter how much my boss offer me i would still refuse has i wanna join a team of people with far superior experience then me so i can learn from them because at the moment i have no one to look up to and to learn new things on my line of work. i too have just graduated over a year ago and this is my first job at it and was not bothered about my salary has all i ever wanted was experience to help me join a potential large company with great prospects. the company i work for dont even do a pay review unless you beg them for it. i tried and simply got a no answer until i finish off this project.

now i do not care about a pay review as sooner rather then later i will be switching jobs

In case you didn't guess, **** them, ment i left For pretty much the same reason, if after working there not even 6 months your the most technically profiscent team member, your learning nothing at that place, and i wasn't getting the business knowledge i lack. I'm now getting a lot more

[j.o.s.h.1408]

if i was i would also go for that interview. if you yourself is not gaining any knowledge and improving your skill, its time for you to move on