Job Decision

kevin306 wrote: »

I have just qualified as an Electronic Engineer. I have a job offer from a large multi-national cloud computing company as a customer service and support engineer. The money and benefits are very good.
As well as this I have a 3rd and final round interview as an embedded software engineer with a small company. I know the money as a graduate will be much greater with the multi-national company. Basically just asking for peoples feedback on which job people think I should take (if I get through the final interview for embedded engineer role). If i take the customer support role I feel that my future prospects will be small as this is a niche role however it seems like a safe job with lots of perks.

Leaving aside the suport vs development argument (dev wins), go for the smaller company. you'll probably do more, be valued more and get better experience.

Big companies only want you for one thing only, small companies can't afford that.

Either way you'll probably move on after a couple of years, and for this the dev experience will get you a better paying position a lot faster.

Would much prefer the development role regardless of money,

Then do the dev role, if possible.

but if I turn down the other job and dont get the dev job, would be a disaster.

Things like that are always a risk, yeah. But the start of your career is actually a good time to take risks like that. Not saying that means it will automatically end well, but taking a risk in order to try and get on the career track you want is the sort of thing it makes sense to frontload.

Have you considered telling the small company something like that you've been offered another job, you'd prefer to work with them which is why you are waiting, but it'd be really helpful if they could let you know soon if they don't want you? Again, that's not without risks, but if you are in the 3rd round interview, the fact that someone else decided to hire you might be enough of a signal to seal the deal... Risks no matter what, though.

Take the job. Much easier to get a job when you have a job. Plus you will have real work experience, team skills, people interaction etc.

All anecdotal of course, but I know way more people stuck in a non dev role who could never manage the transition to dev than I do know devs who started out in other roles (but then I also probably know more non devs than devs..)

my tuppence - if you are close to getting a dev job, then its probably worth trying to nail one. The fact you are getting close to the job (i.e. tyhe very latter stages of interview) shows you have desirable skills and a fair chance.

Good luck whichever way you go.

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Accept the job you have been offered, you can always quit if you get the other role.

I think it depends - that isn't always good advice.

Having a job of type X can sometimes be a negative signal if you want to get a job of type Y.

Of course, it depends on your financial situation and a lot of different factors. But if you want a job as a developer and if you are getting most of the way through interviews, it might be worth holding out and risking it.