Job Decision

kevin306

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.

Raging_Ninja

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.

kevin306

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

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.

Thanks for feedback. Would much prefer the development role regardless of money, but if I turn down the other job and dont get the dev job, would be a disaster. Its tough turning down a job these days as there hard to come by.

fergalr

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.

Tar.Aldarion

Which do you want to do, want to be doing in a year etc? that should answer it for you. I'd definitely be aiming for the development role, money doesn't matter when you are starting, mine started low but it goes up fast. I would mention it to the dev job that you have a job offer like fergalr says.

kevin306

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Which do you want to do, want to be doing in a year etc? that should answer it for you. I'd definitely be aiming for the development role, money doesn't matter when you are starting, mine started low but it goes up fast. I would mention it to the dev job that you have a job offer like fergalr says.

Unfortunately didn't get the development job they decided to give it to someone that had more technical experience. I think I'm not going to take the other job and keep looking for a Dev job. Sounds mad turning down a job these days but if I take it I'm going down a road I don't want. Can be hard find embedded software companies could anyone pm of some in the munster region. Just wondering so I can send in a cv

not1but4

kevin306 wrote: »

Unfortunately didn't get the development job they decided to give it to someone that had more technical experience. I think I'm not going to take the other job and keep looking for a Dev job. Sounds mad turning down a job these days but if I take it I'm going down a road I don't want.

Sorry to hear about the development role.

While a lot people go straight into development role as a graduate, there is also a lot of people who start off in Support / QA and then move into a Development role. In saying that some people do end up getting stuck there because they didn't take on development type tasks in the role. I did 6 months in support role (hated every second of it) but I spent most of my day coding by creating tools and reports (one of them I created using SQL, Java, Perl, HTML, Shell) for the other support guys or the business. I was a better developer after spending that time in support.

amen

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.

kevin306

I guess what I'm worrying is, if i take the support job will I get stuck in it and the opportunities are far greater in development. I understand saying a job is a job but will embedded software companies not want you if your experience is in support.

km991148

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

kevin306 wrote: »

Thanks for feedback. Would much prefer the development role regardless of money, but if I turn down the other job and dont get the dev job, would be a disaster. Its tough turning down a job these days as there hard to come by.

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

fergalr

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.

kevin306

fergalr wrote: »

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.

Decided not to go ahead with the job offer. Have got another few interviews coming up, and as was said earlier I am getting down to final stages of interview process so hopefully one will go my way soon. Thanks for all the feedback guys.

UCDVet

kevin306 wrote: »

Decided not to go ahead with the job offer. Have got another few interviews coming up, and as was said earlier I am getting down to final stages of interview process so hopefully one will go my way soon. Thanks for all the feedback guys.

Good luck

Elessar

Any update OP?