New chapter in my life...

[ZipZap]

Good job. Just don't go too long. I never paid enough attention to the absolute end game and then discovered I could walk away earlier than I did.

If you dig it. Keep doing it. If you dig something else, figure out how you can do it.

[04 commemorative]

You deserve all you get my friend !

[Frankie the Fink]

Originally Posted by Datawiz

Have my new job offer in hand, will be giving notice to old employer on the 16th, but I finally got sick and tired of the never-ending rat race of consulting. I will now be working for a single publicly traded company with 2 Billion in revenue, and will be assuming the role of overall enterprise architect. Gave up a "reasonable" chunk of change in 2024 to leave said consulting company, but my base is the same, guaranteed 10% bonus, a reasonable signing bonus, and the upside is unlimited. Our household budget never includes bonuses. We live comfortably within our base...including either C8 Z06 or now GT3 RS. Let's see how that plays out....

Best part, 40-50 hours a week max...not 80-100+

I'm so burned out, it's not even funny, and the guy who hired me, I've worked with in the past at a previous client. He knows my pedigree and definitely went to bat to get me this offer. It's going to be really fun to focus on 1 company and perfect them...at the multi-billion dollar level. I've done this for 37 years. This can definitely be my swan song.

Good for you, but a "guaranteed" bonus is not a bonus, its part of normal annual compensation.

[Mike Mercury]

Originally Posted by Frankie the Fink

Good for you, but a "guaranteed" bonus is not a bonus, its part of normal annual compensation.

point.

But at least he will know the amount every year upfront.

Last employer I worked for... the Christmas bonus seemed to be determined by rolling dice. It got to the point that I didn't count/budget on getting one.

[Cool 50th AE]

As long as you’re happy.

I don’t think I could ever go back to work even if I was offered a million dollars a year.

[LATB]

Originally Posted by Cool 50th AE

As long as you’re happy.

I don’t think I could ever go back to work even if I was offered a million dollars a year.

Most of us would not want the responsibility and stress that comes with a million dollar salary.

[Datawiz]

Originally Posted by Frankie the Fink

Good for you, but a "guaranteed" bonus is not a bonus, its part of normal annual compensation.

True....

But, at the old employer, there is a tier system (5 levels) and I even only got tier 2 in 2023 because of 1 single BS partner. That cost me over $20k of bonus, and it's again her on a 2nd project that I just finished (client is over the moon) that would have control of it again. Tier 3 sucks and tier 4 and 5 pay nothing. Worst of all, it's a pool of money, and I hear that that pool is much smaller, so nothing is guaranteed.

Guaranteed 10%, even if I only get it once a year, is better than the old system. Part of my salary, sure I'll bite, but I do believe it's allowed to be bigger than 10% too.

[09CTSV]

I have the potential for a 20% bonus. The company works it so actually you can go up to 200% of the payout. They have factors of how well the business does, safety, growth and a formula to figure a payout factor. Last year wasn't too bad but i don't count on bonuses for the budget or savings. I account for it as Mad money when and if it shows up.
The last job we went four years with no bonuses and no 401K match. Much better at this gig for sure.

[kylebuck]

Originally Posted by Datawiz

Have my new job offer in hand, will be giving notice to old employer on the 16th, but I finally got sick and tired of the never-ending rat race of consulting. I will now be working for a single publicly traded company with 2 Billion in revenue, and will be assuming the role of overall enterprise architect. Gave up a "reasonable" chunk of change in 2024 to leave said consulting company, but my base is the same, guaranteed 10% bonus, a reasonable signing bonus, and the upside is unlimited. Our household budget never includes bonuses. We live comfortably within our base...including either C8 Z06 or now GT3 RS. Let's see how that plays out....

Best part, 40-50 hours a week max...not 80-100+

I'm so burned out, it's not even funny, and the guy who hired me, I've worked with in the past at a previous client. He knows my pedigree and definitely went to bat to get me this offer. It's going to be really fun to focus on 1 company and perfect them...at the multi-billion dollar level. I've done this for 37 years. This can definitely be my swan song.

Congratulations on your lateral move brah. Sometimes the money ain't worth the problems

[Chuck A]

Congrats

[KenHorse]

Originally Posted by Datawiz

Dropping from 7 days a week to 1 day a week of drinking saves me over $1,200/month. That's a LOT of tires.

Bah. Won't even cover 1 set of Michelins for a Grand Sport

[GrandSportC3]

Congrats Craig! My next carreer move will be getting laid off after 20+ years with my employer and getting a significant severance package. My employer is in the process of eliminating our mainframe system, replacing it with a server based/JAVA architecture. I may go directly into financial independence and stop working.

[Datawiz]

Originally Posted by GrandSportC3

Congrats Craig! My next carreer move will be getting laid off after 20+ years with my employer and getting a significant severance package. My employer is in the process of eliminating our mainframe system, replacing it with a server based/JAVA architecture. I may go directly into financial independence and stop working.

Good luck! I'm not ready to retire, even though I can easily do so, I just have too many expensive hobbies and a strong desire to keep working.

[GrandSportC3]

Originally Posted by GrandSportC3

Congrats Craig! My next carreer move will be getting laid off after 20+ years with my employer and getting a significant severance package. My employer is in the process of eliminating our mainframe system, replacing it with a server based/JAVA architecture. I may go directly into financial independence and stop working.

Originally Posted by Datawiz

Good luck! I'm not ready to retire, even though I can easily do so, I just have too many expensive hobbies and a strong desire to keep working.

I'll probably work as long as they keep me. However, I doubt that my system will still be there in 5 years.

[snide]

Originally Posted by GrandSportC3

Congrats Craig! My next carreer move will be getting laid off after 20+ years with my employer and getting a significant severance package. My employer is in the process of eliminating our mainframe system, replacing it with a server based/JAVA architecture. I may go directly into financial independence and stop working.

If you decide to get into flipping houses full time, and need some OPM, let me know, and I can hook you up.

[GrandSportC3]

Originally Posted by snide

If you decide to get into flipping houses full time, and need some OPM, let me know, and I can hook you up.

There isn't enough margin in the current market. I haven't bought anything since 2018.
I'm happy with my portfolio. Rents are increasing.

[Frankie the Fink]

I'm genuinely happy for you and Enterprise Architect is a great gig. I had many of those working for me at different agencies over the years. The problem is, in the time it takes to document the "as is" architecture and then a migration plan to the "to be" architecture for a large enterprise; nearly everything has changed, in both the "as is" and the "to be" technology. It was a constant budget battle to keep the EA funded because stakeholders simply couldn't see an immediate, tangible benefit.

The EA just turned into massive volumes on a tech library shelf that the CIO could point to and say, "Yup, we got one of those"..

My EA knowledge is circa 2015, maybe things have changed.

I had the best consulting gig in the world, after 27 years in the Fed gov't and a nice CSRS pension I consulted back to several agencies for triple my salary for 15 years, with NO stress; because my existing retirement paid the bills. And I didn't care if I got fired.

[Datawiz]

Originally Posted by Frankie the Fink

I'm genuinely happy for you and Enterprise Architect is a great gig. I had many of those working for me at different agencies over the years. The problem is, in the time it takes to document the "as is" architecture and then a migration plan to the "to be" architecture for a large enterprise; nearly everything has changed, in both the "as is" and the "to be" technology. It was a constant budget battle to keep the EA funded because stakeholders simply couldn't see an immediate, tangible benefit.

The EA just turned into massive volumes on a tech library shelf that the CIO could point to and say, "Yup, we got one of those"..

My EA knowledge is circa 2015, maybe things have changed.

I had the best consulting gig in the world, after 27 years in the Fed gov't and a nice CSRS pension I consulted back to several agencies for triple my salary for 15 years, with NO stress; because my existing retirement paid the bills. And I didn't care if I got fired.

Salesforce is an extremely large chunk of their tech stack, and I'm beyond fluent with all things Salesforce. In fact, they only want me focusing on that for the first year, but I'll already be digging for the bigger picture.

[Datawiz]

Looks like I win the lottery. Gave official notice today to old company, 2 weeks as customary, and they will pay out my 4+ weeks of accrued PTO as well. I start new job Monday, but will effectively get about 6 weeks of pay in overlap.

[Big bob]

Originally Posted by Cool 50th AE

As long as you’re happy.

I don’t think I could ever go back to work even if I was offered a million dollars a year.

I stopped working in my 40s. If I knew what I know now I would have stopped sooner to have more time with my wife.