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Message: <blockquote data-quote="der_kluge" data-source="post: 1715599" data-attributes="member: 945">Sometimes life is hard.I remind myself of that to reassure myself that these kinds of decisions are not easy to make.At the company where I work, the powers that be have decided that it makes sense (it doesn't, btw) to send all their Information Systems people to IBM.  So, in this phase (phase II), my company is sending over 1,000 people from their information systems department (yes, I work for a big company) to IBM.  IBM has agreed to hire us, and we'll work on the contract supporting our company.  Which, in essence, means that I'll do the same thing I'm currently doing, except I'll be a contractor with IBM, not my current company.  This position is guaranteed for at least a year, beyond that, who knows.On top of that, IBM has positions *within* IBM, that they want to fill right away.  225 of these, to be exact.  They have said that we can request to be considered for this list.  The nature of these jobs is unknown, but it is assumed that many, if not most are outside of where I currently live (Kansas City).On Monday, I'll be given an offer letter from IBM.  This will basically state that they wish to hire me at my current salary in my current position.  I can either choose to accept it, or decline it.  I have until the 30th to decide.  If I accept the offer, I'll be "rebadged" as an IBM employee on the 16th of September, and then would presumably work, more or less in the same role, for at least a year after that date.  If I decline, I'll be given an "out" date, which will represent my last day with the company.  After that date, I'll get a severance package which represents 2 weeks per year of service, and for me that means 2 months of severance.On top of this, of course, I along with everyone else in this sinking ship, have scoured the job websites frantically looking for something.  Of course, given that the largest employer in this area is dumping about 1,500 of their I.T. folks, you can imagine what the Kansas City I.T. job market looks like.  Needless to say, there isn't anything here for me.  I have, however, found a position that sound very good in Richmond, VA.  This position is with Capital One (the, "What's in your wallet?" people) on a new Teradata data warehouse project.  This pays around $45 per hour.  They want to move quickly, and the client is anxious to start this new team.  However, I've never been to the east coast, let alone Richmond.  I know the area is probably nice, and there seems to be tons of jobs in that area.  Ironically enough, my sister lives there, so that's certainly a bonus.  I intend to call her soon to get her thoughts on the area, but I do know that she's quite happy there.The big thing is that we have a 2,000 sq. ft. house in a suburb here, which we paid a little over $170k for (wow, I'm really revealing a lot of personal information here, aren't I?  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> ) .  This kind of thing is completely unheard of on the east coast, and a comparable house would easily cost upwards of $500k there.  Of course, even our house might be worth close to $200k now, since our suburb is growing so rapidly, especially if we are able to finish our basement.It should also be worth nothing that my current position is that of "requirements analyst".   I gather requirements and write technical documents for people to code against.  This is a "process" position, and given a new process, which IBM intends to put into place over the course of the next year, could theoretically be eliminated, or altered to some degree.So, I have several options:1) rebadge to IBM, and stay in my current position, which could eventually get eliminated.  I'm guaranteed a position for a year.2) go with IBM and attempt to seek out one of their 225 special jobs which would most likely mean moving to a new city3) go with the sure thing in Richmond, even though it would definitely mean moving, and selling my house.I should add that there is a per diem option to consider in Richmond.  I could live in Richmond for 6-9 months or so, on per diem, and leave my wife and daughter in KC while she gets the house ready, and we put it on the market.  It might not sell at all during the winter, so it would allow us to not have two house payments, and when it did sell, she could move out, and then we could buy out there.  It would also allow me some time to scope the area out, and should it be necessary, abort the entire thing, and move back home.  So, that is certainly there as a safeguard.One thing that I feel is important is career growth.  If I go with IBM, I would be just another cog in a huge wheel.  I feel like it would be hard to advance in that position, and I still have to keep my career, and long-term goals in mind.  Moving to Richmond, while likely to induce some culture shock on my southern/midwestern self, would likely be the best option for me and my family.  There's really nothing holding us to this area.  Well, I speak for myself - ALL of my wife's family is here, and mine is 6 hours south in Arkansas.  I know I would find gamers there, I know I could find a good community band to play in, and everything else is a wash.  It's not like I'm moving out of the country or anything.I'm wrestling with this one.  It's not an easy decision.  I'm interested in any thoughts anyone has.  On Richmond, on jobs, or anything, really.thanks for listening.</blockquote>

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