Pay Threshold For A Job You Don't Like

[spartan86]

Curious to see what people's threshold is (if there is one) in terms of the minimum you would work for a job you might not enjoy or the flip side, the lowest you'd take for a job you love, ie:

Currently work as a systems engineer in R&D - Pay is average, 100k, but have relaxed work style and love the work - Working from home, get to go for a run during the day, clean the house, run errands etc.

Have opportunity to move into a sales engineer role, so not as fun as R&D engineering - Huge pay bump, minimum 160k plus commission, bonus and car allowance - But would require working everyday on the road and obviously can't work from home at all.

- Would you take the huge pay increase if it means that you loose a lot of the flexibility, have you worked in a role just for the money?

- How long did you last or did you move back soon after to a role that was more enjoyable but less pay?

 

[serllpcb]

@spartan86 I reckon if you love working in R&D, you will not enjoy sales, and there is no amount of money that will replace your soul. Maybe that’s something you need to find out for yourself though.

If I were you, and really wanted a pay increase, I’d explore better paying system engineer jobs.

 

[spartan86]

@serllpcb Unfortunately the industry I'm in is limited in Australia, so not many roles. I guess sales might get boring after a while

 

[hodgemorin]

@spartan86 How is systems engineering limited, you don't have to restrict yourself to r&d

 

[lizabey]

@spartan86 Sales is incredibly stressful man. Yeah it's fantastic money, but your entire lifestyle would change -- from experience it's rarely worth it.

 

[bcik]

@spartan86 I’m in the same situation. Do I give up my salary which used to be considered fairly good (but has been paused for a few years) but is now very average, but at the cost of being a research scientist, for a role which is much better paid more senior but not at all research and therefore likely to be very bland?

 

[ashleywatkins]

@spartan86 I'd worry more about the difficulty and stress of sales work, and it sounds like you have little of either in your current position. Being boring is not the problem with that job.

 

[rbp]

@spartan86 Im assuming it’s Defence? If you’re willing to leave R&D and get into Acquisition sustainment, there are lot of Systems Eng roles out there that lay $120k plus with minimal responsibility.

 

[spartan86]

@rbp It's in medical, but it's a unique role where I get to hands on develop software and electronic prototypes as well, not heavy on paper work side, like other systems roles are (especially defense).

 

[lolasrobot]

@spartan86 Ask for a appraisal? Especially worthwhile if you’ve been there for a while. Good luck!

 

[tbuy]

@spartan86 You sound happy. That is worth a lot. None of us take anything with us when we die. But you could ask for a payrise due to inflation and/or ask to take on new projects/leadership. But if you can comfortably pay your bills etc and can save for a rainy day/holiday/a goal, you have to ask, what would it be for? There is always someone with more money. But time is something noone can buy back. Your life is precious.

 

[andy0099]

@spartan86 Why is that? 160k base isn’t hard to make in tech. Sales will stay pay more though. You can make way more than 160k if you’re successful in tech sales.

 

[allthemittens]

@serllpcb Also think about your expenses. For me $100k is enough to live a comfortable life.

The sales role is likely to be far more stressful, less satisfying and requires you to give up a great working from home arrangement.

Is there anything you could even spend the extra $60k on which would make up for those shortcomings?

 

[spartan86]

@allthemittens I agree, it's quite comfortable to live on 100k, with some extra expenses. I guess in reality, the extra 60K per year turns into ~26k extra cash in hand, after tax - So not a huge difference if I consider the less satisfying side of things.

 

[egm3248]

@spartan86 Also factor in the fact that when you work out and about you will have additional expenses. Clothing, travel and other outgoings (eg coffee lunch etc?)

I’m in a similar position to you - just under 100k but very flexible. Can move elsewhere or up, but that would be much less flexible. I’m taking the pay cut for the flexibility and maintaining my mental health, as working out of the house full time would be incredibly difficult for me at the moment with young kids and a house to run.

Edit: in saying that, if I were single or had no kids, I would probably choose the money and then take a step back in late 30s-40s

 

[crazydreamer]

@egm3248 Also consider that if you can’t run errands in work time, do cleaning etc, then you have to do in free time or pay someone to do for you - a cleaner might take another $10k off the top and if you’ve only got weekends to run errands, it’s fuggen sucks…try collect post items through the week working 9-5 every day…impossible

 

[resjudicata]

@spartan86 yup.

Break it up.

Is it worth $500/wk to you ?

btw - should be plenty of Systems engineering roles like you have - I work in a similar org (not medical devices, but R&D) and know of plenty of others local (Sydney)