Reality Check Needed

[worth]

This sort of reeks of "first world problems" but anyway: I'm 30 years old, unmarried and I've been with my current company for 9 years. I make a good salary and now have 4 weeks vacation. My company has identified me for a comprehensive leadership program in 2014 where they would send me to Rice University in Houston. The intention is that they pick people that could one day manage a facility and those who will repay the company with what they learn over the years.

My plan before this came up was to talk with my boss in January and tell him I am quitting in March so I can go traveling for a year or more. I never did this out of school and am regretting it. I have nothing to hold me back here and don't want to wait until I am older.

I don't want to accept the nomination and then quit a few months later. That would be unfair to the company, but I would very much like to take the course as I'm sure it will be an invaluable experience for me. On the other hand I feel as though this is my last shot to get out and see the world while I am younger. If I don't do it now, I will do it when i'm retired and that is a different experience all together.

Need a logical, rational reality check from you guys if you please.

Edit Nov 8: - Resigned from my position starting end of March 2014. Will hit the road in April 2014.

[missdpuck]

Run, Forrest, run!

On the serious side, what did you plan to do for work after your sabbatical?
It's hard to say (since I don't know your boss) if you should bring it up and ask if you could do school at a later date. I'm thinking the answer would probably be "no", unless they were some really cool company who thinks the year off could help you contribute further to the company.

But I'm sure you've already thought of that!

I regret not doing it right out of school as well. I got to take a big 6 weeks off of work to go to Eastern Europe/Prague but I was already in my 30s and I felt like I had really missed something.

I was also jealous of the people I met who had floundered around and travelled after university and ended up with their dream lives/careers or close to it. I was always taught if you stray from the path there's nothing but doom ahead!

But that was a different time and economy so I guess it's just a lot riskier now.

[Kybosh]

I'd suggest being up front with your bosses about your desire to have a sabbatical. Are you happy with the company? Would you want to come back? If the answer is yes, I'd start playing hypothetical situations with them. For example, you want an 8 month unpaid leave to travel with the expectation that you will return and attend this new program.

Obviously not every employer will be interested in discussing something like this, but you won't know until you ask. If the employer sees you as the future lead, you might be surprised by how flexible they're willing to be. You might also have to be flexible in how long you intend to be away and what the terms are for your return.

[FlamesAddiction]

I agree.

If you like the company and hope to come back after your leave, then you should tell them what you want to do.... After 9 years, you must have enough clout that they aren't going to hate you for it.

When you come back, tell them you are interesting if doing the Houston thing.

[JD]

There are other ways of traveling than taking a year off and slumming around in hostels.

Maybe your job gives you an opportunity to live abroad somewhere? In that type of position, you can travel around the region on your time off, and you get the added benefit of really immersing in the culture of where it is you are living and working.

You have 4 weeks vacation! Take 2 or 3 of that every year and pick a faraway destination. Hit a new place every year.

Or, as you suggest, do it when you're older. Just because it's a "different experience" doesn't mean it won't be a worthwhile one. Besides, you'll probably have more money and be able to really live it up.

Or you could take the year off and travel. It really doesn't matter because you just have to do what's right for you. Don't go traveling just because you hear that it's a life-changing experience for others. This opportunity your employer is presenting could be a tremendous thing for you as well.

[worth]

My intention was not to do a sabbatical, it was to quit outright.

I wanted to come back and get a job with a different company and try my hand at something else to prove to myself that I could indeed do something else.

It was supposed to be a clean break and a challenge to myself to take the time off and do something I wanted to do and then come back and challenge myself again to find a different job and do well in that.

[ComixZone]

There are always valid, real world reasons to not follow your passion/interest (in this case, your desire to travel).

I'm younger than you, and haven't made this decision for myself yet either - but I'd say, stick to your plan. Be up front with your company though (if you like it there), in hopes that you'll come to an agreement that employment can continue after you return from your adventure.

Good luck!

[gargamel]

I hate to encourage the less responsible decision, but I have no regrets about leaving a good job to travel earlier this year. I'm teaching English in Colombia right now and can honestly say I'm happier than I ever was at the law firm.

[missdpuck]

Well, if you already know you want to do something different...

And I was just thinking of you as taking a sabbatical from the conventional working world.

I guess you just really have to listen to yourself.

I'll give you my little rant of hindsight/regret.

I've worked at the Post Office a long time and could never understand why I let myself get stuck there.

While in college, I worked for IBM and learned primitive code and did well with that.

I wanted to move out on my own and the post office paid 3 times what IBM paid.

In the early 90s I met a guy who had worked at Apple but he was getting "old" for them and he was not a fit for them any more so he came to South Florida to develop cell phones etc for Motorola (they're gone now)

He started to teach me other languages etc and encouraged me to get really good at MySQL. Of course this was before web design and the intertubes, but he knew what was coming because he was in the loop.

I would go happily in to work and tell my coworkers about my new studies, and they would just laugh and call me a fool. Self-doubt crept in and I stopped learning code.
I dropped out of the classes I was taking (mainly full of 30 somethings in other jobs) and my Apple friend, sick of South Florida, moved back to California.

Well the people who stuck with it in spite of their "old age" lol ended up being in on the ground floor of many cool things.

All became happily employed and ended up making more money and contributing more to the world than I have, that's for sure.

Sorry for the rant. The point is, listen to yourself!

This is why Rathji is one of my heroes on this board, btw.

[worth]

Yeah, it's an american company. Thanks for the advice all around. The other thing is that they want an answer by end of Day UK time. So that's basically 10am this morning. I am going to talk with my boss once he is out of his meeting at 9am.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Yolo.

[worth]

Not BP. The UK thing will throw you off. My division is based in UK, but the company as a whole is American.

[Northendzone]

can you take a sabbatical and then go to rice later in 2014 or 2015?

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by worth

Not BP. The UK thing will throw you off. My division is based in UK, but the company as a whole is American.

Haliburton?

[nfotiu]

One thing I'd say is unless you are working for a small enough company that you know the owners, then any kind of loyalty is misplaced. Do what's best for yourself.

[surferguy]

I have done the year off thing twice. The last time was a complete job quit and subsequently career change. It is amongst the best decisions I have ever made (right up there with lasik and sliding a note under on the girl upstairs door - she is now my wife).

An education is not complete until you go live and work somewhere else. Getting a work visa would allow you to stay put for a little bit of time - this is important when you go on an extended trip, otherwise the grind of constantly experiencing new things can get difficult.

The facts:
You are not married
you are under thirty
you have 9 years experience
you are educated

Finding a job will not be a problem for you upon return at all

I promise you, today will be a day you will never forget.

Buy the ticket... take the ride.

[cDnStealth]

Stick to your plan. It's become clichéd but you do only live once. Don't put off something you can do right now. Go enjoy yourself. Have fun, experience some things you've always wanted and come back when you've had enough. I am sure you'll be able to get another job when you come back.

[photon]

If it were me I'd probably go, but I regret not doing more wild/fun/cool things when I was young and could do it.

As for the Rice thing, most companies I've worked with usually will claw-back the cost of education if you quit within a certain amount of time.. i.e. you will have to pay for the cost of the education pro-rated for 1 year after it completes. Just bring that up as that might impact the decision; if you would have to either pay for it yourself or wait a year before going etc... And it might be different for your company or that particular thing.

[Regular_John]

I'll say the same thing my Dad told me when I was taking some time off to travel "There's always a reason not to do it."

If it's something you want to do & have the resources to do so then do it. There's always a bunch of reasons not to do something like this (work, family, mortgage, debt, etc) so you need to find a reason to jump in & go for it.

Assuming you're not piling on the debt (or ignoring other obligations) to travel than it's absolutely a worth while investment.

[habernac]

I'm 43, wife and 2 kids and that window is now closed for me. I wasted my twenties in dead end jobs. Get out there and see the world. The workplace will still be here when you get back.