Quote:
Originally Posted by hulkrogan
You need to find a good balance.
Too many places on your resume and potential employers will be suspicious/leery. No one wants to hire someone that is going to get trained and up to speed only to leave shortly after.
On the other hand, sticking it out at one place rarely leads to the same raises you get by switching jobs.
If you find yourself in a boom, start contracting/consulting. Consultant rates are way more volatile. You can cash in like crazy during a boom. As soon as you smell things cooling off, try find something permanent while there is still jobs or you may find yourself screwed.Your best case is not seeing a rate increase for several years. People doing the same job as a permanent employee will start to catch up.
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I am a consultant and yes you are right you can make more during the boom because there are a tons of hours of work up for the taking. With that being said the problem with a lot of consultants is they tend to spend everything they make. If you are going to consult, you must at minimum save 6 months worth of living expenses. I am assuming most people could find a job within 6 months, even if it is doing something not related in your degree. I try to keep 2 years of living expenses in my company so I don't have to change my lifestyle during a recession.
With that being said I worked 2400 hours in 2009 when half the O&G engineers were out of work. I've been very lucky obtaining a boat load of work throughout but with that being said I am not like most people my age. I put my work first and its paid off. I've consulted for one company now over 5 years. I've seen this company go from 250 people to 50 people and back to 200+ now. Yet they kept me over staff people during the down turn, so I am not sure it is in my best interest to move around for an extra $5.00 an hour and rebuild the relationships that I currently have with my existing contracts. I've hit 2800 hours this past year.
Work hard, play hard. That's what I stick by.