I'll try to keep this as short as possible.
Background:
-Work in IT.
-MBA candidate, about a year to go.
-Work from home at my own discretion. Saves time, money, and some less stress than being in cramped office I share with others.
-With org that is rapidly degrading (CEO let go, facing criminal charges, and super high turnover, almost entirely now interim management across the organization in nearly every senior role. Org has shrunk by about 40% over 2 years and seems to keep shrinking).
-150K salary, easily 25K above market for my area (unless you factor in that I'm a lead, but even then considerably still higher than usual). The guy who made me the offer made sure I was tied down...
-Not that much work, at least right now, but it's up and down, sometimes crazy. We are getting another helper so that should help take some of the strain off me. But the BS below will remain...
-I'm a contractor, on W2 working for consulting company on client account.
Situation:
-Where I work is a large bureaucracy, where BS and incompetence reign. Basically it is PM/Admin staff oriented rather than Engineer oriented. I've worked in an organization like this before and it was hell. The entire team turned over very quickly. The org is now struggling. I see a lot of the same signs here. I'm working on a project that is way behind, because the three PM's I'm working with have no idea what they are doing. I am the only technical resource on the project. Each of them was an admin assistant and was literally promoted into a PM role. They have literally been promoted to their level of incompetence. They were good admin assistants, but are piss poor PM's.
-These three stooges literally make up stuff to do. They just make up requirements. Today I will be working on change requests 800-900....I say that in jest but it is probably not far off. I've talked to them about it, but it continues, they just have no idea what they are doing.
-The strain of dealing with these idiots is affecting my health. At the same time, I know some level of idiocy will exist elsewhere, but it still makes me want to leave. For some reason changing jobs, especially with a break in between, helps heal the wounds for a while. But chances are it will be more of the same elsewhere. Maybe not as bad, and maybe not right away, but sooner or later, it seems people who cannot do anything else bypass engineering and go right into support roles.
-The work from home status and pay make it tough to leave, especially knowing that a similar situation is likely to be waiting for me somewhere else, and I'd be starting over...
-As a result, I see three options. Two of them will involve a pay cut and having to go back into an office, and in reality, this job with the pay and WFH won't last forever, so I will eventually have to move on anyway. The other option is to milk this job and do it half assed for the next year, while finishing school and working on my resume and certs for management positions. I got ITIL, and a PM cert, will look for others. I'm not sure staying here longer will be good for me mentally and health wise. I stayed at a job like this before and it killed me inside a little bit.
-I don't think I want to stomach more of the same elsewhere, especially having to go into the office and for less money, which is most likely what would happen if I stayed technical.
-I would be on the receiving end of the stupid again, since it seems in IT, the most skilled will end up working for the least skilled, and as a result, our lives will be hell. So I think the solution is to change positions entirely when I change jobs, by going into management. I am king of process improvement.
-What I think is best to do is go back into management. It's been a while since I've been, but when I apply, I get interview and when I interview, I get offers.
-It's been my plan since I first started posting almost three years ago, to go into management to save my sanity. Yes, there is other BS, but not like this, where you are the most skilled person working for the least skilled persons, and their incompetence makes your job harder.
-Now that I write this, I realize that THREE YEARS has passed and I still have not made the change and gone back to management. I interviewed, got offers, some with a pay increase (but the company reviews on glassdoor.com were just AWFUL) and some with a huge pay decrease and a blend of hands on and management (worst). I never accepted any of them. I think partly because of fear of leaving what was at the time, a good thing. Good pay, for little work, and good commute with lots of time off, for something that looked even worse after vetting. Plus it was helping pad my portfolio, so I figured if it aint broken don't fix it, stack your chips for a rainy decade.
-I'm not sure what to do. As quickly as I rose through the technical ranks, I also rose through the management ranks before. Now with more experience and education, it should be 1-2 or 3 years before I get my income back up to a similar level if I do switch to management.
-I would view a six figure management job that I like as worth the pay cut and having to go into the office. While I would likely take a cut of 40-50K, I think if I look long enough, I can make a switch and still stay in the six figure range until I build back up in management and get higher offers for that.
Thoughts? Should I focus on making the switch after the holidays or ride this out until it ends? I've never been fired so I'm not sure about the whole engineering your layoff thing. Would be nice, but there is the opportunity cost of not being able to save money while on unemployment.