Hi All,
I had it made. I rent my apartment for $665/month (a bit spendy, but a good deal for me to live by myself) and now things have changed and it's not that great anymore.
See, my office WAS just 3 miles from home. My bank and grocery store were between my office and my home. I could bike on a paved, wooded trail to get most of the way there without even going on the road. My apartment is close to the interstate for my once weekly quick trip to the city to play softball, and right by the train station if I don't want to drive.
But now it's all ruined. The office moved about 25 miles further south because some of the partners wanted it closer to their homes. When I expressed my distaste for that decision, they just said, "we've been driving that far for 2 years, it's your turn." So now, a hand full of us I have a lot longer commute, and a few of them have a much shorter commute. For the short term at least, I'm going to be stuck with an hour commute in rush hour traffic twice a day.
Like hell it's going to be that way for long.
In addition to that, I've had some skepticism about the success of (their?) our [2.5 year old startup] company. We aren't doing as well as I think we should be. I'm a contractor and I'm paid (dare I say) 50% less than I'm worth (according to sites that list salaries and searching for comparable job descriptions), I don't get benes, and the partners are restricting more and more of our freedoms. No more work-from-home days, mandatory working hours, etc...
It was worth it at first since I was new to the area and new to the software field (professionally, at least) and got the offer right away! Hot damn a job! And being a contractor supplied a lot of freedom for me to explore this new land I moved to. But now the freedoms are being taken away, the compensation isn't scaling, and all I have to show for it is an [insulting?] 2.5% ownership in the company that goes away if I leave.
I've had some long difficult conversations with a couple of my more friendly colleagues expressing my distaste, and they agree with my frustrations. The partners are concerned that I am no longer 100% invested in the success of their company, but I haven't worked up the confidence to tell them why. I compared my work load to shoveling all the snow off of Mount Everest by myself - of course I'm grumpy.
I get a huge windfall [like, an extra 15% of my salary) bonus when I complete my new project in 2 months (a stretch, but I want that cash), so once that's complete and I get paid, I'll stop working double shifts and start considering what I want to do to solve this problem. In the mean time, I've taken on one additional client for a couple-month side project, and started a project of my own to hopefully initiate a couple more sources of income.
So, I am looking at apartments near my new office. The only decent ones I find are either priced HIGHER - in the realm of $900/mo for a single bedroom - or impose ridiculous religious restrictions because of BYU being near by. And I mean really ridiculous - like no drinking, no casual sex, no ONLINE GAMING..... my three favorite things!! And they're in a much less desirable location (for me at least).
I'm nervous about moving and signing a lease if I am going to be leaving the company soon. I'd hate to be stuck with a commute in the other direction for several months if I take another job. I really like my current place.
I am considering renegotiating my contract with them. If I worked part time, I could focus on other projects and other sources of income, boosting my own company further, and potentially a lot further. I do not strictly need my full salary, and I could get by on half (but I'd have to stop saving, at least in the short term).
Anyways, lots of stresses vented. Help?