See how much they are willing to offer

Post #23,317 by JayMehaffey 1/6/02 8:04:56 PM Reply	See how much they are willing to offer 2 years is a bad job length. It's too long to be away from the family but not long enough to be worth moving the family unless you intend to stay there. My plan would be to get the manager(s) there on the phone and tell them up front that your not real excited about the prospect of taking a 2 year contract job in Alaska, but your willing to hear their offer. Try to get the most of the details pinned down before you fly up to Alaska. They will want you to fly up because if you fly up, mentally you will have already accepted the job and they will just be negotiating over pay. It's much easier to tell them no from your own house in Florida then after they paid your way to a nice hotel in Alaska. Once you have an idea what they are really offering you will be in a much better posistion to judge. One thing to find out is if they would be willing to pay for you to fly home once a month for a weekend, or every other month for a week or something. Jay
Post #23,363 by boxley 1/7/02 9:46:45 AM Reply	Well these folks are long time clients of mine We have had a working relationship for 10 years. I know the principals well and also about what the job will entail. I will be re-writing a lot of their business procedures. We have spoken about their needs for years. They just now are deciding to bite the bullet to do the work. 2 years is a long time in the Alaskan Job Market. They would bring me on as either a contractor or an employee, thats what we would negotiate. thanx, bill My Dreams aren't as empty as my conscience seems to be
Post #23,594 by JayMehaffey 1/8/02 9:30:30 PM Reply	Sounds like a good offer It sounds like you know these people well enough to know that they are serious about the offer, and that they do have 2 (or more) years of work for you to do. That puts a major concern out of the way. With that out of the way, I think the biggest concern is if you and the family want to move there. That I can't help you with. Jay
Post #23,602 by wharris2 1/9/02 12:14:16 AM Reply	Besides the offer it sounds like you have an idea of what they do and what they want you to do. That's a huge advantage. I've been in several projects where the Other Side really didn't know or understand what we could offer. (we being the company(s) I'm with at the time.) Realistically speaking, Our Side (being software developers, we Knows What We Has to Offer) probably wanted to hammer their business into the mold of Our Holy Software. And their departments probably wanted No Part of the Superior Business Practices We Were Foisting Upon them. (Needless to say, all this is being conducted at a High Level of Dialog, between Presidents and Presidents and Hell with the Underlings. On Either Side.) A Victorian Novel Specification (as Yourdon calls it) is Written, specifications which probably has nothing to do with any real ability of software or anything they're doing in the business, and Signed Off Upon. Er, perhaps I'm thinking too much of a couple of bad experiences in my past. But if nothing else they taught me muchly about how The Mythical Man-Month is so very, very right even after thirty years. "Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it." -- Donald Knuth

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