Envy, and Night of the Living Headhunters

Okay, so.

I’ve been working on a very large job for one of my clients, a huge retail chain that’s in the process of taking all their design and advertising in-house. They’re also in the process of upgrading their existing workstations, and they’re going with Power Macs and Apple Xserves rather than Wintel boxen.

So for the past four days, I’ve been setting up a bevy of dual-processor G5 systems. My client has twelve shiny new G5 boxen (each with 3.5 gigabytes of RAM and a brand-new 23″ Cinema Display), two new Xserve servers (each with a three-terabyte Xserve RAID array), and the desktops are all getting loaded with the entire Adobe creative suite and the entire Linotype font collection.

I’ve been drooling all over myself all week.

Want want want want shiny happy G5 system want want want.

This particular client is also putting a lot of pressure on me to come to work for them, overseeing their new in-house advertising and design group in Atlanta. Problem is, they don’t want to make me an offer; they want me to research the median salary in Atlanta for that job, and put together a proposal for them.

If we’re doing our research right, it looks like the median salary for something reasonably close to what they want is somewhere between $102K and $153K a year. Which is significantly more than I made from my business last year, and is even more than I was kinda sorta but not really offered to move to Boston earlier this year. If they go for it. If it all pans out.

Trouble is, I have another thing cooking with another of my clients down here that might end up worth a great deal more, if it pans out. Which is a big “if”–that client nominally has funding, but it’s tied up in an overseas bank right now for reasons far too complicated to go into.

And, of course, it’s possible that both of these opportunities will go exactly nowhere, though with the scond client that seems unlikely–they’re getting their funding, it’s just taking a while.

And when it comes right down to it, I odn’t really want to live in Atlanta. I’d much rather live in…oh, I dunno, Boston or summin like that, but we won’t go there.

Grr. So frustrating. I have absolutely no idea what to do right now.

Still want a G5.

10 thoughts on “Envy, and Night of the Living Headhunters

  1. My two cents…

    I would at least put in a proposal for the Atlanta job (unless you really don’t want to move there). I’d put it higher than the median by quite a bit since you may receive a better offer locally and since Atlanta isn’t at the top of your list of places to live. I’d also make sure to include moving expenses and such. It should take a while for them to make up their minds on the proposal and what they want to offer. If the local firm gives you an offer in the meantime you can always commit to that instead or tell the Atlanta people you’ve had a better offer and see if they are willing to counter.

    It’s a toughie. I’ve found that following your instinct in these matters is usually a pretty good idea. Plus there is no such thing as a sure thing or even stability in our industry so I wouldn’t let that worry put you off too much.

  2. My two cents…

    I would at least put in a proposal for the Atlanta job (unless you really don’t want to move there). I’d put it higher than the median by quite a bit since you may receive a better offer locally and since Atlanta isn’t at the top of your list of places to live. I’d also make sure to include moving expenses and such. It should take a while for them to make up their minds on the proposal and what they want to offer. If the local firm gives you an offer in the meantime you can always commit to that instead or tell the Atlanta people you’ve had a better offer and see if they are willing to counter.

    It’s a toughie. I’ve found that following your instinct in these matters is usually a pretty good idea. Plus there is no such thing as a sure thing or even stability in our industry so I wouldn’t let that worry put you off too much.

  3. Conversely, Atlanta is *much* closer to Tampa than Boston is. On the other hand, I feel that I still haven’t taken sufficient advantage of the fact that you’re close enough for me to break into your apartment on my lunch hour and be back to work on time. 😉

    Selfish me thinks that you guys should absolutely stay in Tampa. Realistic me thinks selfish me is a dookie head.

  4. Conversely, Atlanta is *much* closer to Tampa than Boston is. On the other hand, I feel that I still haven’t taken sufficient advantage of the fact that you’re close enough for me to break into your apartment on my lunch hour and be back to work on time. 😉

    Selfish me thinks that you guys should absolutely stay in Tampa. Realistic me thinks selfish me is a dookie head.

  5. First, if you are getting your research data from salary.com, subtract about 20% for the Reality Check correction if you’d like to know where current employment offers are running for average people. I know their data for out here is absurdly wrong compared to what I know people are making. Remember that Georgia has a state income tax.

    And don’t believe the crap about Atlanta being an “affordable” housing market. They are averaging the costs of about 20 counties, most of which are a minimum hour’s commute from downtown on a good day. Anything vaguely near downtown will either be frightfully expensive or just plain frightening. Where is this office?

    Next you will have to decide what you think about living in Atlanta, and I believe you have sufficient information for an informed decision.

    Oh, and traffic sucks. It is overall better than the Bay Area, but at least I have options and don’t have to be forced into driving all the time. In Atlanta, there are no options. Regular transit commuting is a Big Pain In The Ass. But at least Georgia has fully supported the God-given right to Cheap Gas and Big Roads. And speaking of God, you will be asked. Repeatedly. Possibly even at the office. (But not as bad as Mississippi.)

  6. First, if you are getting your research data from salary.com, subtract about 20% for the Reality Check correction if you’d like to know where current employment offers are running for average people. I know their data for out here is absurdly wrong compared to what I know people are making. Remember that Georgia has a state income tax.

    And don’t believe the crap about Atlanta being an “affordable” housing market. They are averaging the costs of about 20 counties, most of which are a minimum hour’s commute from downtown on a good day. Anything vaguely near downtown will either be frightfully expensive or just plain frightening. Where is this office?

    Next you will have to decide what you think about living in Atlanta, and I believe you have sufficient information for an informed decision.

    Oh, and traffic sucks. It is overall better than the Bay Area, but at least I have options and don’t have to be forced into driving all the time. In Atlanta, there are no options. Regular transit commuting is a Big Pain In The Ass. But at least Georgia has fully supported the God-given right to Cheap Gas and Big Roads. And speaking of God, you will be asked. Repeatedly. Possibly even at the office. (But not as bad as Mississippi.)

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