Goodbye to all this

[randy_byers]

A group of us had drinks after work yesterday with a cow-orker who is leaving the UW to work for Microsoft. He's a web developer, and Microsoft will pay him something like half again as much as we were paying him. On the downside, he'll get less time off and a more expensive health insurance plan.

He had been here less than a year. I've been here for over twenty years. It's hard to imagine working anywhere else at this point. It's very, very hard to imagine working for a corporation. It's quite possible that I could make more money working for a corporation -- during the dot-com boom I used to fantasize about doing technical writing -- but the reality is that I make more than enough money to meet my needs at this point, as a single guy without dependents. (The guy who is leaving has a daughter who is starting college this year.) And I love working for a university, and a very good university at that. I'm proud of our mission, and I love the campus atmosphere, love seeing the kids stepping up into the world, love working with people who are interested in knowledge and learning. Oh yeah, and I love all the time off. I haven't counted in a while, but last time I did I was pretty close to the European ideal of six weeks off a year, although it took me a decade or so to get to that level.

Anyway, that's what I got out of saying goodbye to O yesterday. I understand his reasons for leaving, but I'm damned grateful that I get to stay.

Comments

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

I too would have to have over-riding financial reasons to leave a stable nonprofit like a university for a rapacious corporate entity. Having always been part of overhead (r&d support) even when I was working in the for-profit sector, I was spared the worst of corporate culture, but it still got too close.

[ron-drummond.livejournal.com]

I'm damned grateful that I get to stay.

I am too! Now if the gall durned state budget would only stabilize for the long term, so you are at no risk of being cut, we could all breathe a little easier. Gosh, your later post was kind of scary.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it *is* scary.