On Monday of this week, the company I work for announced that the Tucson office (where I work with four other employees) will be closing as of August 29th, 2008. We were given three options:
- Paid relocation to San Diego (where the rest of the company is located)
- Telecommute until you either find a new job or decide to move to San Diego
- Terminate your employment with the company on August 29th
It is definitely a sufficient time frame in which to make a decision and that is appreciated. We all pretty much saw the writing on the wall though we held on to the hope that the office would simply be trimmed down to a less expensive office space. With five people, though, it is hard to justify… especially considering that this time last year we had about ten people.
My wife and I have not fully decided which option we are going to take at this point. The cost of living difference between Tucson and San Diego is about 48% (higher in San Diego) and that is a bit stiff considering I would only get about an 8-10% salary increase if I moved there. The second option, telecommuting, is not bad on the surface, but if you have ever done any long term telecommuting with a spouse at home too you know that it’s not a long term solution. I guess the telecommuting option would at least postpone the decision to move one way or the other; however, the company will only pay relocation expenses if we move “right away”. The third option is just kind of crazy… why would anybody do that?
I have been here three years and I like the company and the people I work with, which makes this a very difficult decision to make.
If anyone is looking to hire a Senior Software Engineer (java), drop me a line and “influence my decision”.
