Career Options

This is a journal entry from Monday 8/4/2008

Option 1. Continuing with my current employer and finding ways to grow there.

• This option isn't really an option. I chose long ago to leave any company after five years. I've been with the same company for eight - although it's fundamentally changed during that time since it was bought out.
• It's time to move on.

Option 2. Finding a new forty hour per week job as a Java developer.

• This would be the most comfortable thing to do. I would continue to have health insurance and a predictable income.
• On the plus side, I'm familiar with this kind of work. I could learn a new industry.
• On the minus side, I'm still working for someone else. I won't have control over what I do. My income will be limited.

Option 3. Working for a contracting company.

• This sounds like a good fit - if there was work to do. There could be months without work to work on other projects - or to go through my savings. It's more unstable - and possibly more competitive.
• Pluses: I could work with technologies and maybe industries that I'm already familiar with. I could earn more money.
• Minuses: I might not find work for a long time or I might not find work often enough to be able to grow my savings for retirement. I would - maybe - need to be self-insured.
  Research: How do contractors insure themselves? Through their companies? Or self-insurance?

Option 4. Doing freelance work as a Java developer or with web technology.

• This sounds like fun. It would give me alot of freedom to choose how to live, and I could take work in areas where I want to grow.
• Pluses: Control. Great growth potential. Possible decent income.
• Minuses: Self-insurance. Marketing required to find work. There would be a delay while I set up my work environment and familiarized myself with more technology. I might not find work. I might not earn enough to support myself or to save for retirement in the near future.

Option 5, Continuing working with the Rex Harley website and domain until it's profitable.

• This wouldn't be feasible until it becomes profitable. Even if I develop much more time to this, it wouldn't mean an income that I could live on. This is something to grow over time.
• Pluses: Complete control. Opportunity to grow and learn whatever I choose.
• Minuses: No near term income. Possibly never enough to support grow a nest egg. Could require significant effort to make it a profitable business.

Option 6, Finding something I can sell on the Internet - a muse company.

• I don't know how likely this is. Technically I already have a product called Rex Harley that I'm selling. Timothy Ferris wrote in "The 4-Hour Workweek" took a different approach, but this is his take on how he would do it if he had to do it over.