Will taking a job in one sector set my career path
Hey I’ve been pretty luck last week and I managed to get 2 job offers.
One is a good gig at a massive, old school financial group. I’m talking I have to wear a suit and tie. My biggest worry though is the tech is old and my coworkers and higher ups don’t seem bleeding edge so I doubt I’ll be flexing my developer muscles. Plus they have a volleyball intramural league
The other company is contracted for 6 months with a really cool tech IoT company. Job through Insight Global, Full remote, Has amazing Glassdoor reviews, cool projects, I crushed their technical interview so I feel like I can actually contribute.
I’m leaning towards the financial group because money matters and I want to feel secure.
What I’m worried about is after 2 years I’ll be 27 and I’m scared that working as a SWE for a financial group won’t look as good so I’ll never be able to work on a project that I’m passionate about again
Any advice?
You’re 25, unless your dream job is social media manager, you have 10+ years before anyone starts using your age against you. No matter which job you take, you can always pivot, just spend a few minutes crafting a narrative.
You can learn at any company. The financial company is going to give you a lot of space to learn process and compliance, and probably be infuriatingly slow, but you’ll probably come out with a different opinion about risk. The IoT start up is probably going to let you have more independence and playing with rando tech, and you will learn more about work life balance and your own working habits there.
If you’ve never worked remote, take the contract and see how much that flex is worth to you monetarily. You might be surprised. I would rather rub shit in my hair than wear a suit to an office everyday. But then again, maybe you love volley ball that much.