Decisions, Decisions

Ok, so, big news on the job front. I have been offered an engineering position at Southern Impact Research Center(SIRC).

I know I have a really confusing work situation, so I am going to explain it before I go any further.

I currently work for Dollamur. Dollamur is a small company that makes sports surfaces out of foam. The biggest part of their business is wrestling mats, but they also make gymnastics, cheerleading, and martial arts flooring.

I met the guys from Dollamur when I was volunteering at SIRC late last summer after they had done some product testing at the lab and was officially hired in November. Dave Halstead, the owner of SIRC and a college professor of mine, told Dollamur that I could rent an office at SIRC and use the lab until Dollamur built a lab of their own, at which time I would move to Texas and continue my work there. The original plan was for me to move to Texas between 90 and 120 days after signing on, but as you know, I am still here.

Back to the job offer. SIRC employs six people and one of the engineers, Laura, resigned about a month ago. I really didn't think anything of it; she obviously didn't fit in with everyone else at the lab and I wasn't surprised when she told me she was leaving. A couple of weeks went by, and on one of the rare occasions that I showed up to do some actual work, Dave and Scott(Dave's bro and co-owner) took me to lunch and offered me Laura's postion. I was really surprised by the offer as Laura is basically a genius and it seems to me that she should be replaced by some other really smart person that knows a whole lot more about everything than I do.

The two jobs pay almost the same. The benefits are pretty much the same. Pros for Dollamur include an extra week of vacation between Christmas and New Years (which I really liked) and it's in Texas, not Knoxville. Pros for SIRC include contacts with every major sporting goods manufacturer and really smart engineers I can learn from. Really, the only thing keeping me from not jumping at the SIRC position is that it is in Knoxville. I have to make my decision by Wednesday, so I'll keep you posted.