Decisions, Decisions

"jsmizira" (jmizira) 08/25/2014 at 12:08 • Filed to: None

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Well Oppo, I have a dilemma and I'm hoping that the masses of educated and enlightened can help me out. Here is my situation.

I am currently a lab tech and enjoy my day job. However I have to work five days a week and my salary has been frozen due to cashflow issues at the company. Nobody knows when the issue will be fixed and even if I were to be promoted to get around the freeze in order to progress above that they would want me to go to college to get my bachelors. But they won't help me out with the expenses and I refuse to go into debt for an education as it does not seem wise and most college grads are struggling to make ends meet.

That being said I recently was approached by a friend who knew I used to drive and work on semi trucks professionally and asked me to come work for him part time. The new Job would pay $10 per hour more and I would make more money a month working less hours than I do now. the problem is he said is the work can be of the feast or famine variety.

My question is: Is it worth the instability for more money on less time or is it something that I should dismiss all together.

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505Turbeaux > jsmizira 08/25/2014 at 12:10

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screw it, if your lifestyle can support it, hit the road jack

GhostZ > jsmizira 08/25/2014 at 12:21

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What are your backup options? Can you do the truck job and a second part time job with it? Do you have backup skills you've been working on that you can turn into a profit now? What would your gross pay come in?

And what are your liabilities? If you're going into an unstable situation, how high your need for stability, such as debt, rent, etc. are the most important things to consider.

Take the income you'll be receiving and weight it by the probability of work not happening. Do some research on the subject and get some real data.

For example, if you stand an 50% chance of having no work, 30% of the time having $25/hr for 20hrs/week, but a 20% chance of having $25 an hour for 35 hrs/week, then you have the following weights:

.5 * 0 = 0
25*20 * .3 = $150/week
25*35*.2 = $175/week

Total: $225 a week.

You can get even more technical and take the shape of that curve, and calculate standard deviations of your income to estimate the % chance you have of dropping below your liabilities. In other words, you can calculate an actual % chance you won't be able to pay your bills.

jsmizira > GhostZ 08/25/2014 at 12:38

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Wow. This is Great food for thought, and really objective too. thank you.

GhostZ > jsmizira 08/25/2014 at 12:41

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Economics and Statistics is actually good for something after all!