Please Help Me Make An Important Career Decision Before Monday!!!!!

I currenlty work in a highly specialized, esoteric, technical field. There are very people who know this field. The field is really taking off now how that we are getting out of the recession, and people are hiring again. My situation now is this: - I currently work in a "morally bankrupt" company. I really don't have a future here. Most employees are jaded against this company, and the management is here to make a quick buck. - I have only worked here for 1 year, and I still have a lot to learn. once you have learned a lot and have shitloads of experience, the world is your ******* oyster! - My current pay is 65k. - I don't respect my boss, my relationship is my boss is awful. He doesn't supervise me, but leaves me alone as long as the work gets done. A personal connection with one's boss is essential in this field, but my boss and I just don't get along socially. But I have good co-workers. I can learn from them. - Location is awful, I pay $500 in gas a month and another $500 on road tolls. I recently got another job offer, to start this Monday, but - This is a much smaller company, very old company but still "family run". - My salary will be 85k, with a 15% increase once my 6-month probation is over. - Location is not ideal, but much better. Gas will be $200 a month. No road tolls. - I will be the only person at this small company who knows this technical field. I will be the senior! I will have no one to learn from. - This is a family company, run by a husband and wife team. They have also brought their son on board, who is 25. He did not study this technical field, unlike his Dad. Also, from my 5 interviews with this family, I can clearly see this kid is a moron. I am 28, I know 25 year olds, they need not have specialized knowledge, but they must have basic common sense, which this kid doesn't. He does not have what it takes to run a successful business. - The other person in this company is a 38 year old Croatian person. He drafted my contract, he first wanted me to steal some materials from my current company when I moved over to this company, along with proprietary algorithms. When I refused and threatened not to join, they dropped that clause from my hiring contract! I am not making this **** up! This esoteric field is very competitive. - At a conference this week, I talked to the person who recently left this copmany and whose role I will be replacing. She confirmed my observation that the owners are honest and decent albeit senile (yes, medically senile, not figuratively senile), but this Croatian person is a criminal and not someone anybody can easily work with. This former employee had been with this company for 7 years and left now because she finally couldn't stand this Croatian person who blamed her cunningly when things went wrong, and with whom she had other personal problems. Also the Croatian has won the (foolish) trust of the owners and has styled himself the new manager. This former employee also warned me very clearly: "You will be alone! You will have no one to turn to for help or advice!" What would you do if you were me? Would you Stay at my current company, Move to this new company and take the risk, or do something else that I haven't thought of yet? PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!

The criminal at the new place is the trump card: I'd stay where you are and keep your eyes open to other opportunities.

Originally Posted by Dakota rube

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The criminal at the new place is the trump card: I'd stay where you are and keep your eyes open to other opportunities.
+1 What exactly is this "esoteric field" that you work in?

Originally Posted by Dakota rube

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The criminal at the new place is the trump card: I'd stay where you are and keep your eyes open to other opportunities.

seems like the "croat" is also morally bankrupt.

i suggest sticking around for a bit

Thanks to both of you for your advice....

So i just kiss goobye to the 85k salary? with 100k in 6 months? God help me.

I work in Airborne (aircraft-based) electromagnetic geophysical surveying. Clients are most mining companies that are prospecting, also governments that need special aerial surveys, etc. more romantic clients are spies who want to detect submarines from the air, antarctic and arctic/greenland surveyors and prospectors (folks on the countdown for when global warming makes these places economically profitable), aerial landmine detectiion, etc.
You need knowledge in electromagnetics and geophysics to do this ****. (I have a masters from MIT in this ****). Lawsuits are very very commonplace in this industry....including dramatic cases of suing former employees who "steal" technology, methods and other employees with their own startups, suing rival companies to drive stock price down, etc etc....I learned about this industry from my current company, so it may be a jaded perspective.

EDIT: As this is Styleforum, I confess--when I got my new job offer and salary 2 weeks ago, I immediately earmarked 3k for a new watch and 3k for a new suit!!!!!! I kiss all that goodbye as well!

Originally Posted by miran

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I work in Airborne (aircraft-based) electromagnetic geophysical surveying. Clients are most mining companies that are prospecting, also surveying governments, etc. more romantic clients are spies who want to detect submarines, antarctic and arctic/greenland surveyors and prospectors, aerial landmine detectiion, etc. You need knowledge in electromagnetics and geophysics to do this ****. (I have a masters from MIT in this ****). Lawsuits are very very commonplace in this industry....including dramatic cases of suing former employees who "steal" technology, methods and other employees with their own startups, suing rival companies to drive stock price down, etc etc....I learned about this industry from my current company, so it may be a jaded perspective.
That sounds like really interesting work. Have you ever read Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey? He details a story about uranium miners and prospectors in the early 1900's; definitely a cut throat business.

yea that field is definetly out there.

Id take it if I were you. Im 28 and 100k is hard to turn down. heck, previous lady lasted 7 years. Surely you can find a new gig by that point. Id do it, personally. **** the croat.

Originally Posted by Dakota rube

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The criminal at the new place is the trump card: I'd stay where you are and keep your eyes open to other opportunities.

+1

I'd have to imagine, given a ******* masters degree from MIT, that you might be able to find a better company to work for than one run by two senile elders, a degenerate son, and a corrupt croatian swindler.

Sounds like they want you to take knowledge from one company. Pay you 100k for one year. The information probably costs them 200k elsewhere. Atleast they get a slave to go along with it.

Originally Posted by gqreader239

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Sounds like they want you to take knowledge from one company. Pay you 100k for one year. The information probably costs them 200k elsewhere. Atleast they get a slave to go along with it.

yeah, but they agreed to remove the "theft" clause from my contract

They now just get the slave with the knowledge...and they have to use their own psychological tricks to get the knowledge out coz there's no way in hell I'm letting that slip out into the public domain of this new company....

Originally Posted by Rambo

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I'd have to imagine, given a ******* masters degree from MIT, that you might be able to find a better company to work for than one run by two senile elders, a degenerate son, and a corrupt croatian swindler.
+1^n also i fail to see how such a company could be morally bankrupt. doing aerial surveys is not really a field fraught with moral peril. also the pay sucks and it sounds like its not as esoteric and cool as you imagine. cheers

i would do it. you are still young and 7yrs from the past employee is something...

A choice between two crooks, but one will teach you a lot and set you up for a good company down the road. If you keep your exit strategy ready, that sounds like the better option.

Originally Posted by Rambo

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I'd have to imagine, given a ******* masters degree from MIT, that you might be able to find a better company to work for than one run by two senile elders, a degenerate son, and a corrupt croatian swindler.

Seriously....