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Quit my job to join the bike industry??

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Mike B.

Turbo Monkey
Oct 5, 2001
1,522
0
State College, PA
Let's say you have a good job with decent pay and above average benefits. The job is close to home (< 6 miles) and things are generally going well. An offer comes along to go work in the bike industry that may mean a smaller compensation package but more laid back environment and a lot more flexibility. Your spouse has a good paying job with health care, etc. and you don't have kids. What do you do?

Anyone out there ever left a medium to large size company to go work for a very small company or start your own business?
 
N8 v2.0

N8 v2.0

Not the sharpest tool in the shed
Oct 18, 2002
11,003
149
The Cleft of Venus
Mike B. said:
Let's say you have a good job with decent pay and above average benefits. The job is close to home (< 6 miles) and things are generally going well. An offer comes along to go work in the bike industry that may mean a smaller compensation package but more laid back environment and a lot more flexibility. Your spouse has a good paying job with health care, etc. and you don't have kids. What do you do?

Anyone out there ever left a medium to large size company to go work for a very small company or start your own business?
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This is a no brainer. You can work for the corporate world anytime. Not so with bike related industries.
 
Ridemonkey

Ridemonkey

This is not an active account
Sep 18, 2002
4,108
1
Toronto, Canada
The perfect way to ruin your love of cycling is to work in the industry. I'm all for leaving the corporate world - but I don't think the bike industry is going to be everything you think it is.

Got yer email. I'm pondering it :)
 
Skookum

Skookum

bikey's is cool
Jul 26, 2002
10,184
0
in a bear cave
Ridemonkey said:
The perfect way to ruin your love of cycling is to work in the industry.
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That's only because you haven't come up here and ridden with me and Serial Midget yet slacker.... Get the lead outta yer tookus, and bring Heidi and her old man too. :)
 
reflux

reflux

Turbo Monkey
Mar 18, 2002
4,617
2
G14 Classified
Ridemonkey said:
The perfect way to ruin your love of cycling is to work in the industry. I'm all for leaving the corporate world - but I don't think the bike industry is going to be everything you think it is.
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I agree. I've never held a job in the bike industry for what it's worth, but I'm all about diversifying to keep it interesting.
 
J

JoeRay

Monkey
Feb 19, 2004
228
0
In Squalor
Ridemonkey said:
The perfect way to ruin your love of cycling is to work in the industry. I'm all for leaving the corporate world - but I don't think the bike industry is going to be everything you think it is.
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Amen. Doing so sure killed my enthusiasm to ride.

Managing a shop killed me, hours too long, pay too little. Everyone talks about how great deals you get if you're in the industry but really its all BS.

Between the internet, and a few select friends in the industry (I pity them) and earning a real salary I can more than afford the toys I want. Plus now I get home wanting to ride bikes cause I haven't spent all day round them.

Thank you exboss for retrenching me!

The bike industry is I think on the whole a young persons game. The older I got the more I felt out of place in it.
 
sanjuro

sanjuro

Tube Smuggler
Sep 13, 2004
17,373
0
SF
I am just about to leave the bike industry again. I am thirtysomething single man, with fairly high expenses because of my locale (San Fran).

I was going into the red managing a bike shop. I had considered making a move to another shop, but going back to the corporate world more than triples my current salary with good benefits, etc. And I still get my store benefits.

I wish I was married to a kind person who could afford to allow me to work in a shop. On the other hand, the 50+ hours a week I spend in the shop is not exactly conducive to a good relationship.

I was hoping to parlay my shop job to a better industry job, but that will take years, something I cannot afford. Sometimes I am not sure I want to be anything more than a shop owner, which is an exercise in poverty.

The only thing a corporate job allows me is time to ride. I work harder and longer hours in a shop than I do on computers, so I have plenty of time after a 8-5 schedule to ride. I also have weekends free (although I plan on working Saturdays in the shop because I like it so much).

And while I can wear shorts and listen to metal, I also have to be on my best behavior when dealing with the kooks and kranks which end up at a bike shop.

The bottom line for me is I love working in a shop. I have had 5 bike store jobs interspersed between my corporate stints. Money talks though.
 
jacksonpt

jacksonpt

Turbo Monkey
Jul 22, 2002
6,791
59
Vestal, NY
If you can pay the bills and still have a bit of fun, and you're wife's benefits are at least satisfactory, it's a no brainer, IMO. Take the job in the bike industry.
 
J

JRogers

talks too much
Mar 19, 2002
3,785
1
Claremont, CA
While I would like to encourage you to take a bit of a chance and go for it, I think I lean more towards Ridemonkey and JoeRay. Many people I know have gone into the industry and it mostly killed what they loved about cycling or greatly decreased their time/desire to ride. General rule I would like to follow: don't make your hobby a job. Then your hobby becomes a job, you know. I worked in a shop for a long time and it was really good for me because it was never full time and I was (still am) young with few committments.

Who knows, though, it could be great. I think it depends more on the specific job you'd be doing. Knowing more about that would help, but I understand the secrecy.
 
James

James

Carbon Porn Star
Sep 11, 2001
3,559
0
Danbury, CT
I'm going to go against most of the folks here, and say that I personally LOVE working in the industry. Since I was 15, the only jobs I've had have been bike-related. Starting out as a shop rat, and moving up from there.
But maybe I'm the exception. I don't really want a "real" job, I don't think I would have fun doing it, and if I'm not having fun at my job, I'm not happy. I realize of course that I won't make as much money as I would as a "civilian," I'm much, much happier.
I'm a total bike geek though, I'm a kind of guy who gets more and more into bikes, the more I work with them. I don't have the problem with the job/hobby thing, I think because bikes are really my life.
That being said, I wasn't as happy running a shop as I was on the other side of things, so I'm going to go back to that I think.
Just my opinion, I think that deep down you know what you should do. Best of luck with your decision, it's a big one! Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions...

JJames
 
M

Mike B.

Turbo Monkey
Oct 5, 2001
1,522
0
State College, PA
Thanks for the input everyone. I'm currently working in the aerospace industry but have been involved in the bike industry for about 4 years. This would definetly be a big step though and so far my wife is very supportive (and she got a raise today too). The job would be engineering/development/quality/customer support, like I said it's a small company. Now back to my pro and con list - yes I'm a dork.
 
jdcamb

jdcamb

Tool Time!
Feb 17, 2002
20,050
8,769
Nowhere Man!
Mike B. said:
Thanks for the input everyone. I'm currently working in the aerospace industry but have been involved in the bike industry for about 4 years. This would definetly be a big step though and so far my wife is very supportive (and she got a raise today too). The job would be engineering/development/quality/customer support, like I said it's a small company. Now back to my pro and con list - yes I'm a dork.
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If you don't take the job I think you are talking about. Then I want to put my name in the mix for it. :D Pull the trigger dude....
 
sanjuro

sanjuro

Tube Smuggler
Sep 13, 2004
17,373
0
SF
Mike B. said:
Thanks for the input everyone. I'm currently working in the aerospace industry but have been involved in the bike industry for about 4 years. This would definetly be a big step though and so far my wife is very supportive (and she got a raise today too). The job would be engineering/development/quality/customer support, like I said it's a small company. Now back to my pro and con list - yes I'm a dork.
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On the flip side, a friend of mine works for a large frame builder in Saratoga Springs (ooops, did I give too much away?), and he started at $8 a hour polishing tubing. He didn't have many options, but he likes working for ________.

Before you analyze it anymore, if you can make a living, why the heck not?
 
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