Ask HN: Which job should I choose?

I can help you make a decision.

Take a deep breath.

You will be fine. It won't matter which job you take.

Congratulations on two job offers!

Tech is always changing. Think about what you'd like to be working on in 5–10 years. The jobs you take now will help you "write the resume" you will need later.

Good luck!

It may be helpful to think about how your work for each company would look on a resume. The company, unless it's a brand name everybody knows for it's technology like Google, is less important then your role.

The airline company software lets you talk about full stack (don't worry if you don't like PHP, you can always learn another stack), and maybe scaling issues. You also get soft skills potentially, have to deal with changing client requirements.

The IT security... well you get to do front end dev, and maybe they'll let you do something real at some point? But maybe you get some interesting experience integrating with APIs.

It honestly doesn't matter too much, you'll be doing dev work for both. If the money is a big difference in your mind, it wouldn't hurt you to ask the airline software company if they will match what the IT company offers you, or if they can provide some other perk (a signing bonus, discount airfare, extra vacation days).

location?

it would also be ideal to get into the situation where you tell both offers that you are considering another offer at x price and that you will take y time to decide. then you hold the negotiation instead of feeling rushed.

sometimes the side that wants you more will come back with a bigger offer or ask you what's meaningful for you to see if they can give you that.

I would pick the first, because I hate security. Everything bad and annoying on a project and come from security requirements. Yes, I know why, but if you aren't going to help me write the correct code, you are just putting lots of barriers in my way.

If both offers seem equal to you, why not choose on the location?

EDIT: I just read it would be in the same city, but what about distance to home? District, etc...

What do you know about life inside each company? About the culture there? It's something that will affect your life day to day.

More than anything else, remember that it doesn't matter that much which you choose. You've got two great jobs on offer, and they are just jobs - you can leave any time if you don't like them.

Both sound fine in terms of career, and you say they offer about the same pay.

The big thing you haven't mentioned is working conditions. Does either demand unpaid overtime? Require you to work in an open plan office? Have a long commute, particularly if it requires driving? Have a noncompete clause in the employment contract?

If they're the same as regards working conditions, flip a coin, see how you feel about the result, then act on that feeling.

Consider picking based on other factors like humanity and people how you like the people you will work with. Often this is more important then small differences in career choice.

In terms of "career", well the airline has more stuff to add to you resume.

This choice has a lot to do with you yourself, about which you didn't say very much.

Assuming both are good in terms of finance, location, etc. go with which team you think you'd enjoy working with the most -- smartest people, most compatible with your working style. Plan for 2-3 years.

If that's a wash, I'd take the security company.

I would join the smaller team (not smaller company). If that number is not known, I would join the company whose interview I enjoyed more (had the interviewers read your resume before they interviewed you? how intelligent/relevant were their questions? and so on)

Flip a coin. Seriously. If you don't like the decision the coin made for you then ignore it and do the opposite.

  Pederson: "You have a decision to make...What's the problem? Bearing in mind there's no such thing as a difficult decision."
  Lawrence: "Sorry?"
  Pederson: "Well, every day we make hundreds of thousands of decisions. In a year, it runs into tens of millions. People get themselves into knots. The truth is, decisions are easy. Know why? Because every time, every time, we already know the answers."
  Lawrence: "You think?"
  Pederson: "Absolutely. Trade secret. Always tell my boys. You see, you didn't come to me to make a decision. You came to me because you didn't like the decision you'd already made."

You should be able to decide on your own.

Hey buddy !! i am in similar situation. I have two job offers with following :

1) Security company. good salary and facilities like transport facility.Offering stocks. But, the company is splitting into two ( u can surely guess the name). Big brand.

2) Talent management company offering solutions as SAAS. Nice exposure to multi-tenant cloud infra. Higher fixed pay. Cooler work culture. Became private from public (yes the other way round)

I am extremely confused which two ? May be suggesting me can help you find yours.

> what would be better for my career and what branch do you think has a better future?

Based on your limited description, I think both would be fine your career, and both branches will do well enough in the near future.

Questions to ask yourself:

* how much freedom do the companies offer you? How many of your own ideas can you bring in?

* are the good programmers how can mentor you at each company?

* how much does the choice of tooling affect you? That what you'll work with all the time. How fast is it going to change?

* how much does the business branch actually affect your work? If you're doing frontend development for an infosec company, you're not doing intrusion detection or the like; if you do frontend development for an airline, you won't do flight or luggage routing. My point is that it's not a given that the branch will actually influence your work very much. (It might still be, though).

* How many people will use the software you write? How much does that matter to you?

* Are there any ethical differences? Do you support the companies' values and methods?

Pick the one with better, higher quality people. In the long run what matters most is who you surround yourself with. You'll learn more from smarter people and become better as a result.

Based on your comments, the airline company seems like it would have the best opportunity for personal growth. If it's early in your career, I'd go for that one as it gives you experience working with front-end, back-end and mobile.

Edit: there's also the fact that with the security company you're starting off making charts and maybe moving into more dev, but there's also the chance you could get stuck making charts

I You feel good at these all technologies/frameworks and the salary and location are pretty similiar in both of these companies (or You just don't care at the moment about it) I would suggest You to take the 1. offer.

Why?

I'm a webdev and I love building websites. This company build apps using hyped (at the moment) technologies so if something go wrong then You'll find new job easily (I'm getting job offers which requires angular/backbone/cordova experience all the time)

On the other hand, IT security is trending niche, which can be more stable than web development (where market is really huge and dynamic).

But hey, in the end, it's up to You and You should choose wisely what suits You best.

Pick 2. It seems to offer a more specific skillset. That will allow you much more leverage in the future.

As people write, you have to decide on your own, but I can share what would I do. First, consider technologigies. Do I like any of thechnologies more than those in second oportunity (I assume there aren't technologies you dislike). This is not very important though. Second, think about what company do. I'd prefer security much more and this is very big plus. What would you do: design or maintenance (I think we all like first more ;)). But still it is important how the work is arranged in the company. Using scrum or chaos, what tools are used? It's maybe 0,5 as important as second. Startups win over corpo, that's the rule for me. People, I would choose nice, energetic team over dull corpo crowd. In fact, I already know I wouldn't choose second anyway. :) If still in doubt I would refuse to both and look for something better. I don't know if you can afford, but I have better things to do than work in medicore environment. ;) I hope this can help you a little bit, good luck!

What about benefits? Insurance, 401k, Vacation hours? Distance to commute? Room for growth? People you will be working?

> I need to make a decision in the next 8hrs [...]

You probably don't. The market for programmers is hot enough right now, that any deadline the companies might have set is probably a bluff.

Having said that, having a deadline is probably a good thing for you. Avoids endless overthinking and procrastination.

Flip a coin. If you resent the result, you know what you really wanted. If you are happy with the result, you are fine, too.

IMHO, at your career stage (if I'm inferring your "career stage" correctly), I'd consider these two possible avenues to advance your career:

- The craft of designing and maintaining software

- The problem domain software is being applied to

Some people might rationalize this as a generalist vs. specialist argument. However, I see being a badass software expert as just being a certain kind of specialist.

Both approaches will help you grow into bigger shoes over time, assuming the most optimistic outcome in either path. If you focus on honing your software craft, you can fit in many places and easily internalize any system as your chops get better.

If you focus on a particular problem domain (you seem to be interested in IT security), then over time you can become a subject matter expert. At this point, you can contribute knowledge back to your community, use your domain insight to identify a market and new product to sell, or just become a prized star employee in the companies focused on your chosen problem domain.

Being an all-around software badass can also make you a prized star employee after you grow into that notoriety.

I suppose it's possible to mix both approaches if your role accomodates this.

I guess my ultimate answer is similar to what others have said- follow what your heart says :-) Hopefully this adds some perspective to your choice. Best of luck!

Don't take the advice of strangers online. Talk with your peers who know you and know your interests the most.

If you don't have a solid peer network, go with your gut, and deal with the consequences later.