Third Street
Last week, I received another email from DHS regarding the job in NYC:
Good afternoon,
You have been tentatively selected for an FCIP Adjudications Officer position, GS-1801-09, salary of $50,285.00 with the New York, NY Office (NYC).
Would you please reply to me by 06/02/08 with either your acceptance or declination of this position?
I talked to Carly about it for a bit, polled some of my friends, and decided I would, in fact, accept the appointment. For several reasons:
- I need a job. I am in such desperate financial straits that it would be very stupid and careless of me not to accept a job offered to me.
- This is a job that I would like to do. It is in the legal field, it requires using that old brain of mine, and it is a new area of study for me to dive into. I like to learn new things and this is going to be a great opportunity.
- It is a good opportunity for building my resume, as a stepping stone to greater fed jobs and higher pay grades, and to gain much-needed experience in the law and government.
- It pays rather well. About $20k/year more than I’ve ever made, with lots of benefits and plenty of promotion potential.
- It’s in New York City, the capital of the world. I really love the City and I try to visit it every year, just to soak up some of the culture. To live there for a year or so would fulfill one of my “do this before you die” dreams.
The bad parts of the job are obvious: I would have to move to NYC, 500+ miles away from my wife. It is only a two-year internship, and I would not be guaranteed a permanent position after that. I would have to rent an apartment or room in the NYC area and buy stuff to sleep on, use as a desk, etc. I don’t know a whole lot of people out there, except my sister and her family and a handful of other scattered people. The cost of living is high, and the increase in pay is not as great as it would have been back home.
I counter all this with concessions. I plan on returning home at least every other week, by plane or by car if necessary, to see my wife and puppies. I’m setting up a VOIP system to talk to Carly for cheap whenever we want, and I’ll keep my life there very simple, with a very modest place to live and the absolute minimum of creature comforts to keep me sane.
I’ve known way too many people who have had to live the split life in order to get by. Professors, legal professionals, all kinds of folks. It’s mainly the highly educated sorts with specialized jobs who have to undergo this kind of stress. Carly was lamenting it all weekend… we pay tens of thousands of dollars to get an education, to better ourselves, to meet the world on our own terms, and it’s still nearly impossible to succeed. Student loans, bills, taxes, and now this? We have to get jobs two states away to survive? I feel the pain, the disappointment from her whenever I talk about the job. She doesn’t want to hear about it and I don’t blame her.
But I can’t help but be excited. A job! In a cool city! How could you not be exuberant?
