I got that job!

Late last week, I got a call from the hiring manager that I got the job I was trying for. It's a UNIX Admin/Database Admin job. It should be a significant step up in pay (I hope), it brings me over to Lockheed Martin's MS2 division, which is both more prestigious and better compensated, and it gets me off shift work.

See, when I interviewed for this job, I was told that I would have to work some weekends and occasional shifts. After I had been here for a couple months, my former manager called and told me that I'd have to work 1-9 PM. Then, we went through this whole mess back in December, where our manager cut our shift differentials by making us come in at times when we would not be eligible for them. I had to work 12:30 - 8:30 PM for a couple of weeks, but after an ethics investigation, we got our differential back, and were transferred to a different (much better) manager. Shortly thereafter, someone devised a rotating shift schedule so that the night shift wouldn't be one person year round.

What did that mean for me? I got put on night shift for three months, and worked 4 PM - 12 AM. That totally sucked. Once I put my time in there, I went to work from 5 AM - 1 PM, which I'm on right now. It's really a good shift, but because I don't like to go to bed early, and the dog is such a hassle right now, I only sleep like 3-4 hours per night, and after almost three months, it has caught up with me. I'm constantly dragging my ass. The worst part about it is that when I have the ability to grab eight solid hours of sleep, I feel like crap the rest of the day, because my body wants more. Starting July 31st, I would go back on the 4 PM shift, and I just can't have that.

So, once I got a line on that position from Meika, I jumped on it, and they decided to offer it to me. I still haven't gotten the numbers yet, but it should be a good bump. If its not more than what I make now, plus my 10% shift differential, I won't take it. As much as I need to get off the shifts, I can't take a pay cut, even for better quality of life. The way I have it figured out, based on the information I've gotten from the manager, I'm going to get an almost 15% raise out of this (5% if you factor in my shift differential). That would be very nice...very nice, indeed. Maybe then I can get one of these: