What would you do??

Okay here's the (my) scenario.
You work for a fairly large company and make a decent wage.
You are a senior .NET developer, as well as, the senior ranking person in your department.
You are the go to person in your department for help.
Even people outside your department come to you for help.

You have two managers (one you report too, the other you work for).

The one you report to doesn't really like you, he questions everything you do, you're a threat to his authority and he just gave you (initially) the worst annual performance review and raise you've ever had at this company.

The one you work for likes and respects you. He thinks highly of your opinion and asks for you input for more efficient ways of doing things, he relies on you to make design decisions as he trusts your judgement.

These two managers don't get along. After the working manager addressed issues in my performance review, he made modifications and sent them back to the reporting manager. Ultimately, reversing the review ratings and I ended up with the best review I've ever had, but still go the worst raise I ever had.

Now comes the decision. Your (my) ultimate career goal is to be in security (application security) and be a penetration tester. I already do this in my department, as other developers send me their applications to test for security issues. I give classes on security to this and other deparment developers.

After giving one of these security classes, I was approached by a manager from another department who basically stated "I need someone with you skills in my group, if I had a position available would you be interested?". I said "what's the position?", she said "It would be for a QA Analyst who could do functional testing, security and penetration testing of externally facing (internet) applications."...I said "Yes, I'd be interested."

This new QA manager was approved to have another position, so I applied for it.

I have an internal interview tomorrow...so I ask you....What would you do???

And FYI, the pay for the QA job isn't a concern as it's within the same range that I'm making now.

I don't see any reason why you shouldn't go for it. If I was you, I'd kick @$$ at that interview. Obviously this other guy has heard good things about you, so you most likely will have a good start to a great professional relationship. Plus, you'd be doing something you've been wanting to do. On top of that, you'll be able to add that experience to your resume in case you possible get another offer from another company. I don't see where you could lose in this situation.

Good luck!

JMH

I agree. In your position, you should have the freedom to move somewhere more comfortable and to work in something you really want to do. I say go for it.

You've probably heard the phrase Mem "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" which pretty much sums up your working environment just now - you know you could do better, those that work with you know you could do better and the person above you knows you could do better but the guy who has the last say in your dept. also knows this and is basically applying the law of the jungle - survival.

Take the initiative - go for the post, wear your biggest smile and impress those waiting to be impressed.

It sounds as though the job is already yours - now you have to ask yourself just how much you want it!

Knock Em' dead Mem.

whatever you choose to do, don't burn any bridges is my recommendation.

Personally, I like expanding my horizons by doing more and different things rather than just sticking with the same old, same old.

Thanks for the feedback...

My feeling at this point is that I'm kind of walking away from something (programming) I've invested alot of time and money into learning and getting to a certain level of competency.

I won't be doing very much, if any, programming in this new position.

I guess it's kind of like ending a long term relationship, you want something more, but you're somewhat hesitant to let go of something that is familar and comfortable to you.

I've done lots of contract type work, always changing who I work for and what I do. It only seems scary at first, but often a change IS as good as a holiday.

Go for it, do it, don't look back

You can always contract app dev work / programming / web application work out on the side? I say go for it too... it could be a great change!

Hey Mem, i think you have kinda answered the question for yourself here and everyone agrees with you!! All i'd say is take note of what Doug said! Don't burn bridges!!

All the best!!

RF

What, you're not there yet?

I would stick with programming, and keep the security stuff as "hobby".
maybe put some more time and focus on this and less on programming,
but if what I really know and like is programming, I would stick with it.