Real Life Nears

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I quit my job at Rocky Mountain Power and decided not to accept the offer that they had extended to me for a job in field engineering. Instead, I took a job with Spectrum Engineers in downtown Salt Lake City. I had planned on trying this job out for the next couple of months, but I knew that this was the job for me after being there just a couple of hours on my first day.

Our offices are located in the Walker Center on 2nd South and Main. Spectrum leases 4 floors of the building, and I am located on the 10th floor. When I got there my first day, I expected to work in one of the cubicles on the floor, but instead I get this big office overlooking Main Street (a nice perk). By my estimations the office is almost 200 square feet - about the size of our family/living room.

I really like what I am doing. Spectrum is a consulting engineering firm that specializes in the electrical/mechanical/acoustical/lighting/etc. design of large building projects. They have done everything from the airport redesign, to the capitol building, to the new Intermountain Medical Center. A few of the projects that I have been working on are the new district courthouse in St. George, the Farmington commuter rail station and mall and an office building near the University of Utah. Maybe someday we'll land a contract for buildings like these in Dubai.

I never expected the decision of where to work to be so difficult. I guess that I always envisioned it to be cut and dry and that I would "know" when I had found the right place. Calling Rocky Mountain Power and turning down their offer was one of the most difficult things that I have ever done. It's not easy to turn down a guaranteed salary that more than triples what we currently make.

Most of the things that I loved about Rocky Mountain Power were duplicated at Spectrum Engineers. Both companies have great benefits plans (Spectrum's is better). Both companies have plenty of room for advancement. Spectrum offers the possibility of making more money in the long run, but working for the power utility is obviously a more stable job. I would have gotten an office and a car at Rocky Mountain Power but the office would have been on the first floor overlooking the parking lot and Spectrum has told me that they will "more than compensate" for having to use my own car... Most importantly, the Walker Center has a see-through mail chute. How cool is that?

So far I have loved going to work, I am enjoying what I'm doing and I'm looking forward to doing this every day. One of the biggest things that turned me on to Spectrum Engineers was that there is so much to learn. I can literally envision myself learning new things every day for the rest of my life in this job - and that excites me to no end. Right now everything that I'm having to learn is a bit overwhelming, but I expect to get my feet under myself before too long.

Here are a couple pictures of my new digs (the photos don't do the place justice):