Stay on new career path or go back to old job?

[Jack B.]

Background:

-Changed from systems/software engineering a year ago into IT Management. I enjoy IT management MUCH more. I don’t do technical work much anymore, and the work is full time employee type work rather than contract work as is so common in tech for engineering roles.

-My old client/boss at an organization I worked at for 5 years wants me to go back to work for him this fall as a Senior Manager/Lead Software Engineer (contract role). I liked my old client/boss and we have a lot of history together. The position pays about 30K more a year than I’m making now and is more prestigious than my current role. That said, I’m happy with my current salary, which is still high, and I like the fact that my job is easier and I can easily get another similar job. I might have to do after hours work at the old job and will likely deal with more BS and more work than I do now, a lot more.

-The old job that is waiting for me is a government organization and I’ve historically found most people in gov work to be less than stellar employees sophistication wise. This client and most of his team are the exception to this and are actually quite good, though there were other gov people I had to deal with when I was there before that made me wonder how they managed to dress themselves every day. My client was actually a good boss (he made it clear I actually report to him despite being a contractor) so he was able to protect me a lot.

-I am enjoying not being a contractor anymore and being a manager again (had been one long ago but go back and forth from time to time depending on the job). Also, I’m able to find comparable jobs as a manager very easily. Also, I should note that being an Engineer made me want to retire extremely early. Now that I’m back in management roles that fit my taste better, I’m actually considering continuing to work instead since I don’t hate my job anymore. But that’s as much of a function of who you work for as your specific position. In my current case, I like my boss and my role. I got tired of being an Engineer but liked my client.

I’m not sure if I SHOULD go back or stay on my current career track. I was in a similar position a year ago. I had a new job as an IT manager that I liked. I got a prestigious government FTE job offer and despite my company countering and offering to promote me to VP for nearly 200K a year, I left for the government job because everyone told me to go with the stability of government. Within 3 months at the government job I left because it was terrible, everyone was dumb as rocks. The old position I had left had already been filled. This situation could be similar to that except going back to an old work environment, I know what I’m getting into, I know the people, and I’m proven/known/well respected there. I don’t know if I’m considering going back for the money or because of the flattery of having them invite me back with a huge pay increase.

I will say that staying on my current career track would NOT be a mistake, it is much better and has more opportunities. If I go back to the old job, it may not work out, though I can get back into the management track elsewhere again (and to be fair, the other position is a management position overseeing 100+ engineers, it just involves some technical work and more problems). I think to some extent it's a matter of not wanting to turn down such a gracious offer from an old friend/client. Plus it would be a posh job going back, since I'm "in" and my company that I would be working for knows that. Neither choice seems like a mistake. It's just which one is the better one for me.