A new job maybe, or do I stay?

Well I am sure folks care most about the kids and their updates, so I will start with them and then get into my job situation.

Ty is doing great. I think we have finally found a rhythm that works well for him as he is starting to lose some of the attitude he recently had that has been pretty taxing. Could be we all just finally found the good flow to follow for our family of 5. Ty is so super smart, helpful, and just all around a cool kid to hang with in my opinion. He helps me SOOOO much with his sisters, I am very thankful for him.

Savanna is doing really good as well, though that girl is trouble with a capital T. she tries to climb every last thing she can, including the book shelf in our living room, and the girl is so mouthy I can just see what it's going to be like once she starts talking, it's gonna be NON-STOP... oh well, at least I already have some practice with that ;0).

Shyann is my little angel, at least for right now. She is the quiet one that just kind hangs and goes with the flow. Only time she really complains is at night on the rare occasion that she wants a bottle before she goes to bed. She have learned how to crawl the "right" way, on her knees rather then worming across the floor on her belly (though I have to admit, I miss the worm, I really loved it). She is also finally pulling herself up on things. I think she got sick of being left behind by brother and sister.

Ricky is doing good, but soul searching for another job. He is starting to feel like there is a close cap on where he can go with the current company he is with, and possibly all together with the type of work he is doing. I keep trying to convince him to get an office job. His anal retentiveness could do an office good, they need people like him, where as blue collar work only cares about getting the work done quickly and moving on to the next project. It just doesn't work with Ricky's attention to detail. So both adults in our house are doing some career adjustments.

Now on to me... So as you know from my previous posts, things are not the best at work. I do feel strongly that things are improving and according to conversations with my manager they also feel like I am getting there. The hard thing I face is that I am in THE most influential, high perform ace, rock star, top notch team at MS, well at least in Windows, and really I feel strongly about the whole MS statement as well. This makes my learning curve and competition for promotions and good reviews very very hard. My management team has informed me that they think I can do it, it's just going to be a tough year. So I have to decide... Do I stick around, or do I take a different role in the company and try to brush up on my skills in a bit less stressful of an enviorment, and then at some point in the future try to make my way back here.

I met with one of my old bosses, and he told me I have a job with his group, hands down, whenever I want it. And the work his team is doing is closer to what I used to do, but also has a direct link to the type of work I am doing now. I struggle with what to do. Stay and push myself hard for the next year, ending up in a SUPER great space, with SUPER great people to learn from or go to a new role and take things a bit slower, allowing myself some time to ramp up on a feature PM role a bit more, before I jump into a super competitive space where I could end up failing...

I don't know what to do. I feel like this is one of the most important decisions I will ever make for my career, and either way I go, I lose something. I wish that decisions like this came with a clear map that state if I went with path A, I would end up at point X, and if I went with path B, I would end up at point Y.... I am really at a loss for what to do next...