Take the "Whether?" with you

The Dutch folks must have liked me, because they've made me a job offer. The big question now is whether to take it.

It looks great

The company culture seeemed pretty fantastic — the phrase like one, big happy family came to my mind just after a couple of minutes waiting in the kitchen.

The salary could be better, but the benefits are the best I've seen. Seriously. They have allowances that cover language lessons, sport, travelling to work, buying a computer at home, and even rent. There's plenty of holiday time.

It's for a new project, so I'd be responsible for choosing the technology as well as making it useful for people. The direction they'd like to go is Plone and Python, with which I've had great experience.

But is it for me?

Actually, the role has a certain element of déjà vu. It's more management than development, and there's more than a touch of system administration. Development is a core activity, but it just may not be room to write software every day. In other words, it's just like my last role in New Zealand.

I don't mind a little bit of management, and I certainly don't mind system administration. But I learn the most with development, and I like learning. I even wrote software developer on my immigration card.

Overall opinion

I think I'll have a great time with the organisation, if I take the job. It'll be relaxed, and fun. If I was settling down, it would be close to perfect.

I don't know about challenge or career direction, though.