I am currently working as a contractor for the Government. I am paid around UK market average for my skill set at 520 per day (124k per year based on 242 working day - I am single and do not take a lot of holidays, most of the money goes towards saving for early retirement)<p>I am leading a small team of developers on a project with tight delivery deadlines, however we work in a sustainable way and follow good agile practices within the team. Outside of the team, like most Government projects, is a big waterfall mess, but the team is able to absorb change well due to a process I have fought hard to set up. This is my first lead role, I am in my early 30s and have been working in software development for ~5 years.<p>I am in the process of interviewing for another job at a start-up medical R&D company. This is a permanent role and they are offering 60k per year (a great salary for North England). I would go back to being an individual contributor.<p>If I stay in my current role I can develop my skills as a leader but my technical growth will stagnate as I am familiar with the stack and have little time to write code. If I move to the startup I will be learning new big data tech and a new domain - biochem.<p>In Summary:<p>I am finding it hard to decide whether sacrificing the pay and a high responsibility leadership role for the opportunity for further technical growth doing potentially more meaningful work is worth it.
1) money is not everything.
2) I am not sure you have done a proper cost delta analysis<p>You mention the new job is in the Northern part of England, where are you now? Typically lower salary implies lower taxes. Depending on your life style, and where you live 124 in down town london might actually be equal to 60 in North England.<p>How much does your house / apartment cost each month? Is it more expensive to own a car in one verses another.<p>Add into the equation, and this is the hard one, how much is it worth to you to do more meaningful work?<p>How much is job security worth? I expect with your upcoming changes from leaving the EU, one of your possible jobs might be more at risk.<p>How many hours a week will you work at each? Do you have friends in one location you would miss? Do you fly somewhere for Christmas, which might cost more or less in the other town?<p>Will the lower salary prevent you from retiring early? Myself I love programming so I will do it forever. So a slightly later retirement has no meaning to me.<p>All in all there are a lot of quantifiable numbers you need to consider. There are the intangibles, but you need to list those out. Try and put a value on them, for comparison sake. You will have risks to consider - job security. Opportunity options - vesting in a startup. Although I think, mathematically your odds are 1 out of 10.<p>Good luck, and count your blessing you can make a choice.
You can always augment your technical skills through side projects. I know you may spend some extra time after/before work for this but exchanging this extra time for less money to work at a startup where you may anyways be working more than the standard working hours does not seem to be a good ROI.<p>Whereas with the augmenting route, you get to keep your high paying job, achieve early retirement and if you are still inclined to work after that, where you are not constrained by opposing choices, you can switch.<p>My 2$ and I hope whatever decision you take works well for you.
It sounds as if you like your current position and saving for early retirement is a great idea (from a 60's dev who can't retire soon). I agree with others here that technologies you fear you might miss out on could be learned through side projects.<p>Just my $.02 and I'm sure you'll make the correct decision, whatever that is, since you are thinking it through.