Union pacific

Take it! The bennies are probably fantastic! Gotta think ling term

I know for a fact that a job with the railroad will require you to be gone from your family frequently and for occasional extended periods of time. Other than that, I dont see any reason to not consider an offer. Self-employment is good, but its a job just like everything else. If you have a better offer it cant hurt to consider it or even try it out.

Life is too short to be scared of risks. You obviously know that, since you took some great risks going into business. This might or might not work out, but you'll never know until you try. Good luck!

Benefits are very good. Worth 20k plus a year. So even a liberal estimate says it takes me minimum two more years to have an equivalent income, still minus retirement... The family issue is my only real concern aside from the "giving up" feeling. I'm going to interview them probably as much as they are me!

Dont worry about the 'giving up' feeling, Lots and Lots of guys have tried different things after starting a business, me included. You can always come back to it.

I would be concerned with the amount of time the railroad would require me to be away from my family, but everybody's situation is different. I have spent a small amount of time working on the road before, and listening to your children ask you when you're coming home every night can really take the wind out of your sails, even if your making good money.

But really, best of luck man. Whether this happens or not.

Take it. Having the experience of running your own show will give you something to fall back to.

Go home at night and don't think about work. Somebody else there is being paid to shuffle paper.

Benefits are a huge factor. If something happens to you or another family member, they make all the difference.


Take the job!

Exactly. How "present" at home am I really anyway. Always something to do, worry about, plan and etc. would be nice not to bring work home.

I appreciate the input! It's a tough call for me. I'm really looking forward to getting all the details at the interview. My wife and I both are undecided, trusted friends and family seem to mostly agree on taking the job.

Legacyelectric said:

Exactly. How "present" at home am I really anyway. Always something to do, worry about, plan and etc. would be nice not to bring work home.

I appreciate the input! It's a tough call for me. I'm really looking forward to getting all the details at the interview. My wife and I both are undecided, trusted friends and family seem to mostly agree on taking the job.

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Trust me, I am NOT trying to talk you out of it. But sitting on the couch doing paperwork while your wife and kids are there with you, is much better than sitting in a hotel room alone with nothing to do but watch TV.

Just my opinion.

You are there to interview them too. Ask about time away, I'm sure they are interested in how you feel about it.

You"ll start on the track gang and ride the rails for a while.

I work for UP. It's a great job thought the pay is a little low your retirement is well worth it along with vacation and great insurance. Be prepared for a third or second shift with a Tuesday Wednesday off. Probably will be busting traction leads starting off

As a diesel electrician you will be at a diesel ramp. Not traveling

Legacyelectric said:

Got invited to UP hiring session for diesel electrician... Got a lot of blood sweat and tears in this little business I've managed to build, but Its been 6 years and I still don't have a really well defined plan for retiring, and providing myself and my family of 6 with benefits in south louisiana has proven to be very difficult self employed. I've made 20-30% more money year over year since starting. Made about 65k last year. Railroad job starts about there with benefits. Grass isn't greener on either side really, I'm sure there'll be regrets and "what ifs" either way. Any opinions?

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I would definitely entertain the offer because it sounds like a good one, complete with benefits and a future which appeals to every one. Is there a reason why you feel you have to abandon the business and have to do one or the other? Keep the EC business going, even if it's small, because obviously you know how to make a profit so I don't see any reason to stop it all together.

Magnettica said:

I would definitely entertain the offer because it sounds like a good one, complete with benefits and a future which appeals to every one. Is there a reason why you feel you have to abandon the business and have to do one or the other? Keep the EC business going, even if it's small, because obviously you know how to make a profit so I don't see any reason to stop it all together.

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That's a great point, and we have discussed doing just that! I'm certainly not going to advertise that I'm scaling back, I would just be very selective about which jobs to pursue. I have an army vet 30 year in the industry electrician ( not licensed) as an employee and I'm sure I will keep some stuff going at least for a while.

Thanks again everyone! I like lots of points of view on big decisions

seabee41 said:

I work for UP. It's a great job thought the pay is a little low your retirement is well worth it along with vacation and great insurance. Be prepared for a third or second shift with a Tuesday Wednesday off. Probably will be busting traction leads starting off

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Are you in the diesel shop? If so, how is it day to day? Coworkers/management etc. the work part doesn't scare me at all.

I'm in commuter operations not freight. So I can't really say how it is at a diesel ramp. Management will be management but overall it's a great work setting

And while I'm at it, what's a diesel electrician? Not sure what you mean by ramp.

My first year out of the army, the old foreman I worked with tried like crazy to get me to join the railroad and forget about being an electrician. Never really appealed to me.

I heard a little story about UP from my ex-wife's grandfather who ran a local motel:

He told me that UP had reserved a banquet room for interviewing of applicants to fill ONE position. When he spoke to the person who was going to do the interviewing the guy told him an applicant had already been picked but procedures and policy dictated they hold an interviewing process regardless. This guy flew in, paid for a banquet room and brought in applicants from all over despite no chance in hell they would get the job. What a waste of time and money.

Good luck with UP and their politics....:no: I hope the benefits are worth it.

Cow said:

I heard a little story about UP from my ex-wife's grandfather who ran a local motel:

He told me that UP had reserved a banquet room for interviewing of applicants to fill ONE position. When he spoke to the person who was going to do the interviewing the guy told him an applicant had already been picked but procedures and policy dictated they hold an interviewing process regardless. This guy flew in, paid for a banquet room and brought in applicants from all over despite no chance in hell they would get the job. What a waste of time and money.

Good luck with UP and their politics....:no: I hope the benefits are worth it.

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Yea, I've heard that same thing. If true, that's absurd. I will say this, the HR lady at UP has been in near constant contact with me via email and phone throughout this whole process (reapplying from a couple years ago, then got me to reapply again when the listing moved, then asked me when my test was, then asked how I did on the test...) I thought this was odd considering what I had heard about it being a fruitless cattle call. I'm not pompous enough to imagine that I'm the one that's been pre selected, My resume includes naval nuclear electronics background which may stand out, but no formal degree.


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