Heard the same from a quite a few of my friends when they started firing people before the summer. They ran out of unemployment. They haven't found a job. Some have had to move back with their parents or in-laws. Oh, this was the summer of 2008. Roll the dice and tell me where my buddies can apply for this job (j/k - good luck)
My brother in-law got 6 months severance pay a year ago and waited until the last minute to look for a job. 6 months later he's still unemployed. I would take the bird in hand and explore possibilities elsewhere while fully employed; but I'm the conservative type. edit: you have a different appeal when you're employed vs. unemployed.
do you have any code posted somewhere...maybe on gitgub? or is the mobile apps just interest and not action
In this economy, with rampant wage deflation, the new job is a gift horse, don't check it's teeth... I know one guy that just left a high-paying job with a really small company after only a couple of days. The owner is an incredible jerk so the guy quit and went to live with his folks who don't care much for him or his wife and he has a two year old boy!! What a moron, I could not believe what he did!! He knows that his chance of getting a real job is absolutely zilch in this economy and he quit one... brainless, oversensitive assclown if ever... I worked in the legit side of a mob-owned place once in a desperate economy. That was a trip, I walked in the breakroom on payday and guys had a big pile of white powder on the table and whole paychecks were changing hands... I was there for months, it was sort of cool... and the boss was not exactly a jerk, but he was permanently depressed or something and I never could get him to make sense on what he wanted done and the four owners could tell me four different opinions too so I just kept busy and kept food on the table..
Lets see, you don't like being a leader and managing people. You don't like being the guy who makes sure things work out and the business makes money, cash flow gets met, production times met etc. And, you don't like taking on responsibility. I'd say if you think someone is ever going to pay you much more than average then you're going to be miserable and poor. I mean comeon! Top earners are the guys who do everything you won't. You're a grunt. Take this job and consider yourself very lucky. Btw, you're app idea is a fantasy as well. Want to be happy, respected and paid really well? Stop dreaming and start working your ass off to so that you standout. Afterall, you could work 10 hours a day and create that great app for 6. That still gives you 8 hrs for sleep. People who really want to "make it" do that shit, you know?
Probability of an outcome is NOT the same as value of an outcome, in general. That is what you (and I forgive you for that) and many overpaid useless professors think (who I do not forgive for that). If you think that by rejecting a few offers, save that fact that you do not know their number, you will increase your probability of getting a better offer you are mistaken and along with you many overpaid useless professor and other cranks. Probability theory is problematic because there is no accepted definition of probability, there are about four of them. Based on the frequency interpretation of probability, your chances are only better provided this experiment can be repeated enough times so that the law of large numbers holds. You ain't got that long to live.
As a follow up- I made a compromise with myself and asked for 10% over their offer so I could prove to myself that I am still moving forward in my career. They accepted and I start next week. Not a small consideration in my decision to take the job was Bernanke's dismal outlook for the future. A 10% raise in this economy I consider a significant win.
Well done. I would now take that extra 10% (or if less is needed, that and sock the balance away) and utilize it toward your mobile app dream/idea. I would venture to say what you had been getting paid covered expenses and the like just fine from your previous job. Not only do you continue to have the financial stability (so you're not getting desperate to get something coded/done otherwise you don't eat down the road), you have some free time to work on this and explore the option further. The slight downside may be working longer days or on weekends based on available free time and taking longer. If it pans out and suddenly you're raking in the dough and getting more successful, then you can leave the new job. It's really a no-lose situation right now.
I would say take the safe route. With our current economic status, it's just too big a risk to chose to be idle for a while ,while looking for a job. There are too many applicants contending for a single job. Once the economy improves and you still feel that you need a change of job then I guess that will be the time to do it.