I don't know if I should proceed with the offer I was given, or stay at my current position
Okay, for context. I am 33 years old, and in the last couple of years, I've made a career path jump from marketing to technology. It's been tough, and I didn't realize just how much competition was in these roles when I first decided to embark on the technology route. However, I've always had an affinity for technology, just no experience in working in IT operations for an actual large organization.
So, I got a foot into the industry at a public school district. I'm a technology technician for the school district, and I absolutely love the position. Great benefits too, but the only issue is the pay is low, and even after cutting out a shit ton of expenses, getting my rent partly subsidized by a loving neighbor, going on a tight budget, and just abandoning any idea of ever having any cash to spend on anything that wasn't bare necessity to survive + Hulu. I thin I make like 18 an hour? I end up bringing home 2,000 a month. I've been at this job for a little over a year, and it's great, but the only issue is that it just doesn't pay me enough to survive, keep my ahead above water or anything. There is one complaint I have where I feel like I'm more on the logistics side of technology than I actually am working with technology. I am dying to learn more, especially in networking and learning administrative tasks and roles. However, we are so limited on what we are allowed to handle or do as a lowly technology tech, and I just don't feel like I'm gaining any new knowledge or skills hear anymore.
I just got an offer from HCL tech. Yes, I know about the horror stories, the overworked hours, the low pay for the work you do. Not to mention it's a contract position that can be terminated at anytime, and it offers no benefits whatsoever. No paid time off, no sick leave, nothing. It honestly sounds awful and like a hellscape. However, the pay is 24/hour, which could actually help me pay my bills. And I get to work in data center for a company contracted by Meta, which may be a resume booster? Just from understanding the daily ins and out of the job, I can also already see what I would be doing, and see that it does involve stuff that I have been trying to learn about for awhile, so it'd give me actual hands on experience.
Idk, I would initially not take the HCLtech job over the school district job I have, but the job market is shiiiit, I don't trust Meta to not just suddenly pull the plug on a contract, so no job security, but it could look great on my resume, and my city has a large growing technology sector lately cause we are the main city for making drones, rockets, and missles, and our military has used an absolute shit ton of those recently, so federal defense money and contracts are pouring into the city like crazy. (Not great morally, but morality has been really out of style lately.)
Idk if I should just stick with my school district job where I'm drowning and can't pay my bills. Or go with the shitty HCLtech job for a year to build up experience and knowledge to leverage myself for a better offer from another company.
Does anyone have any insight, or thoughts? I think I'm kind of leaning towards rejecting their offer, but I'm just not sure. Any thoughts or advice would be welcome.