SO wants me to move temporarily to Chicago for 6 months...
I do not plan on focusing on any other type of engineering outside of work in that 6-month span. She thinks I should bite the bullet, and take a web or back-end development position.
My priority is to maintain the level of engineering in mobile development [I'm currently a lead mobile engineer in nyc]. I will be 100% taking a full-time mobile position again after that contract period if I do move... How do I explain to her even if there are programming options available in her area (that aren't mobile), that it's not the smartest choice to take them and it'll make negotiating tougher if I take a 6-mo hiatus from mobile development?
My biggest fears are taking a huge pay-cut temporarily and taking awhile to get back to that level. If I do contract around Chicago, how hard would it be to find a $120/hr~ 6-month mobile contract position? What would be realistic to expect?
I'm in a fairly stable position too right now.
If you phrase it that way, then I guess things are pretty simple: your highest priority is your career, not your relationship. Which is of course, perfectly fine -- I know many quite happy, well-adjusted people who, when a romantic partner gets a job offer (or needs to finish grad school, etc -- I have no idea what's drawing her to live in Chicago for 6 months), just kind of shrug and say "Well, we had a good run. But you know, your life's work is your life's work."
Then again, if you were to phrase it like this:
My SO is the best thing that ever could have happened to me. She's literally given me her all -- mentally, physically, and spiritually. And she proves it to me all the way, each and every night. Everytime I look at her, I feel like I've won the lottery... Zuckerberg, Brin, Page, Musk might as well all just be beggars. I couldn't even imagine letting her go.
Then things would be pretty simple, also. One's life work is important and all -- but when you think about, jobs come and go, don't they, and money always comes around, doesn't? But the love of someone (who truly loves you back) can't be weight against any amount money, recognition or praise by strangers. Especially not recognition and praise by some "hot" company that can easily turn around in the space of those same 6 months, pull out everything from beneath you, and basically leave you twisting in the wind.
If so, then I know what I'd chose, in your shoes.
"If you are truly wild at heart, you'll fight for your dreams... Don't turn away from love, Sailor... Don't turn away from love... Don't turn away from love."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_at_Heart_(film)