Deserting a sinking ship

For some time now, the company i work for has been struggling financially. You see, i work in the building industry, in a field that carries alot of risks. In the building trade, many materials are adaptable on site but in the facade design and engineering field, you make a mistake and you pay dearly.

Main contractors decided a long time ago not to take on the risks, hence the market for specialist sub-contractors that design and install the glass facades of buildings. The average lifespan of companies in this field is 15yrs.

So much for the brief story. As those of you who read my blog will know, i am actually doing a masters degree in Facade engineering and my company has picked up the bill for this. The great thing about this course is there are only 135 people in the UK industry with this qualifications with only 3 Universities in the world offering this course so from the day you start the course, companies start to sound you out with offers.

I have been lucky as well to have been made a few offers and have some companies wanting to talk to me. Here is my dilema. I know i have to leave my company for three reasons:-

1. My qualification will mean that i will be over qualified to remain with my present company
2. The money being offered by other companies, especially outside the UK is crazy
3. The company looks like it is going down

The other side of the above is the fact that the company has been really good to all the staff in the past and there are projects ongoing right now that the company needs me to be around to work on.

Just the other day, our MD called all the staff together to update us, letting us know that things were really bad but if we all work together, we can pull through. I have been looking to move on but his speech hit me where my conscience resides.

Can i still give 100% knowing the things i know and understanding that i will be leaving? Hard as i try, i am loosing the will to continue and this strike at the heart of my sence of gratitude.

Am i being selfish, pursuing future career growth while the company that helped give me that opportunity is struggling?