Hi folks, I've been interviewing for several weeks looking for better income and challenges. I'd need to work as a contractor because I am living in South America and all the interested companies are from the US.<p>The things is, being a contractor means that the company can no longer need my services whenever they want and that's the reason I've been having troubles deciding to follow this path or not.<p>I'm in a good position right now and I'll need to leave a secure job plus some clients in order to start on the new job.<p>I consider myself a good professional but it's difficult to know beforehand what level of output will the new company require. I'm afraid I won't be up for the task and they will end the contract a month or two after starting.<p>Do you have any experiencies related to this? Am I being too dramatic? Is there a way to better approach this?
1) Any serious company won’t want to talk mxmpawn the person, but rather mxmpawn the company. Make sure this is in place before starting out.<p>2) Don’t make the mistake of charging $MONTHLY_SALARY/168. You need to cover taxes, sick days, vacation, equipment, insurance and other business costs (look up the term “fully loaded cost”). Where I’m at (Sweden), a good rule of thumb is to take your fully loaded hourly cost and multiply it by 2.<p>3) Unless you’re in a shaky market, devs are always in demand and you’ll be able to find work if your contracting doesn’t pan out.<p>Good luck! It’s a helluva ride and I recommend it to everyone!
If you’re a contractor you need to be in business for yourself. It’s not a job. Otherwise you’re just taking short term extra money for higher downside risk.<p>Many people feel there is no difference, but contractors always get culled first. Ive run big organizations — you always purge 80% of contractors when bad times hit. Personally, I would wait until things bottomed out unless you can absorb risk.
I don't think you are being too 'dramatic'. But I think you misunderstood the part of being a contractor: you are much more likely to get your contract terminated to economic reasons, or a switch in company vision, rather than your work output.<p>I'd think twice during these pandemic times, unless the deal is very good and is something you would really regret if you didn't accept.<p>I've worked in many big companies and also did some contracting and their first resort is to fire all the contractors when shit hits the fan.<p>The main reason they hire contractors is that they can be flexible when those hard times comes and terminate them, while having a bit wider pool of workers. The contractors on the other side enjoy higher compensation. but on a higher risk.
The difference in job security for a contractor vs a full time employee in the US isn’t meaningful unless the company is large enough to worry about wrongful termination lawsuits.<p>The distinction mostly revolves around taxation and internal budgeting, with a heavy amount of signaling towards the employee thrown in.
I think this is a pretty personal question regarding your finances and risk tolerance. There's always the risk that a contract is short lived, but that also exists within "secure" jobs. Obviously, there's a range of difference between the two.<p>That's often why contract work can pay better when it comes to hourly wages: there's more risk. If it were me, I'd try to have about 50% more in contract work wages lined up than for at least 6-months before leaving a "secure" job.