Left for the holy grail permie job - not settling in at all

[dogzilla]

Sounds like you are suffering from a large dose of cognitive dissonance.

1. Why are you only doing 2-4 month stints? I know contractor's work short projects but the vast majority are projects which last at least 6-12 months, if not years.

Are you tulip? Or just taking the wrong jobs and getting unlucky? Or are you actively seeking short term contracts because that's what you enjoy?

2. Why did you think going from £350-450 to a £60k job earning half the money would be a good idea?

Were you benched and desperate for the money? This rubbish about stable income and less time away doesn't cut it.

Sounds to me like you got sick of being constantly benched (on 2-4 month gigs) and fell for the trap by taking a perm job.

BTW, no £60k job is a holy grail job. If it was, you wouldn't be here questioning your life.

[BrilloPad]

I contracted 1988 to 2009. Was forced into permanent - I could not get a contract. I got a dream permie job at a hedge fund. Which of course turned into a mare. I was begged into another permie role - they could not get my skills. 18 months later I got made redundant. f00kers.

Now back contracting and I am very happy.

IMO - go back to contacting. Its nothing to do with money. Its avoiding HR, 3+/s-, 360 reviews., etcetc.

[heyya99]

I think about returning to perm a lot. As get older, I'm getting a bit tired of the uncertainty (crap markets, crap work, Tory attacks). But I always ask myself if I could actually go through with it. I'm not sure. It'd have to be a role that I love going to, and in the field I'm in I can say that never going to happen. I think that 1 month into a perm role would have me pining for the flexibility of contracting. I look at the perm salary I could probably achieve and it's about 60k. My last permie role was 42k. Those figures make me sad.

So it looks like I'll be contracting for another while until George gets his way and hopefully have a big war chest saved to open up opportunities in the future. I am not being a software developer for 50k per year.

[sockie]

I will come back and read through and reply properly later, but I do feel I need to clear one thing. I've been a full time consultant for just over 5 years now - permie, then contracting then back to permie. So that bit of my role hasn't changed and I still enjoy it - it's all the stuff around it.

And this stuff here is all just very silly, frankly:

Sounds like you are suffering from a large dose of cognitive dissonance.

1. Why are you only doing 2-4 month stints? I know contractor's work short projects but the vast majority are projects which last at least 6-12 months, if not years.

Are you tulip? Or just taking the wrong jobs and getting unlucky? Or are you actively seeking short term contracts because that's what you enjoy?

Because that's how long the engagements take - both as a permie and as a contractor. I did a 6 monther last year but only because the project was a farce and I got asked to tack some extras onto the end of it. So, none of the above really.

2. Why did you think going from £350-450 to a £60k job earning half the money would be a good idea?

Were you benched and desperate for the money? This rubbish about stable income and less time away doesn't cut it.

It doesn't work out to be half the money, nowhere close once you factor in downtime, holidays and staying away expenses. The take home honestly isn't an issue in the slightest here.

Sounds to me like you got sick of being constantly benched (on 2-4 month gigs) and fell for the trap by taking a perm job.

Nope - I wasn't benched when I took the job and I never minded the short term gigs. As I stated, my main fear was how contracting seemed to be under attack, so yes, that did push me a bit. Second to that I was getting a bit bored of being away from home all the time - that was a big draw to the role, but as it happens, it doesn't look like that's enough to make me enjoy it. I just looked through my calender and I had 3 unplanned weeks off in my first year but I normally had something waiting to start. I also had a month off over Christmas, but I'd already signed a Jan contract for that.

BTW, no £60k job is a holy grail job. If it was, you wouldn't be here questioning your life.

Well, yes, quite obviously.

[cojak]

2. Why did you think going from £350-450 to a £60k job earning half the money would be a good idea?

Do you have to pay for your own expenses? Employed consultants don't.

Do you have to pay for an accountant? Employed consultants don't - that's what their Finance department is there for.

Do you have to pay for your own private medical insurance? Employed consultants don't.

Do you get paid even when you are sick? Employed consultants do.

Do you get bonuses? (Many) employed consultants do.

Do you get share options? (Many) employed consultants do.

I'm not counting paid holidays in this either.


Just looking at the bald figures of £350/450 vs £60,000 doesn't give you the whole picture.

[Delboy74]

I think about returning to perm a lot. As get older, I'm getting a bit tired of the uncertainty (crap markets, crap work, Tory attacks). But I always ask myself if I could actually go through with it. I'm not sure. It'd have to be a role that I love going to, and in the field I'm in I can say that never going to happen. I think that 1 month into a perm role would have me pining for the flexibility of contracting. I look at the perm salary I could probably achieve and it's about 60k. My last permie role was 42k. Those figures make me sad.

So it looks like I'll be contracting for another while until George gets his way and hopefully have a big war chest saved to open up opportunities in the future. I am not being a software developer for 50k per year.

Every time something goes wrong in my contracting world (whether it's a role I don't enjoy or another attack on contracting by the government) I start to think about going permie again. I've had a few long term roles in places that I've really enjoyed, especially the social aspects of them, but I've had a few stinkers too and it's difficult to tell in advance which one you are getting. The repercussions of accepting a permie stinker scare me. After earning the day rates I have for so long, I struggle to equate the work I do with the sort of salaries offered too. I've been lucky not to have had a gap in contracts for eight years, so I've stuck with contracting for the flexibility and the income more so than any difference in the work or problems in the market. I think my real issue is that I don't actually enjoy what I do any more and would like to do something else. If I'm going to be stuck doing this for a living then I'd rather do it for a contract rate than for a permie salary. I'll probably keep thinking that way until it becomes clear the government is going to take that choice away from me.

[BlasterBates]

350-400 a day 200days, taking into account contract gaps is 70-80 K gross, very comparable indeed with 60K

Once you've subtracted accountant and other essential expenses, then travelling expenses might even drag it lower than the permie job.

My current salary is about the same as a lower paying contract with travelling expenses, which is another reason I gave up. I've hardly spent anything on car repairs since going permie, before, I was shelling out a couple of grand a year at the garage. As a travelling permie in contrast I seemed to be "swimming in money" for using my own car.

[sal]

Playing the role ofa devil's advocate but...

Do you have to pay for your own expenses? Employed consultants don't. Define expenses, daily commute to the office or travelling offsite clients of the consultancy? in first case employed consultants do pay, in the second most contractors invoice extra for those

Do you have to pay for an accountant? Employed consultants don't - that's what their Finance department is there for.

Do you have to pay for your own private medical insurance? Employed consultants don't. Not all employees get private medical. No contractor have to pay for private medical

Do you get paid even when you are sick? Employed consultants do. Yes, MyCo takes care of that

Do you get bonuses? (Many) employed consultants do. I do get bonuses, they are called dividends

Do you get share options? (Many) employed consultants do. Already own 100% of the shares, no need for options. Can't say that many 60k level jobs give share options

I'm not counting paid holidays in this either. Yes, MyCo takes care of that


Just looking at the bald figures of £350/450 vs £60,000 doesn't give you the whole picture. No it doesn't but purely financially in 90% of the cases you are much better off with the day rate

[sal]

350-400 a day 200days, taking into account contract gaps is 70-80 K gross, very comparable indeed with 60K

Once you've subtracted accountant and other essential expenses, then travelling expenses might even drag it lower than the permie job.

My current salary is about the same as a lower paying contract with travelling expenses, which is another reason I gave up. I've hardly spent anything on car repairs since going permie, before, I was shelling out a couple of grand a year at the garage. As a travelling permie in contrast I seemed to be "swimming in money" for using my own car.

Are you talking 200 calendar days or billing days? In the first case you are missing the 5 months vacation per year, in the other case 80k gross with ltd. is close to twice the net of a 60k salary, so i would't call it comparable.

If you are comparing local permie job to long distance contracts you are comparing apples to oranges.

[dogzilla]

If you just want to take your money at the end of the month then I understand why you might see things differently. Personally I'd rather have £9k untaxed in the business account than £3500 taxed in my personal account.

Contracting for me is more than just my take home. My business is actively investing into plan b, c, d and anything else that might come along.

If all you are doing is adding up your take home then you are just a permy in disguise and you aren't really making the most of the situation. IMO.