FWIW, sounds like you're better off staying permie, but scaling back a bit more on what you do to make sure it's done right.
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Thanks TheFagger. Good to get another opinion.
The thing about the whole contracting "take a few months off between contracts" is ... well how do you really do that. As a permie I can take a month off for holidays and come back, having been paid, knowing my income source is still there.
If I was taking a couple of months off as a contractor then I'd be worried about that turning in to unemployment.
Part of me still thinks about a career break. I'm still young enough to have a gap year, maybe travel the world for six months then do a Masters somewhere. Get a chance to play a bit.
Don't want to lose my hair, stress all the time, and collect money in the bank.. for what... so I can just about scrape the deposit for a two-bed flat and spend the rest of my life having to work to pay off the rest.Comment
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I took a month off to do some training this year - wen to Goa for a week and then stayed out for another three to work. No income, but I have faith that the market would be OK.
As it happened, I finished my last contract early March, then went off. Came back to no work, so had a week on holiday in April. It took another three weeks to find something that would pay the rate that I wanted, so I just had a break at home with the family. A friend of mine took 7 weeks off last summer to spend time with his kids and wife, and then went back to the same customer at the end of his break (but he's lucky like that!).
It's important to make sure that you take the break - which can be hard as a contractor, particularly if you have a customer who keeps on extending you ad nauseum, you run the risk of never taking any time off.
If you are in a permie position where you have enough holiday to take a month off with no risks, then it sounds like you're better off sticking there. Last year I only worked 9 months, and already this year I've had 7 or 8 weeks without work, which I couldn't do in my last job!Comment
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Yeah, sounds like the permie job is right to stay in at the moment. I've worked my way to a really good salary which would be hard to get elsewhere.
This might sound a bit hippy but for the immediate stress I'm going to :
- try and let go and relax, if things aren't perfect then so be it
- try and do some stuff like yoga or whatever to let go after work
longer term :
- talk to manager and explain how things are
- try to redefine job role away from impossible workloadComment
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