Contractor payrate vs Permanent/Full-time employee

Malita215

My last and first contract position was working as a security admin doing mainly account provisioning and other projects. That eneded at the end of the year. I was making $30/hr. Previously, I worked as service/help desk and positions making around $24/hr. So when I had the opportunity to leave a permanent position to try and get into more advanced roles, I did and it paid off. Unfortunately, the contract ended because they were trying to change my hrs and it wouldn't have worked with family obligations so they eneded my contract.

Anyway, I'm back on the market and I'm still trucking forward with finding positions that will help build my career. When I speak with recruiters or direct hire companies, they always give me the same story about a realistic salary coming from contractor to full-time w/benefits. I understand all of that but when it's starts to feel like a sales pitch, it gets annoying. Yes, I'm relatively new in InfoSec, but not new to IT. I'm soon to get my M.S. in Cyber & Information Security in April and have about 6/7 yrs in IT. Most salary ranges I'm being pitched is between 50-60k as a contractor and as a permanent employee. If I worked OT I could have gone over 50k as a SD analyst w/benefits.

I will say that I got spoiled with the $ I was making and will feel a hit to my progress if I start considering lower paying jobs. Knowing the earning potential in this field (with experience I guess) I don't want to be swindled out of $.

The overall package is what matters but when it's so close to what I was making in lower positions, it's not as appetizing.

Thoughts??

Thanks

gespenstern

Sure, it should be a way up until you get too old. If you have some savings that could keep you afloat you can keep actively looking, someone will eventually hire you. If you need money to pay your bills then it's trickier and you can accept a not that great offer in order to jump off the ship when good opportunity presents itself.

goatama

When making the decision to go FTE vs Contractor, you really do have to consider the overall package. For example, I've got a friend who makes about 85k in base salary, but his overall compensation including benefits and retirement and whatnot (he's local gov't) is around 120k. He got an offer from a recruiter for his exact position (his team was hiring a contractor and the recruiter didn't know which agency he worked for) but they were offering 105k plus benefits. He was pissed. Then he looked at their benefits package and saw that he'd be paying three times the premiums but getting way crappier coverage. Then there was no real retirement as a contractor. When he did all the math, he realized that he would actually be losing money as a contractor. Even though his base salary was a decent amount more, he was losing a bunch of other benefits that would end up coming out of his pocket.

Needless to say, he said he wasn't interested. Besides, how would that conversation go? "Hey, boss, I'm quitting, but coming back as a contractor."

Mike-Mike

goatama wrote: »

When making the decision to go FTE vs Contractor, you really do have to consider the overall package. For example, I've got a friend who makes about 85k in base salary, but his overall compensation including benefits and retirement and whatnot (he's local gov't) is around 120k. He got an offer from a recruiter for his exact position (his team was hiring a contractor and the recruiter didn't know which agency he worked for) but they were offering 105k plus benefits. He was pissed. Then he looked at their benefits package and saw that he'd be paying three times the premiums but getting way crappier coverage. Then there was no real retirement as a contractor. When he did all the math, he realized that he would actually be losing money as a contractor. Even though his base salary was a decent amount more, he was losing a bunch of other benefits that would end up coming out of his pocket.

Needless to say, he said he wasn't interested. Besides, how would that conversation go? "Hey, boss, I'm quitting, but coming back as a contractor."

i had a friend have a similar situation. He got the contractor to email them the details, then he took it to his boss and raised hell. He got a small raise out of it

Remedymp

Contracting only makes sense when you're single, healthy and the contract is less than two years. For example: I worked a contract that paid $45/hr and the FTE was only paying $32k, but had full benefits. But, as a contractor I can bring my own private insurance for similar cost as the employer. I can go without a vacation for a year. But, anything more than that would fatigue me mentally.

NVLady

I left a contracting position (with decent benefits) in 2006 to go to a state government job. I think it was a 14k paycut. While it was a difficult transistion the time, it paid off because of the even better benefits (especially if you have a family). Good luck with your search.

TechGromit

Malita215 wrote: »

The overall package is what matters but when it's so close to what I was making in lower positions, it's not as appetizing.

Thoughts??

Really depends on the level of security you want. Contracting can be very rewarding, but very unstable. When budgets get cut, 9 times out of 10 it's the contractors that are the first to go, not full time employees. When times are good, you can usually pick up another gig pretty quickly, but when the country is in a recession you could be out of work for some time unless you have specialized skills. Personally I like the security of a full time position with benefits, I've been on the short end of the stick as a contractor, better to be a full time employee in my opinion.