Ask HN: Leaving a secure job for a remote contract position

[mxmpawn]

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.

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.

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.

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.

Do you have any experiencies related to this? Am I being too dramatic? Is there a way to better approach this?

[brtkdotse]

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.

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.

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.

Good luck! It’s a helluva ride and I recommend it to everyone!

[Spooky23]

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.

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.

[thiago_fm]

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.

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.

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.

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.

[dpeck]

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.

The distinction mostly revolves around taxation and internal budgeting, with a heavy amount of signaling towards the employee thrown in.

[onassar]

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.

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.

[BananaKick]

No job Is secure. It's just an illusion.