What are the pros and cons of working as an IT contractor?

gsxr · 1 year

Pros: Pay Cons: Benefits. Some companies give contractors only shit work.

You decide: May have to travel more for work. may have to relocate. Have to negotiate your pay more often.

Everyone saying Job Security, bullshit. As a full time employee you can be fired just as easy. I've seen FTEs walked out while contractors take their spot more than once.

AndroidHelp · 1 year

Pros:

Weekly Pay

Cons:

Everything.
No Job Security
You would have to be extremely lucky to find an agency that provides benefits, even 401k. Extremely lucky.
Shittier Pay
Treated like shit because you're expendable.
Everything

This is just my personal opinion from over the years of being an IT contractor, it's hard to find a really good place that will contract you out and provide good pay + some sort of benefits.

techie1980 · 1 year

Pros:

Much more control of your job. You can choose what engagements you want and leave when you want. There are no expectations of changing to fit the evolution of the role.
Better pay. Even after I began buying my benefits aftermarket, I found I was making better pay. I was subsidising people with families.
More influence on management. Because you are brought in for a specific role, and you are bouncing through jobs fairly often, you have a unique perspective. This often means that presentations and documents that you prepare will be blatantly stolen, but this is pretty normal.

Cons:

You're somewhat easier to fire. As a sysadmin, most companies are still reluctant to let you go over minor infractions.
Switching disciplines is more difficult. As an FTE, you can spend some time picking the brain of a DBA and maybe pick up some skills.
Finances tend to be trickier. Make sure you have a good tax person. They're worth the money.

scottyyyc · 1 year

Lots of slashdot discussions about this...

Pros: Usually higher wages, flexibility, easier to write stuff off as you'd be your own business. Easy to come and go at places and get experience. Edit: Depending on your speciality, if you have one, you can start to become an expert in a subject area, and become a valuable resource. Do a couple dozen exchange migrations, for example, and you'll quickly become a go-to-guy (partly where the relationships thing comes into play).

Cons: Little job security, can be let go at any time. You're essentially running your own company - your wage will be dependent on you and your efforts. Not always good for people who aren't self starters or develop good business relationships.

jhulbe · 1 year

I left a nice soft job at a corporate data center watching sql database jobs and not really doing anything to be a 1099 worker with an MSP.

I quickly showed my worth and got more and more work thrown my way. We grew and then my job roles changed from billable work to non-billable like pre-meetings and consults and stuff and we had a predetermined salary thing that just didn't work out so I eventually left for a competitor.

I'm salaried now, and love my job. I made some crazy bank contracting though. Around 35-50 an hour. Around these parts, that's damn good pay.

I had to basically dig up work though, check on clients, follow up and it all led back to more work being needed done, and I got paid.

SexBobomb · 1 year

One major con I've noticed is at least at our company we're leery to hire people who have previously been contractors as we're scared they'll just bail the second another high money contract comes along.

LunacyNow · 1 year

Hrm, it's about time I deleted this account anyways, so I'll unload some personal stuff. I've been contracting for 12 years.

The money can be good, but you have to be willing to hunt for it. On average I bill $90/hour, and I'm typically booked 36 hours a week with a swing of an extra 10 hours per week if I want it. I'm averaging $150k/year, but it has some caveats.

It took me 3 years to "figure out the formula" to successful consulting. That burn, plus a silly-ass-early-20's-lifestyle lead me to a pile of debt that took a long time to pay off. I call it my life-tuition. My advice: when you start out, live like a pauper for a bit.

If you can, find recurring monthly contracts. Guaranteed money every month is a big deal if you're trying to raise a family.

I haven't had a real vacation in 10 years. By real vacation I mean, if I go anywhere for a long weekend or take a few days off in the middle of the week I'm still tied to my phone/aircard. I can't escape, and I'm tired.

DO YOUR TAXES. SAVE MONEY FOR YOUR TAXES ON EVERY CHEQUE YOU RECEIVE. I learned this lesson from an acquaintance some years back. He used all his income to survive and didn't pay his taxes for a bunch of years. The gov eventually caught up to him, audited his ass, and demanded $100k due essentially overnight.

You will need to work your ass off on other things than "tech". To be a successful consultant you need to understand how businesses work and how to relate to business people. Read books: Good to Great, Built to Last, Drive, How to Win Friends and Influence People, everything by Gladwell. It doesn't matter if you don't like these books, the people you're selling your services to like these books. If you don't want to be a business person, or don't see the value in being a business person - stay gainfully employed.

Learn how to social engineer. I can't tell you how much business I've won (and retained) simply because the decision makers believe that "I'm just like them" and "totally on their team". I'm not screwing them out of anything, I simply understand their motivations and work my ass off to help them accomplish their goals with language they understand.

The most important thing I can stress about contract work: build very diversified relationships. I have never won any business that wasn't based on a previous relationship. If I just walk into a business and say "I'm awesome and can help you propel your business forward" I'll be told to get bent. If someone already in the business understands that a niche (or hell, a generalization) needs to be filled and says "I know this guy, LunacyNow, maybe let's give him a shot?" - BAM, you're in. To build these relationships you'll have to "be there" for people first.

OP, If you have specific questions that you haven't seen answers to (or simply need a boost in the right direction), please respond or shoot me a PM.

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