Full-time vs Consulting positions

Table of Contents

Full-time vs Contract jobs
Benefits of being a consultant:
Benefits of a full-time job
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The idea that, if you are a contractor, if you finish your job right and push your implementations to production, you can get a good night’s sleep - is incorrect.

Full-time vs Contract jobs

Training, Guidance and Mentorship

The staff training and development that come with full-time opportunities is very good.

In consulting, nobody will provide that to us. We have to seek and find it on our own.

Money

In full-time jobs, there are some responsibilities but the pressure would (probably) be minimal. It is not a do or die situation. Things like paid vacation time, etc. are all added advantages.

Flow of information

Information is shared with full-time employees more openly. Information is not always available to contractors because they are not insiders and they would not be invited to all the meetings. Information is passed down to the contractors from someone else. Things get lost in “the telephone game” type of a situation. Contractors never get the nitty-gritty details of decision-making - especially from higher levels of the management.

Survival

Most of the time, the day-to-day activities are just about survival. Full-time employees have an advantage in this regard. For contractors, there is a limited time to work on a given piece of functionality (like a sprint). If that is not done, the contractors have to offer explanations to everyone.
During lay-offs, contractors will be the first ones to get the boot. Even if it is not lay-off season, bad performing full-time employees retain their jobs for much, much longer than decent performing contractors. Companies don’t need reasons to kick the contractors out. They can do that on a day’s notice. It doesn’t work that way for full-time employees.

Benefits

One major advantage of full-time work is an employee’s ability to negotiate attractive benefits. Health insurance and paid time off are standard benefits.

Benefits of being a consultant:

Freedom to not have to be on the clock: Being a full-time 40 hour a week employee means you are typically locked in. A consultant does have some flexibility with timing, but there is also the fact that a consultant may have to work late into the night on projects.

Freedom in General: Seems like the moment I am working full-time for an employer, there is an immediate difference in how you are treated and what you can do is limited to the structure of the organization.

Ability to Negotiate Hourly Rate: At times in my career I wanted to be able to raise my rate as consultant. You can negotiate your pay as a consultant, but once you are hired full-time, you have little to no negotiating ability for salary. You would need to wait till the end of the year or in some cases never.

Tax Benefits: As an independent consultant you typically have your own LLC or Corporation and you have the ability to take tax write offs against the business. Seems like the new tax bill will be better for those with a corporation than without one.

Benefits of a full-time job