Switch from salary job to 20% higher paying hourly job?

[AdamK47]

Would you go from a salary job to an hourly contract-to-hire job that initially pays 20% more hourly with the potential of getting hired in directly to the company with an equivalent salary?

There would not be a 100% guarantee of getting hired in. Contract period can last anywhere from 6 months to 1 year. No 401K offered for the contact position. Contract company offers health, dental, and vision benefits at about 50% higher than current job. Not that big of a deal for a single person. Contract job has the potential for overtime.

What would ATOT do? I already make good money (for Ohio) and I don't have any problems with my current job.

 

[Ns1]

how do your employment prospects look if contract-to-hire doesn't pan out?

 

[AdamK47]

how do your employment prospects look if contract-to-hire doesn't pan out?

I could easily find something. My software development skills / experience is rather rare and in demand. Load Test / Automation Framework Architect. One or the other, sometimes both.

This position popped up out of the blue. I wasn't looking.

 

[Ns1]

eh, depending on your 401k contribution that's only a ~15% increase in wages, not including OT. If you're on the bench for 1-2 months that could make the extra money a moot point. It would have to have some tertiary benefits beyond money to make that switch worthwhile IMO.

 

[AdamK47]

My current company doesn't do a 401k match.

There's always mutual funds I could buy on my own in the interim.

 

[deadlyapp]

Yeah, if you don't already have a 401k match, then just taking your money and going IRA wouldn't be a bad idea. The potential for overtime and making significantly more than your base would be appealing to me, especially as a single person. I always regret not getting some sort of really high paying job that was backbreaking for a few years to save.

 

[Exterous]

Would you go back to being salaried if you are hired? I love the fact that I took a pay raise to go back to hourly (with 40 hours a week guaranteed). Earning time and a half sure makes those off hour\weekend IT tasks much easier to deal with.

 

[AdamK47]

I'd go back to salary if it had the right combination of base salary and benefits. 401k with match being a large consideration. Not really concerned with vacation days since I rarely ever use the days I have now.

I haven't settled on jumping ship yet. I could use the offer as a means for getting a counter offer.

 

[AdamK47]

Talks ongoing. Got them up to 31.57894736842105263157894736842% higher pay compared to what I make now with salary.

 

[Zeze]

Talks ongoing. Got them up to 31.57894736842105263157894736842% higher pay compared to what I make now with salary.

Is that the bottom line net difference?

It's not too hard to calculate these:
1. 401k match in dollars
2. All PTO/sick in dollars (assuming your gig doesn't pay).
3. Healthplan (how much do you have to pay if you were to buy a plan on your own?)

I worked on a contract gig about 5 years ago. Zero benefits, just hourly wage only.

I paid $300/mo for a bronze level health plan on my own. But I made so much freakin' money of my life. We worked OT like crazy and I ended up making 150K back then.

That's even with 2 weeks of unpaid time off, I still made that much.

 

[AdamK47]

Is that the bottom line net difference?

It's not too hard to calculate these:
1. 401k match in dollars
2. All PTO/sick in dollars (assuming your gig doesn't pay).
3. Healthplan (how much do you have to pay if you were to buy a plan on your own?)

I worked on a contract gig about 5 years ago. Zero benefits, just hourly wage only.

I paid $300/mo for a bronze level health plan on my own. But I made so much freakin' money of my life. We worked OT like crazy and I ended up making 150K back then.

That's even with 2 weeks of unpaid time off, I still made that much.

I would be making a little bit over that amount. California money in Cincinnati Ohio.

I don't have a 401k match with my current employer, so no loss there. They do have paid holidays. They initially did't offer PTO days, but I talked them into including 5 PTO days. Better than nothing. The company offers health insurance. $38 a week for their Bronze plan (single individual). I'm probably going to go with that.

 

[Viper GTS]

Not really an inherent advantage either way IMO unless there's great potential for OT. The complete lack of time tracking with salary is nice, but not decline 30% more money nice.

That kind of increase if you already make good money is really hard to ignore. I'd do it unless I had major concerns about being able to find another job if the 'to hire' part didn't work out.

Viper GTS

 

[AdamK47]

The contract company really wants me. They previously had a guy working for the client that said he had good Java development experience for the technology I mainly work with. He was brought on and they quickly learned that he really didn't. They need me in there to take over.

 

[ctbaars]

You said you're single? guaranteed 40 hrs / week minimum for a year? ... Go for it ...

 

[AdamK47]

Single, no kids. 40 hours a week is a guarantee. Overtime is possible with prior approval. No shortage of work it seems.

 

[ctbaars]

oh yeah. go for it.
But don't burn bridges.
Give and do the 2 weeks or what ever is appropriate for your current job responsibilities.
And don't blame anyone if it all goes bad.
(This is just my opinion. Don't sue me)

 

[AdamK47]

I went ahead and accepted the offer. A 31.6% bump in pay (plus potentially more with overtime) is too much to resist. It's a gamble for long term stability. I'm confident enough with my skills to know that I'll be of continued value. The start date is Apr 23rd. Plenty of time for notice with current employer.

 

[PowerEngineer]

In your situation, there's no better time to take what seems like a small risk for a significant benefit. Good luck!

 

[IronWing]

Good luck and congrats on the new job! We’l l still see death packets, no?

 

[AdamK47]

There will probably less time for story telling by way of condiment packets.

 

[BoomerD]

Good luck. I only had two salary jobs in my nearly 40 years of working. Sure, there are some benefits to being salaried...sometimes....Flexible hours, take time off with pay, etc...but some places require you to use PTO hours for "early out" days, doctor's visits, etc, so that 'benefit" disappears, and the only REAL benefit is to the company who can work you lots of extra hours with no extra compensation.
FUCK THAT.

 

[Tweak155]

My current position is my only position I've had that is strictly salary (outside of major anomalies... I will say in 3yrs I've never been paid OT <I get comp time, but I've worked OT maybe 3 times?>). I would still opt for hourly if given the choice. I don't mind getting paid less just because I worked less.. if you expect to get paid more when you work more, it's only fair.

That said, I rarely look at any job opportunity as to how it is outlined to me - I look at how much I think I'll kick ass at it. Any company I've dealt with never wants to let me go once I get into a job where I lined it up with my skills. 6mo contract, 12mos, etc whatever, they'll find a way to keep a good worker hired. I see it all the time.

I was 2yrs contract at my current company before I converted FWIW. They tried to convert me after 1 year but I declined and opted for a 11% increase.

 

[AdamK47]

New twist!

Put my notice in yesterday. Today I learned that my current company wants to counter offer. Now I've read all the stuff about not going with a counter offer. The thing is, I wouldn't be leaving this company because I didn't like something about my job or the company. It basically came down to the large increase in money the other company was offering. Current company wants to match it. Something I didn't think they would ever ever do.

 

[fleshconsumed]

New twist!

Put my notice in yesterday. Today I learned that my current company wants to counter offer. Now I've read all the stuff about not going with a counter offer. The thing is, I wouldn't be leaving this company because I didn't like something about my job or the company. It basically came down to the large increase in money the other company was offering. Current company wants to match it. Something I didn't think they would ever ever do.

So long as you don't mind your current company underpaying you for so long...

 

[Red Squirrel]

So long as you don't mind your current company underpaying you for so long...

Maybe ask for like 1 year retro. Hey, worth a shot.