Walsingham Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 The biggest benefit of contract work is not the pay, which typically works out as quite low, after all the fees and the low turnover of work. It's the freedom and flexibility which rocks. As a corporate peon you have to tug the forelock and smarm your superiors. As a contractor or consultant you can ask awkward questions and hold people to much higher standards, because they aren't promoting you. I personally think that 90% of coorpare hierarchies and pay structures is only there to justify the big boss getting such a high salary. Without the intermediate grades you'd notice: a) how little work the bugger does b) how much they get paid for so little work But as long as they can point at the next guy down and say "I have to earn more than him" it's 'fine'. "It wasn't lies. It was just... bull****"." -Elwood Blues tarna's dead; processing... complete. Disappointed by Universe. RIP Hades/Sand/etc. Here's hoping your next alt has a harp.
Deraldin Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 I got up this morning/afternoon and went about my usual routine until about halfway through I just stopped. Something was out of place, but I couldn't quite figure out what it was. As I turned to look out the window, it hit me like the first soggy snowball of the year. It was snowing outside. "It's not even November!" I thought to myself. Yet even as the shock wore off, visions of dollar signs were already dancing before me eyes. It wouldn't be long before our neighbours headed south and left us with a big wad of cash in exchange for keeping their driveways cleared while they were gone. Thankfully our snowblower had just been fixed several weeks ago so it was hopefully good for at least one more year. Last year we had a lot of snowfall and hopefully this is a sign of things to come for this year. Winter can't come soon enough...
taks Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 The biggest benefit of contract work is not the pay, which typically works out as quite low, after all the fees and the low turnover of work. It's the freedom and flexibility which rocks. As a corporate peon you have to tug the forelock and smarm your superiors. As a contractor or consultant you can ask awkward questions and hold people to much higher standards, because they aren't promoting you. I personally think that 90% of coorpare hierarchies and pay structures is only there to justify the big boss getting such a high salary. Without the intermediate grades you'd notice:a) how little work the bugger does b) how much they get paid for so little work yes and no on the pay. i think it depends upon what you are doing. in the US, you get saddled by the additional 7% or so FICA up through the first ~$100k. that's $7k right off the top. you don't get unemployment insurance or any kind of health insurance (vision, dental, too), either, unless you pay for it yourself, and you don't get holidays or paid vacations. since some of these come out before taxes, your overall tax burden will be greater as a contractor, too (due to increased income and fewer before tax deductions). these are definitely drawbacks. however, you can easily double your pay through contract work. if your salary is only $15/hour, doubling that to $30/hour ain't going to cover all the losses you've taken (particularly insurance and additional taxes). once you start comparing higher wages, say $50/hour, it begins to make a little more sense if you can double it to $100/hour. mind you, not everyone can, and you're certainly trading long-term for short-term gain... oh, btw, while i've never been in the upper echelons of management, i have several close friends that have been, and have generally been on good terms with those that are at the corporations i've worked for. they earn their money, trust me on this. not because they're good at what they do, not all are, but because they really, really do have to give up most of the rest of their lives to get into the high pay brackets. these guys ultimately pay for it in just about every other way possible. the stress is insane. But as long as they can point at the next guy down and say "I have to earn more than him" it's 'fine'. ya know, i was going to comment on this as not true, but i have known a lot of people that think this way, and i can say for certain there is a bit of competition among engineers at the same level. ultimately, that is what supply and demand is all about, being paid what you're worth which means you kinda have to have an idea of what everyone else is making. taks comrade taks... just because.
Meshugger Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 (edited) it just seemed that meshugger made the statement almost with a sense of doom, as if it was "sigh... this is what i have to look forward to." i hate to see that. i don't think it needs to be that way. taks You got me wrong there, sorry about that. In Finland you are never grateful to when things get better, you always try to convince yourself that this new entitlement sucks more than the previous. Liking your job? Heaven forbid if you do that, it just means that you're a suck-up to the boss. So it is natural for me to complain a bit. I just....have to. This new job is better than the previous in almost every way, but being optimistic about to 100% is a deadly sin here, mistah! Edited October 21, 2008 by Meshugger "Some men see things as they are and say why?""I dream things that never were and say why not?"- George Bernard Shaw"Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man."- Friedrich Nietzsche "The amount of energy necessary to refute bull**** is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it." - Some guy
Meshugger Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 I got up this morning/afternoon and went about my usual routine until about halfway through I just stopped. Something was out of place, but I couldn't quite figure out what it was. As I turned to look out the window, it hit me like the first soggy snowball of the year. It was snowing outside. "It's not even November!" I thought to myself. Yet even as the shock wore off, visions of dollar signs were already dancing before me eyes. It wouldn't be long before our neighbours headed south and left us with a big wad of cash in exchange for keeping their driveways cleared while they were gone. Thankfully our snowblower had just been fixed several weeks ago so it was hopefully good for at least one more year. Last year we had a lot of snowfall and hopefully this is a sign of things to come for this year. Winter can't come soon enough... Snowing? I wish that it would snow here. I am tired of this rainy weather and 14 hour darkness per day. "Some men see things as they are and say why?""I dream things that never were and say why not?"- George Bernard Shaw"Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man."- Friedrich Nietzsche "The amount of energy necessary to refute bull**** is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it." - Some guy
Deraldin Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 Snowing? I wish that it would snow here. I am tired of this rainy weather and 14 hour darkness per day. That sounds like our summer here. We had maybe all of a week during the entire summer that it didn't rain every day. Still, it's been snowing pretty much all day and we've only get a little bit of accumulation on the lawns. It's still too warm to get much more than that.
alanschu Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 Learned about back face culling and doing object based and image based scene analysis.
taks Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 hey, i've got something cool today, in that "playing keep-up with alanschu's cool job" game... i'm actually figuring out how to pre-whiten single source data to create vectors simulating multiple sources, which then get used in a component analysis algorithm! woohoo, i'm not sure what i just said, but it sounds cool in the book. oh, meshugger, deraldin, it is supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow morning here in colorado springs. the mountains have been getting a lot lately, too (pike's peak has been alternating snowy/clear for a month now). yay! taks comrade taks... just because.
taks Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 You got me wrong there, sorry about that. In Finland you are never grateful to when things get better, you always try to convince yourself that this new entitlement sucks more than the previous. Liking your job? Heaven forbid if you do that, it just means that you're a suck-up to the boss. So it is natural for me to complain a bit. I just....have to. This new job is better than the previous in almost every way, but being optimistic about to 100% is a deadly sin here, mistah! oh, so it was doom, just for a different reason. i see... you should give the states a try. you don't have to pretend to be unhappy if you don't want to. taks comrade taks... just because.
Deraldin Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 oh, meshugger, deraldin, it is supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow morning here in colorado springs. the mountains have been getting a lot lately, too (pike's peak has been alternating snowy/clear for a month now). yay! taks That doesn't count! You're a good 6000 feet higher than I am.
theslug Posted October 22, 2008 Posted October 22, 2008 Something weird happened today at work, something so weird, dare I say....magical? It was as if time itself had somehow moved ahead without my noticing. It was a very strange day indeed. I also got my repaired xbox 360 back yesterday so that's cool but I have an exam tomorrow in my econ class and I tried to study but I did my patented 5 minutes of looking through my horribly written notes and then proclaiming that "I will wing it! Mwhahaha" Last time that happened (3 weeks ago) I barely slid by with a C- so I think I'm going to double my study time and then go light on the winging it portion. There was a time when I questioned the ability for the schizoid to ever experience genuine happiness, at the very least for a prolonged segment of time. I am no closer to finding the answer, however, it has become apparent that contentment is certainly a realizable goal. I find these results to be adequate, if not pleasing. Unfortunately, connection is another subject entirely. When one has sufficiently examined the mind and their emotional constructs, connection can be easily imitated. More data must be gleaned and further collated before a sufficient judgment can be reached.
Gorth Posted October 22, 2008 Author Posted October 22, 2008 Continued here “He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice.” - Albert Einstein
Recommended Posts