Anyone moved from perm to contractor / interim roles and regretted it? Finance / accounting.

Participant · 17 Dec 2023 at 08:24

I just don't think I'm a good fit for permanent positions. I crave variety and hate office politics. I also dislike managing people and don't like the expectations on salaried staff to get involved with every team building event and waste of time meeting.

I'm in a position where I can instantly choose between a 6 month FTC role where everyone is friendly and it's a fairly easy ride, and a permanent job where my boss is a bit of a swearing table thumper. Short female with something to prove in a male-dominated industry, I think.

I'm in a massive dilemma with this tbh. I love contracting because of the variety and lack of politics, but don't want the job insecurity as I have a huge mortgage and young family that depend on me. Overall compensation between the two is basically the same.

Everyone says they don't know any decent contractors struggling for work so I should be fine, but I'm still nervous. However I don't think I'll ever be happy in a permanent role because of who I am.

Oh and in the contract role I only have to go into the office once per week whereas for the perm role it's office based, 25 miles each way.

I'm minded to become a career interim but terrified of it too!

booyaka · 18 Dec 2023 at 09:52

You've answered your own questions.

You dislike the travel, the office, your boss etc....

Without sounding blunt - you either put up (go contracting) or shut up (stay permanent) - Only you can make that choice, no one can do that for you.

I've worked for myself for 10 years now - could NEVER go back to office/large company situation.

jaybee · 18 Dec 2023 at 10:31

OP it's like I've written that myself. I'm the same. In permie roles all my career. Had a couple of chances to go contracting but never happened as good permie roles happened to come up around the time I was switching companies anyway. Too good to miss kind of thing.

I also hate all the guff with permie roles. Objectives. Box ticking. It's cringe AF. Also dislike managing. Have done it but got no reward from it at all. Prefer to stay technical.

Literally the only thing stopping me is job security. Contracting in IT at the moment is supposedly down and much harder to get roles right now. See the dedicated thread about it "is the situation really this bad".

If you can jump into contracting with a money buffer then I'd say go for it.

HangTime · 20 Dec 2023 at 02:11

So a 6 month FTC isn't really contracting in the traditional sense. I'm sure there are exceptions but from what I've seen most FTC roles tend to be the worst of both worlds, perm remuneration but without the long term job security.

I went from perm to contracting and them back to perm again. I don't regret the stint as a contractor at all, but it wasn't like I set out specifically to pivot between the two, I was driven more by what roles were available. I'd consider contracts again in the future.

What's different now is I have a perm role with relatively low responsibility, no team to manage, no budgetary responsibility, no vendors to manage etc compared to in the past where I had a perm role managing a team of more than 30, budgets, multiple vendor relationships etc etc. The package including pension/bonus/benefits etc is comparable to the bottom end of contracting rates so until the environment changes I'll probably stick at it.

EvilRob · 20 Dec 2023 at 17:43

Do you have a good buffer built up in case it takes time to find another role after the 6 month contract?

mid_gen · 30 Dec 2023 at 08:23

If the remuneration is the same, take the easier job.

A permanent job is only as secure as your notice period anyway, maybe in a larger/unionised company you'll have a bit more of a warning, but only if the company is solvent!

I've done a fair mix of permie/contract over the years. Currently permanent, which I'm quite glad of, as it's at a company with a good track record of only letting staff go as a last resort, which is pretty rare in the games industry, as lots of people found out this year.

Alex_L · 30 Dec 2023 at 11:26

Participant said:
I just don't think I'm a good fit for permanent positions. I crave variety and hate office politics. I also dislike managing people and don't like the expectations on salaried staff to get involved with every team building event and waste of time meeting.

I'm in a position where I can instantly choose between a 6 month FTC role where everyone is friendly and it's a fairly easy ride, and a permanent job where my boss is a bit of a swearing table thumper. Short female with something to prove in a male-dominated industry, I think.

I'm in a massive dilemma with this tbh. I love contracting because of the variety and lack of politics, but don't want the job insecurity as I have a huge mortgage and young family that depend on me. Overall compensation between the two is basically the same.

Everyone says they don't know any decent contractors struggling for work so I should be fine, but I'm still nervous. However I don't think I'll ever be happy in a permanent role because of who I am.

Oh and in the contract role I only have to go into the office once per week whereas for the perm role it's office based, 25 miles each way.

I'm minded to become a career interim but terrified of it too!

Sounds like you’ve thought pretty hard about it and interim is the path. I see a lot of career interims and all I’d add is:

1. Be financially prepared for a long period out of work (1 year+) and be grateful if that never happens.
2. Get all the insurances in place where possible (critical illness / income protection etc.) - I see contractors with no cover and then things go wrong and they end up financially stretched.
3. Invest in your skills to ensure you keep current or you’ll end up doing the same thing in ten years.

Other thing on permanent job security is it take a while to build up. I’ve been permanent in consulting for 10+ years and I’m basically too expensive to get rid of unless it’s an apocalypse or I’m utterly incompetent when redundancy rounds come.

Jack_green · 1 Jan 2024 at 16:13

Alex_L said:
Sounds like you’ve thought pretty hard about it and interim is the path. I see a lot of career interims and all I’d add is:

1. Be financially prepared for a long period out of work (1 year+) and be grateful if that never happens.
2. Get all the insurances in place where possible (critical illness / income protection etc.) - I see contractors with no cover and then things go wrong and they end up financially stretched.
3. Invest in your skills to ensure you keep current or you’ll end up doing the same thing in ten years.

Other thing on permanent job security is it take a while to build up. I’ve been permanent in consulting for 10+ years and I’m basically too expensive to get rid of unless it’s an apocalypse or I’m utterly incompetent when redundancy rounds come.

Contacting is good but not as good as it was. I found ways around gaps in jobs if I ever needed it. Perm jobs are just very boring , long and very body stressful. Contracting is great if you already own or don't pay rent.

jon86 · 3 Jan 2024 at 00:16

Alex_L said:
I’ve been permanent in consulting for 10+ years and I’m basically too expensive to get rid of unless it’s an apocalypse or I’m utterly incompetent when redundancy rounds come.

What do you mean by, "too expensive to get rid of"?

Mr Badger · 3 Jan 2024 at 00:22

jon86 said:
What do you mean by, "too expensive to get rid of"?

He knows where the bodies are buried...

Participant · 12 Jan 2024 at 18:36

Well I've plumped for the permanent role as I just can't afford a period without work. My mortgage is now £2.5k per month on a £466k balance, so until I can pay it off, I've decided that no matter how much I prefer interim / contracting, it's just too risky at the moment.

booyaka · 14 Jan 2024 at 18:16

Participant said:
Well I've plumped for the permanent role as I just can't afford a period without work. My mortgage is now £2.5k per month on a £466k balance, so until I can pay it off, I've decided that no matter how much I prefer interim / contracting, it's just too risky at the moment.

Jesus wept... £2.5k a month mortgage payment... Gives me the fear.....

Mortah · 14 Jan 2024 at 18:34

Not sure what industry you're in... If it's tech, don't be tricked into thinking FTE is secure. Layoffs everywhere and without warning, still. Thought we'd seen the end of it last year, but it's still going on. Job security is an illusion. You might find something and be happy there for a few years, but, you might just get laid off with little to no warning. Under current government rules, you basically get nothing if you're laid off in first two years too.

EvilRob · 14 Jan 2024 at 18:38

Mortah said:
Not sure what industry you're in... If it's tech, don't be tricked into thinking FTE is secure. Layoffs everywhere and without warning, still. Thought we'd seen the end of it last year, but it's still going on. Job security is an illusion. You might find something and be happy there for a few years, but, you might just get laid off with little to no warning. Under current government rules, you basically get nothing if you're laid off in first two years too.

Tech companies mostly seem to have been reasonably generous with their RIFs despite legal min requirements.

shadow_boxer · 6 Mar 2024 at 00:22

I've just gone to a part time permanent role after contracting nearly 5 years. 2 months in and I'm absolutely hating it. Unfortunately market forces are changing (healthcare) and school fees won't pay themselves!

Jokester · 6 Mar 2024 at 02:04

shadow_boxer said:
I've just gone to a part time permanent role after contracting nearly 5 years. 2 months in and I'm absolutely hating it. Unfortunately market forces are changing (healthcare) and school fees won't pay themselves!

You can look forward to school fees having another 20% added on top next year.

Participant · 26 Mar 2024 at 02:15

I'm three months into the perm job I moved to above and really dislike it.

I had my appraisal and probation review yesterday and although I passed, my boss spent most of the review complaining about my team never being in the office and how it was getting embarrassing, it's not a hybrid role, etc. I don't think she had a single good thing to say about what I'd done in the probation and was absolutely fixated on moaning about my team, all of which were hired by my predecessor.

I was thinking - wow you're so old fashioned, but of course toed the line.

I hate wasting 2 hours per day 3-4 days per week commuting and getting home just in time for dinner, if I'm lucky. Being paid well, but I'm just not happy and spend most of Sunday dreading the next day.

I've been offered a 6 month FTC in a completely different sector and different to my normal work, in transformation / systems implementation rather than a more normal accounting job, and only 2 days in the office per week (though I get the impression this is flexible too). Similar total compensation.

I am desperate to take it and get out but am actually terrified of not having anything decent to jump to when the project is delivered. Dilemma.

Gabby · 26 Mar 2024 at 02:51

Participant said:
Well I've plumped for the permanent role as I just can't afford a period without work. My mortgage is now £2.5k per month on a £466k balance, so until I can pay it off, I've decided that no matter how much I prefer interim / contracting, it's just too risky at the moment.

WTF? You overstretched yourself!

Participant · 26 Mar 2024 at 03:09

Gabby said:
WTF? You overstretched yourself!

No way. Great house in an excellent area. And how can you determine that without knowing my salary / incomings?

Maccy · 26 Mar 2024 at 09:59

I'd say go for the FTC @Participant and you can worry about the following role as and when you get near to the end. You never know, there may be an opportunity for an extension!