Software Engineer: Permanent or Contractor?

Pros and Cons of working as a Permanent or Contractor.

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For a software engineer (including SDET), there are mainly two choices in terms of work:

• A Permanent employee
  Employee (I will use this term in this article), or informal: “Permi”. Paid by annual salary.
• A Contractor
  paid by the hour/day.

Both have pros and cons. I have worked both for a number of years. This article shares my views.

· Contractor Earns More
∘ Zhimin’s Simple Hour Rate to Annual Salary Conversion Formula
· Employee Has More Benefits
· Contractors are considered more Technically Competent
· Contractors can do side projects
· Less overtime for Contractors
· A Permanent Employee is not “Permanent”
· Higher Pressure work for Contractors
· Contractors can work with more projects and more people
· My Advice: Start with an Employee for a few years at least, then become a Contractor

Contractor Earns More