Now, I have very marketable skills as a Java architect/developer/mentor and I'm sure I would find another client the same day, there's still that risk.
In addition, there are some other things I don't have that a normal employee would have:
- No vacation time or sick leave to speak of so when I take a day off that's x hours times x dollars per that I don't get.
- I have to pay for my own life insurance and long term disability insurance. I don't bother with short term but many employers offer that too.
- Taxes on an LLC are ridiculous. I have to pay the 7.5% employers portion of FICA in addition to the 7.5% employee portion as well. Is that fair? I don't think so either.
- 401k? Yeah, right. I can put money into some IRA's or a SEP plan but company matching or anything like that? Nada.
- Luckily I get health insurance from Cdubya's employer or this wouldn't even be a question.
So, why am I thinking about all that. Well, my current client has several openings and I submitted my resume and have an interview with HR on Monday. Unfortunately in my research it appears they are not going to offer what I really would settle for. The big question is how do I put a number on all these benefits? I mean, can you monetize stability and security? What is that worth? $5k? $10k? I don't know and that's where I'm stuck.
I guess I will go through the process and see what the end result is. I was told by someone else that went down this path to state my salary requirements right up front because there is no negotiation. It could be that my requirements eliminate me right away but I do know that my number is in the range that they have.
All else fails, I continue doing what I'm doing. At 41 though, I'm thinking that if I ever want to be one of those "20 year" guys I better move quickly. Of course, if I had just stayed at Boeing in Seattle I'd be hitting my 20th year anniversary in October this year. Oh well.
3 comments:
Yeah, yeah, I know. I do have every Friday afternoon off if you want to start playing then.
The GOOD thing is that you do not NEED a job. You are interviewing THEM, not the other way around.
Here at Boeing, they figure our total benifets package not counting Vacation & Sick Leave at 1.3 percent of our base Salary. The additional benefits they include are: Health Care, Company Paid Insurance, Disability, 401k matching, Pension Plan and Company paid Social Security.
Also from time to time we'll get a profit shareing bonus under two plans:
Share Value - on stock price above a set amount,get that once every two years.
Employee Insentive Plan (EIP)- for yearly profits above a set percentage, can get up to 20 days extra pay yearly.
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