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I am an engineer in the IoT/Electronics industry and have been debating on making the switch from hired on employee to just doing consulting full time. Last year I started doing some contracting on the side in addition to my day job. I was introduced to an engineering consulting company by a friend of mine and it ended up working out pretty well. Back then I had thought about just making the switch because the pay was significantly better (about 2.5x of my salary at my day job) but was hesitant because I had just bought some family property and didn't want to chance not having an income if the contracting gig suddenly fell through or work ran out and then end up not being able to make payments on the property.
Fast forward to now about a year later and I am really giving it more thought and leaning toward making the change. There are a few motivating factors that are making me consider it more now.
1. Would likely allow for more remote work time. My current employer does let us work remote 3 out of 5 days a week unless there is something particular that we need to go into the office for. Which is great compare to many employers. But ideally I would like to be able to work remote as much as I like. Main reason for this is so that I can make quicker progress building my house on the family property I bought (It's about 1.5hrs away from where I currently live).
2. Pay. My day job has been feeding it's employees excuse after excuse about why there aren't any raises. Last year I had to quite literally chew my boss a new a**hole about how it was bullshit they weren't giving yearly increases. Before last year my last raise was 4 years ago and that was when I was promoted to an engineering position. And I'm not the only one. There are other higher up engineers there than me that hadn't had raises in even longer than that. No joke. One of the companies mottos is "Stay lean and frugal" and it shows. I've been at this company almost 9 years now and have always gotten very good ratings in my performance reviews (when they actually give them that is). And even still it's excuse after excuse.
This year was the "straw that broke the camels back" so to speak. At the beginning of the year the company had its Town Hall meeting where they update all the employees on the state of the company. One of the things that stood out to me was when they were discussing the revenue and mentioned that the company made $1.7 million More than the projected revenue for the year. Yet come performance review time they were sure to have an excuse as to why they weren't giving raises again.
3. The day job is just a job. At this point and really for the last couple years I feel like my career there has kind of hit a dead end. No place really to advance to in the company. But even if there was it is not my long term plan anyway to work there forever. Some years ago (probably about 5 or 6 years ago now) I read the Millionaire Fastlane and then subsequently Unscripted and now am working my way through The Great Rat Race Escape . Ever since coming across MJ's work it has been my plan/goal to have my own business and create things of value that I can sell independent of the amount of hours I put in. I already have somewhat of a start in this endeavor. I have 3 different products that I designed and sell but it has been more of a hobby/side gig. Even at that though I have done better than I initially thought I would. One of the products I have sold over 1000 of over the last few years. I realize that isn't that many to some. But it is way more than I had ever thought possible when I first designed it.
And the products practically sell themselves. Without going into to much detail. The products are for the 2-way radio hobbyist. And as is the nature of the hobby when one of the people talks to someone else and they hear how well that persons setup sounds they ask what they are using for equipment and where they can get one. I see a lot of other potential in this market and have some other product ideas that I think could really have a lot of potential. That being said though. I still need a source of income for the time being and to help fund my other ideas.
The company I had done contract work for last year said they have plenty of work but they want me to be able to commit to a minimum of 40 hours a week now (previously I was doing about 10). They really seem like a great company and everyone I have gotten to meet there seems to really like working for them. Most of them are contractors but they do have a few hired on employees.
At this point it seems really the main drawbacks of going to consulting is that there would be no "paid" company benefits. So I would probably pay out the a$$ for health insurance. That and not knowing if/when there might be a "dry spell" in the amount of work available. But I would be making quite a bit more money than I am now at my current employer.
I originally had figured I would just try to save up enough money to pay all my expenses for 6 months and then make the switch. That way if something didn't work out right away I would at least have some time to figure things out and either find another customer to do work for or find another job.
I was thinking though. I know a lot of people highly recommend against it but. If I were to leave my job I am at now I could cash out my 401k (I know early withdrawal penalties and taxes would suck) and then have that money be my "emergency fund" if I need it. After all. My long term plan is a fast lane business. In which case I won't be depending on the little bit of money I have in my 401k right now to someday "retire".
Although I don't anticipate needing to use that money since the amount I would be making as a contractor would allow me to build up an emergency fund quite quickly.
Well if you've read this far then thank you! This post ended up being quite a bit longer than I had envisioned it being. Any advice/input/criticisms welcome.
I am an engineer in the IoT/Electronics industry and have been debating on making the switch from hired on employee to just doing consulting full time. Last year I started doing some contracting on the side in addition to my day job. I was introduced to an engineering consulting company by a friend of mine and it ended up working out pretty well. Back then I had thought about just making the switch because the pay was significantly better (about 2.5x of my salary at my day job) but was hesitant because I had just bought some family property and didn't want to chance not having an income if the contracting gig suddenly fell through or work ran out and then end up not being able to make payments on the property.
Fast forward to now about a year later and I am really giving it more thought and leaning toward making the change. There are a few motivating factors that are making me consider it more now.
1. Would likely allow for more remote work time. My current employer does let us work remote 3 out of 5 days a week unless there is something particular that we need to go into the office for. Which is great compare to many employers. But ideally I would like to be able to work remote as much as I like. Main reason for this is so that I can make quicker progress building my house on the family property I bought (It's about 1.5hrs away from where I currently live).
2. Pay. My day job has been feeding it's employees excuse after excuse about why there aren't any raises. Last year I had to quite literally chew my boss a new a**hole about how it was bullshit they weren't giving yearly increases. Before last year my last raise was 4 years ago and that was when I was promoted to an engineering position. And I'm not the only one. There are other higher up engineers there than me that hadn't had raises in even longer than that. No joke. One of the companies mottos is "Stay lean and frugal" and it shows. I've been at this company almost 9 years now and have always gotten very good ratings in my performance reviews (when they actually give them that is). And even still it's excuse after excuse.
This year was the "straw that broke the camels back" so to speak. At the beginning of the year the company had its Town Hall meeting where they update all the employees on the state of the company. One of the things that stood out to me was when they were discussing the revenue and mentioned that the company made $1.7 million More than the projected revenue for the year. Yet come performance review time they were sure to have an excuse as to why they weren't giving raises again.
3. The day job is just a job. At this point and really for the last couple years I feel like my career there has kind of hit a dead end. No place really to advance to in the company. But even if there was it is not my long term plan anyway to work there forever. Some years ago (probably about 5 or 6 years ago now) I read the Millionaire Fastlane and then subsequently Unscripted and now am working my way through The Great Rat Race Escape . Ever since coming across MJ's work it has been my plan/goal to have my own business and create things of value that I can sell independent of the amount of hours I put in. I already have somewhat of a start in this endeavor. I have 3 different products that I designed and sell but it has been more of a hobby/side gig. Even at that though I have done better than I initially thought I would. One of the products I have sold over 1000 of over the last few years. I realize that isn't that many to some. But it is way more than I had ever thought possible when I first designed it.
And the products practically sell themselves. Without going into to much detail. The products are for the 2-way radio hobbyist. And as is the nature of the hobby when one of the people talks to someone else and they hear how well that persons setup sounds they ask what they are using for equipment and where they can get one. I see a lot of other potential in this market and have some other product ideas that I think could really have a lot of potential. That being said though. I still need a source of income for the time being and to help fund my other ideas.
The company I had done contract work for last year said they have plenty of work but they want me to be able to commit to a minimum of 40 hours a week now (previously I was doing about 10). They really seem like a great company and everyone I have gotten to meet there seems to really like working for them. Most of them are contractors but they do have a few hired on employees.
At this point it seems really the main drawbacks of going to consulting is that there would be no "paid" company benefits. So I would probably pay out the a$$ for health insurance. That and not knowing if/when there might be a "dry spell" in the amount of work available. But I would be making quite a bit more money than I am now at my current employer.
I originally had figured I would just try to save up enough money to pay all my expenses for 6 months and then make the switch. That way if something didn't work out right away I would at least have some time to figure things out and either find another customer to do work for or find another job.
I was thinking though. I know a lot of people highly recommend against it but. If I were to leave my job I am at now I could cash out my 401k (I know early withdrawal penalties and taxes would suck) and then have that money be my "emergency fund" if I need it. After all. My long term plan is a fast lane business. In which case I won't be depending on the little bit of money I have in my 401k right now to someday "retire".
Although I don't anticipate needing to use that money since the amount I would be making as a contractor would allow me to build up an emergency fund quite quickly.
Well if you've read this far then thank you! This post ended up being quite a bit longer than I had envisioned it being. Any advice/input/criticisms welcome.
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