[LA.pm] advice about contracting

[Mark Hedges]

Thanks for all your opinions on and off the list.  Everyone so far has
concurred.

Yeah, it's in Florida, and I don't know anyone there.  It would be okay I
guess.  The rent is cheap.  Except it is super hot in Florida, worse than
dry L.A. in my opinion.  And without any guarantee, I could get out there
and be totally SOL... high and dry in the flat marshlands.

I think I will write them and say, okay, if you raise the hourly to $70/hr,
put up first/last and deposit on a 1-bedroom, and give me a $20k parachute
if they terminate in the first year for any reason.  But I don't expect
they will go for that.

My trust level with recruiters who talk big but don't promise anything and
with some types of companies is pretty low right now.  On the other hand, I
need a job.  Borrowing to go somewhere without a guarantee that I will
actually have any work when my gut is telling me there's a strong chance
I'll get screwed... it doesn't seem a good idea.  I could very well end up
worse off than I would be if I stayed in L.A., even if I have to downsize
here.

Mark


On Sun, May 24, 2015 at 3:39 PM, Buddy Burden <barefootcoder at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Mark,
>
>  On Sat, May 23, 2015 at 8:58 PM, Mark Hedges <mark.hedges.data at gmail.com
>>> <mailto:mark.hedges.data at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>     :
>>>     :
>>>     I was offered a contract out of state, on the east coast.  I was
>>>     wondering what people thought about the deal.
>>>
>>>     The money sounds okay, $57/hour W-2, no benefits.  ...
>>>
>>
>  On 05/24/2015 01:57 PM, Drew Taylor wrote:
>> :
>> :
>> ... The money is okay, depending on where you're living.
>> It might be a little low for the likes of Boston or NYC, but good for
>> anywhere else in between.
>>
>
> Agreed there.  It's not too shoddy for DC, but probably merely meh for NYC
> or pretty nice for Atlanta.  So it depends on where on the East Coast
> you're talking about.
>
> Also, "W-2 contractor" is a bit oxymoronic.  I believe it means they're
> telling the IRS you're an employee but they plan to treat you like a
> contractor.  Which I suppose is a bit nicer in some ways--e.g. at least you
> don't have to cover your own FICA/FUTA/SUTA/etc--but it certainly sounds
> like they want it both ways.
>
> Also also, if they're going to treat you like a contractor, they _may_ be
> implying that they're not going to guarantee you 40 hours a week, which
> also severely impacts your ability to pay rent.  All in all, I personally
> would be a bit nervous moving to a place where I didn't know anyone, even
> without the wife-and-kids thing.  OTOH, if you'll be in a city where you
> have some old friends that might be willing to put you up on a couch if
> times get hard, that's a whole different thing.  Even better if said old
> friends are also in the tech business and could give you a boost with
> networking.  But without at least that much of a safety net, I'd be
> super-nervous.
>
> Just my $0.02, of course.
>
>
>                 -- Buddy
>



-- 
Mark Hedges, software engineer
Business info:  http://formdata.biz/
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