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Phone interview went well, but disappointed it is not an FTE, it's a low-paying contract.

Can't post this on Facebook, because it seems I am the only one on the planet who is not a rabid Carol Channing fan. I hated her voice and her over the top flailing which somehow passed for singing and acting. I'm never happy to hear someone has died, especially someone I can't stand because then it's more difficult to tell the world I can't stand that person. And because John Donne.

Took the pork in moo dang marinade out of the fridge to soak at room temperature. Will cut and bake it this afternoon.

Assembled the new smaller lighter weight Bissel carpet steamer and ran it over the Spooked section of the livingroom rug. It works great. But Spook had already anointed the Star Trek transporter rug, so that needs to be washed again.

It's raining. Google and Alexa both insist it is not.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

msconduct.livejournal.com

It's interesting reading about your contracts - my business partner and I are in the IT contracting biz (mostly data architecture) too but the market here in NZ is very different. I was shocked when you mentioned a minimum wage contract in one of your posts. So much for everyone in the Valley being on fabulously huge pay (the Valley is seen as *very* glamorous to us here and startups do their best to imitate it). The lowest contract price here would be for first line helpdesk and it would pay around $30/hour. (Minimum wage here is $16.50/hour). Overall as a contractor here you can expect to make 2-3 times what a permie does for the same work. One thing I've always wondered about with US contracts is how medical insurance is managed. That's not a thing here with our so-called socialised medicine, but it must be an issue in the US.

From:

howeird

It used to be that way here, where contractors got higher wages because they did not get benefits, but then Congress changed the tax laws and suddenly companies started using contractors as cheap slave labor. And then a lawsuit from a bunch of misguided Microsoft workers made companies limit contracts to 2 years (after 2 years, the courts ruled, contractors were considered full time employees and needed to be given benefits).

My last contract was $33/hr, but the one I was going for was $19/hr - minimum wage depends on the city, and in this area it's around $15/hr. I do get health benefits, sort of, I'm on Medicare which is for older people, but I pay $100/month to the HMO and another $125 is taken out of Social Security to cover it.

If I was younger, medical insurance would cost about $500/month without having full time employee benefits.

Full time employee salaries are very high, with lots of benefits.

From:

msconduct.livejournal.com

It used to be that way here, where contractors got higher wages because they did not get benefits, but then Congress changed the tax laws and suddenly companies started using contractors as cheap slave labor.

Well, that sucks. Dunno if it's a supply and demand thing, although I thought IT workers were in short supply, hence the famous H1-B visa (although those I believe are now harder to get than they used to be). IT people are in chronically short supply here as NZers love to travel and the skills are very portable.

And then a lawsuit from a bunch of misguided Microsoft workers made companies limit contracts to 2 years (after 2 years, the courts ruled, contractors were considered full time employees and needed to be given benefits).

Huh. We have our own WTFery of the sort here, in that a court case established that if you sell services rather than...stuff...you are in fact an employee, which makes zero sense, but at least you're still allowed to deduct expenses. There's no time element, however. Our longest contract was with a government department and was more than eight years.

My last contract was $33/hr, but the one I was going for was $19/hr - minimum wage depends on the city, and in this area it's around $15/hr.

Yeah, that's not a lot.

I do get health benefits, sort of, I'm on Medicare which is for older people, but I pay $100/month to the HMO and another $125 is taken out of Social Security to cover it.

That's not too bad (it's about double what I pay for private health insurance) although it's still quite a bit out of a low-paying contract.

If I was younger, medical insurance would cost about $500/month without having full time employee benefits.

Woof. Ouch.

Full time employee salaries are very high, with lots of benefits.

I guess that confirms my impression that full time work is what's sought after in the US rather than contracting. The benefits thing must make a huge difference. You don't really get much of that here. Forgot to say, commiserations on the Arsenal thing not turning out how you hoped. I know the lovely process of trying to find a contract when there isn't much work around. We're drowning in work right now, but last year we were unemployed for much of the year, for the first time since we formed the company in 2000. Chasing endless potential stuff that doesn't pan out is so much fun.