[QUOTE=Winston Smith]
I’m really leery of temp positions. I’ve got a wife and two kids (4 & 2) at home, a giant mortgage, preschool to pay for, etc. Plus, from what I’ve seen contract/temp salary is only about $70k to $80k max, and I’d have to pay health insurance for the family out of my pocket, so financially it really wouldn’t work. I’ve thought about it, though.
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Your maxes for contracting are somewhat typical but not the true maxes for people with the right skills. I started out as a contractor with my present company and actually liked it better before they strong-armed me into converting to a permanent employee. Contractors generally get paid more per hour than regular employees as compensation for a (supposedly) more unsteady position and the fact that they don’t get benefits. $50 an hour translates into 100K a year not counting overtime and that isn’t a rarefied rate. Once you push past that, the skill demands become more specific but there are plenty of contractors that make 120K a year or more. All hours are billable and I was always treated great in my two contracting positions. They usually don’t have any problem extending good contractors and I have known many people that have done it 5+ years and some have even been working at the same company for 5 - 10 years. A small paradox is that contractors are often the ones left behind when layoffs come because they still need people to do the work and they know that they can get rid of contractors anytime they want (so they don’t).
My husband makes enough as an IT contract employee that I don’t have to work, and he’ll be taking off the next 3-6 months just because.
The man threatened your life!? Pretend someone else wrote the OP. What would you tell them to do in your situation? No one should have to put up with having their life threatened, let alone the other forms of harassment he’s dealt you.