Should you be a full-time software engineer or contractor?
For most of us, whether to be a full-time employee or independent contractor is never a question. On one side, full-time positions can provide better career options and benefits. On the other, contracting gives you the freedom of how much to work, what to work on, and from where.
There are other options for engineers, but in this article we’ll dive into the advantages and disadvantages the two most common career avenues. This isn’t meant to be a comprehensive list of pros and cons, but rather a list of areas to think about and research further.
First, some terminology
Since I’m based in the US, I’ll be using a US-centric view of what it means to be a full-time employee or independent contractor. Even though the rules of what constitutes each are generally the same throughout the world, I’ll use the terms most commonly communicated to me after years of working with and as both.
A full-time employee (FTE) refers to someone who is employed by a company, receives benefits like health care, and most of the time is paid a salary. In the US, full-time employees complete a W-2 form, so you might also hear the term “W-2 employee.” Unless otherwise stated on an employment agreement, full-time means working 40 hours per week, though the reality of receiving a…
