

Ask HN: Independent contractor vs. 9 to 5 employee - yawaworht

Please forgive the throwaway account.  I am considering leaving my full-time 9 to 5 job to become an independent contractor with another company.  Ultimately, I'd like to start a company of my own.<p>In my current job, I have varying amounts of downtime that I can use to learn things. I'm thinking that if I'm able to make this change to independent contractor, it'll allow me more time and freedom to actually start my own company.  Also, the independent contracting will give me more experience with the kind of work I want to do on my own.<p>I'm debating with myself over whether it makes more sense to stay in my current job and work on my own company on nights and weekends, or to go the independent contractor route and use the experience I gain doing that to help me start my company.  9-to-5 would have the advantage of a steady paycheck at a very stable job plus benefits.  I don't have a spouse or children.  What if the independent contracting work ends up taking most of my time, so that it becomes more difficult to start my own company?<p>Any advice?
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rick888
I would stick with your day job. I was an independent contractor for a year
(while trying to work on my startup). Contracting is much more tiring than
working a 9-5, which makes it difficult to work on your own projects after you
are finished.

I also ran into the problem of people not paying me on time and or not paying
me at all, which adds more stress to the situation and can take you away from
your main goal.

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mcknz
I agree. You could do both for a while -- stay with your full time work and
take on some freelancing jobs. Even the small freelance projects will be a
good learning experience on how to manage client expectations, create
estimates, and determine your pricing. With the day job as the backup, your
early mistakes as a contractor won't have nearly as big of an impact.

If you go that route, be sure to monitor your workload closely -- don't
overestimate your ability or underestimate the complexity of any given
project.

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gexla
If you are leaving your 9-5 to become an independent contractor then you
actually are starting your own company. From my experience, I would never say
that becoming an independent contractor would give me more time and freedom
unless I was able to live on working a part time schedule.

It sounds to me like you don't really want to be an independent contractor,
it's just a means to an end. Don't do it. Stuck with your day job and work on
your other company on the side.

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prodigal_erik
How is the market these days? I have an outsider's impression that when the
economy is weak, companies tend to downshift and cut contracting costs,
squeezing more from their employees instead.

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yawaworht
The contracting I would be doing is in the mobile application space, so that
market may not be indicative of the rest of the economy.

