So I just got back from my first interview. It went well and really was an interview with a recruiting company prepping me for the first interview with their client - a major hedge fund company. As I look to the future it is very cloudy. Right now I am in the process of getting an offer from LM to go permanent at a much lower rate than I contracted for. The money is just not right for permanent positions. However, the hedge fund company comes very close to meeting contracting money even though it is a permanent position. I am stuck trying to figure out what to do. Should I interview more and find a contract? Should I go on these hedge fund interviews(they want me to do 2 half day interviews)? Should I just accept the LM job and stay at a comfortable easy job that has a so-so environment for the rest of my days?

So why is contracting better than permanent? Money. Let's just make up numbers. Say I am making $73 an hour contracting at the Boy Scouts. That equates to $146,000 a year if I take no vacation and work 2000 hours a year. Most of the time I end up taking off 2 weeks, or 80 hours a year, which would put that total to 1920 hours a year or around $140,000 a year. Pretty good. Now to see how much that is after taxes you have to factor in my Motivium salary of 48,000 a year with around 12,000 for payroll taxes(federal and social security). So really the net is around 128,000 a year provided the business spends it all in business expenses, like last year. If not it is likely an additional 10,000 in corporate taxes, putting the total net at around $118,000 a year. Now say LM gives me a permanent offer of $110,000 a year. Take out regular federal taxes + social security of 23,000 and you are looking at a net of $87,000 a year. Now add the monetary value of the vacation days (15x460=$6900 ) + medical (200 month = $2400) and you get 9300. Add other benefits and you probably can get to $12,000 in benefits a year. This turns the total net of the LM offer into $99,000 a year.

So with a permanent LM position we are looking at around $100K net and with a contract position at $73 and hour we are looking at $118K net. That is $18K a year or 1500 a month loss. But my current contract is ending so the current market rate would likely be lower at 60-65 an hour. However most jobs want you to work 50 hours a week instead of 40 which means more money for contractors so it'd still be the same on another contract. Although, when I work 40 that gives me time to go home and work on RideSearch and other ideas. When you work 50+ you don't want to work at home. The hedge fund company would be a permanent position with a salary of $120K, but 50+ hour work weeks in downtown Dallas.

Everything is going to happen next week. I will have to make a decision on LM soon. I know I can do better elsewhere as I am a coding rock star, but it is all unknown. With LM I know exactly what I am getting into. However it was easy to overlook the bad environment making contractor dollars. I don't know how hard it would be to overlook things with a permanent stake in things. Plus Motivium Consulting would basically become defunct. That's my baby. I know LM wants me back. I know the Boy Scouts are still trying to keep me on by finding funding and I know that I can get any job I interview for. What would you do?