As the economy moves away from traditional salaried jobs and toward contract gigs, more and more people are starting to feel like I did. Other studies found that billing by the hour — no matter how much people charged — compounded the tendency to view time and money as one and the same. Those who did so were less likely to take pleasure in leisure activities, because they were too preoccupied by the opportunity cost of their time. Again, these trends were similar across income levels.Blah, blah, blah, the article continues. Look, freelancers have transparency. FTEs get paid that paycheck twice a month, or once in some places, but when they sign the offer letter, it never -- in the US and the UK -- really matters how many hours you work. In both places, you'll simply be expected to be suddenly put on an on-call rotation a few months after you start, you discover that the shoddy release happens Tuesday nights from 11p to 2a, despite asking three times in interviews, etc. In some places, you get 'PTO', which means if you get sick, you need to cancel your vacation which comes out of the same pool. In one place I worked, a retail brokerage with a vicious on call week, you had 15 days of PTO, which included sick time. Got the flu? Oops, no Caribbean vacation for you, sucker. We had to work weekends and holidays, due to releases and on call, with no comp time.
Even more importantly, my 40 hrs is transparent as a freelancer while your 45,50+ because you want that promotion or bonus isn't paid. But you're "passionate about technology", right? That's what you tell yourself.
That's not isolated. I have a long career of observing that, and my sucker friends who say, it's part of the job, this that and the other.
As a freelancer I make 30 pct to 50 pct more than FTE, I KNOW they want me there because they'd get rid of me if they didn't, and I'm hedged against 'oh we need you to be available, that should be obvious when you joined' entitlement.
I freelance if I can, do FT when I must.