[ztoben]

I contracted for about 8 months through a large staffing firm. A few things I liked:

* Hours were fairly flexible

* Not too much supervision, was mostly given things to work on and expected to finish them in a certain amount of time

* Didn't get pulled in to as many meetings in the office

* The pay was excellent

Some things I didn't like:

* No/little vacation/pto/sick

* If you don't work, you don't get paid (if you're paid hourly)

* No/little job security. I was around for 2 rounds of layoffs and had a young child at home, so this wasn't ideal

At the end of the day it made more sense for me to go back to a normal employment role due to family and a few other factors with job security. I did enjoy my time as a contractor though. Enough so that I still pick up hours through some old employers occasionally.

[aliencat]

The flexible hour and no much supervision sounds excellent! Does that mean you can come to work late or leave work early as long as you work for 8 hours a day?

[goatlover]

I think it means you work whenever you want as long as the job is done on time. If you're working remote with little supervision, then it makes no sense to stick to an 8 hour 9 to 5 schedule, unless that's your optimal working window.

[mdocherty]

That is pretty specific to the role. I have done contract work where I just had to get stuff done in and couldn't bill more than 40 hours a week. Other roles were up to 45 hours a week but had to have ass in seat in office mon-friday 8-5

[0xffff2]

I get to do that as a normal FTE. Hell, I don't even have to work 8 hrs/day; the only requirement is that I work 80 hours every two weeks. I thought that was pretty standard in the tech world. Is it not?

[ztoben]

That was pretty much the case for me, yes. I usually preferred working 6:30-3:00 and it fit my schedule really well.

[LoSboccacc]

well that's the whole point. if they dictate the contractor work hour, work environment or workload outside the contract deliverables it's employment masked as contract work and there are hefty fines and the possibility to be forced to hire the person.

[walshemj]

That's not self employed though? which is what the OP as asking about I think.

[ztoben]

No, they just asked what it's like working as a contractor. They said they were offered a job through a company similar to what I was employed through.