Contract or permanent. How to read the numbers before you decide.
Most engineers compare a day rate to a salary by multiplying the rate by 220 and feeling good about it. The real comparison is less flattering and more useful.
Start with the days you will actually bill.
Two hundred and twenty is the number of working days in a year. It is not the number you will invoice. Gaps between contracts, holidays you now pay for yourself, sick days, training days and the weeks a project slips before it starts all come out of it. Experienced contractors in this market plan on 180 to 200 billable days in a good year and fewer in a slow one.
Add what the salary includes.
Employer pension or 401(k) contributions, paid leave, sick pay, insurance, equipment, training budgets and the cost of your own accountant. Depending on the country and the employer, these add between fifteen and thirty percent to a salary’s real value.
Then price the risk.
Contract work concentrates income in the months you are working and makes the gaps your problem. If you can hold three months of costs in reserve, the volatility is manageable. If you cannot, a lower but steady salary may be the better financial decision even when the rate looks generous.
What moves the rate.
In our placements, three things move a contract rate more than years of experience. A certification the client’s standard requires, evidence of enterprise or hyperscale deployments, and willingness to work the shift patterns the project actually needs. The rate calculator on this site shows how each affects the range for your role and market.
Neither route is right for everyone. The contract versus permanent tool lets you put your own numbers in and see the crossover. Then decide with the figure in front of you rather than the one in your head.