I've been a consultant for 5 years now. After my first job out of college working for Intel, after I learned what it meant, I never found a good reason to have a salary position. Here are my reasons why
With salary position
I don't control my income.
I don't talk directly to clients, having a middle man taking a cut on my work.
I don't control what projects I work on and what parts.
I don't control the languages I learn or improving my technology stack.
I get stuck with long projects that can last miserable, un-challenging years.
I don't get compensated for every hour I work. (you're going to take care of that in the bonus... please don't insult my intelligence)
I don't get credited for my work, the company I work for does.
I don't have the ability to work from home whenever I want to.
I don't have the ability to take off whenever I need to. I need to tell may boss? Why?
I don't get to call it a day when my work is done. I have to sit with my but in the chair till 5p..nay! 8p to keep the boss happy pretending to work. Such is business politics that makes no sense to me.
And, probably most importantly, I do not get to be a full, independent human being. Meaning, I do not get to be my own representation of myself. I do not stand with my accomplishments. I am a cog within the company's machine.
Being a consultant
I do