Potential offers evaluation
Startup: 180k to 200k base, stock options that may all become $0 one day. Subject to the CEO and CTO's friends and families royalty treatment to you, the "lowly commoners". Possibly 50 to 60 hours per week. Working 60 hours every week for a year, and listen to the CTO say "We are a startup and we DON'T give bonus, OKAY?" (while he is hogging about 5000 times of stocks as you, and enjoying 450k TC or more) Big Corp: 300k TC. Kiss up really. Sweep bugs under the rug. Cover each other's a*s, and praise each other's a*s. Slave drive the contractors, give them 95% of the work, and say they write bad code. Doing the same thing for 4 to 10 years and it is like losing 4 to 10 years of your life. Possibly 50 to 55 hours per week. Contracting: 140k TC. No vacation, no holiday, perhaps 3 day sick days per year. No bonus, no 401k match. No dental, no vision, no health insurance, no life insurance. Possibly 40 hours or all the way down to 20 hours per week, because "you work as you are paid". "You want to pay 40% and want me to work 100%? If can be true in your dream." Which one would you choose?
How did you get contract offer? Can you share resources/recruiter?
it is pretty simple. Post your profile or resume on Linkedin and Monster and Dice. They contact you like wolves finding a sheep. If you put your phone number there, you may get 30 phone calls just in the morning alone. So the advice is never have your phone number there.
You don’t have to work 50-55h/wk at a big corp …
depending whether you have Elon as your CEO, or that your company had some layoffs and now the next round can be weeding out people who work 40 hours a week