Contract Job Offer With Very High Pay Vs. Full Time Position With Decent Hike

Hi,
I am going through a tough phase of career decision. I desperately want to switch to Software/Product Development. Now in my efforts to secure a position, I have two job offers, one from a reputed start-up education domain product development company at Chennai, which offers me a 40% hike. On the other hand I have an offer from an old, but small firm at Mumbai (into VoIP Trading Systems) as a contract opportunity for initially 3 months (kind of probation) and then two years, and which offers almost a 100% hike. So far in my career I have always been on Full Time Employment Positions. Now, I am in a catch 22, I see a good compensation and good place in one offer and stability at other place. So kindly advice. Any advice will be highly appreciated.

Greetings,
Please look into the line of business of both the companies. You have mentioned stability and hike as your determinants. However, I suggest you view the sustainability of the company and consider it to be a deal-breaker .
The market conditions will remain volatile for some time , though job market is pretty active. Choose the job you would want to work, for the next three years.
Hope this helps. Wish you all the best !

Hello amar.akshat,
You haven't mentioned your exp level--how many years AND your core technical skills.
Also, pl note that education domain is one of the few areas [in addition to healthcare] that are, by & large, recession-proof.
Rgds,
TS

Thanks Sajid, however could be more specific regarding why Chennai should be less preferred. I am sorry I dont have much information about locational constraints.

Regarding (Cite Contribution)'s concern, I truly agree with you, the LoB is a deciding factor. Sustainability, if I compare, the company manufacturing VoIP Products @ Mumbai has been into industry for 35 years, its 10 member team just that earlier it used to make and ship Financial Trading Systems using principles of Mechanics, and lately they had their own Embedded Systems Technology to support that and have loads to Indian clients. Now they have a requirement to write proprietary software for International Banks like JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, etc, hence they want us to work with Japanese counterparts. One of the offer conditions that a six months Tokyo on-site has to be covered to understand the product and implementation so far. They want me to work as C++ Development Engineer, and I am comfortable with C++ so far, and the company strength is less than 50.

The other company which is at Chennai, has been into business for past 4 years, and is specific to US Clients for its products. They have a strong parent company which has been there for a decade or so. They want me to work on .NET and C Sharp (which I have no experience at all), they have recruited for Programming and Analytic Skills.

To answer Sateesh's question: My experience is of 1 year, with my technical skills being C++, Python, WebSphere. I was recruited by an American Bank from campus and was put into Middleware Design and Engineering. My aspiration was to join product development, and hence when I realized that not much product development or coding is involved into Middleware, I planned for a job search. As mentioned earlier, the VoIP Products company offers me work in my skill zone, and the Educational Products Company, offers me outside my skill zone.

Let me come back to my core question, are these Contract Jobs safe, if a company refers following statements into its offer letter,

"Initially the period of the contract will be for a period of three months to evaluate your performance. Subsequent we will renew it for a period of 2 years, hopefully leading to a permanent position in the company."

Hello amar.akshat,

To address your Offer Letter statement, you may need to be a bit extra careful.

I don't understand why the Mumbai company wants you in a contract role--since your skills are, by & large, standard ones which would be in use perennially in any typical embedded Product range. Usually, in such circumstances, a company should have put you on Probation for 3/6 months & confirm your employment, subject to satisfactory performance. Something isn't very clear here.

Contract jobs are usually preferred for short-term/medium-term or one-off projects, where the presence of the person isn't needed for a long duration.

And coming to the query/concern reg Contract jobs, pl understand that in the current scenario [in fact since 2001 post-9/11], the demarcation line between permanent & contract jobs has blurred a lot. I am sure you are aware of how many IT jobs were lost in the recent recession in 2008/2009--most of them were of permanent guys.

Apart from the CTC part [contract jobs don't have any deductions like PF, etc], the only other clear factor/difference today is that you have a clear End-line for a contract job--you know when it will end [UNDER NORMAL circumstances, i.e.]--so you have time to plan for your next career step(s). That's all.

Reg Mohammad Sajid Ansari's remarks against Chennai--I too am not really sure what prompted him to say it. There are quite a few IT companies--including many operating in niche domains--in Chennai. Weather & water scarcity could be the reason(s)?

If you can manage, catch someone who has worked in either of the companies & check out their experiences [in terms of the culture/environment & other intangible factors] & then take your decision. The HR guys in some companies do give such references of ex-employees.

All the Best.

Rgds,

TS

Past few weeks I was busy connecting with the employees of the company and gathering feedbacks. Both the offers were almost equivalent in terms of technology and product engineering. I have convinced the company which was initially offering me a contract to offer a full time opportunity with same compensation, so I guess I am good to join it. Thanks TS for you comparitive analysis on the two diverse genres of the job. The overview and description helped me a lot.

Hello amar.akshat,
You are always welcome.
After all that's what CiteHR is meant for--right? :-)
My being of Embedded/RTOS background only helped in giving suggestions in your case.
All the Best.
Rgds,
TS

Thank you (Cite Contribution).
To repeat what I mentioned to amar.akshat, after all this is what CiteHR is meant for--and indeed quite 'satisfying' to be associated with such a great Forum, even while enabling everyone to learn from other's mistakes.
I recollect a Quote here: The satisfaction one gets while Giving/Sharing is far more than while Taking.
Rgds,
TS