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 is from a reputed startup in the education domain product development company in Chennai, which offers me a 40% hike. On the other hand, I have an offer from an old but small firm in Mumbai (specializing in VoIP Trading Systems) as a contract opportunity for initially 3 months (kind of probation) and then two years, which offers almost a 100% hike.

So far in my career, I have always been in Full-Time Employment Positions. Now, I am in a catch-22 situation. I see good compensation and a good place in one offer and stability in the other place.

Kindly advise. Any advice will be highly appreciated.

Greetings,

Please look into the line of business of both companies. You have mentioned stability and a pay hike as your determining factors. However, I suggest you consider the sustainability of the company as a potential deal-breaker.

The market conditions may remain volatile for some time, although the job market is quite active. Choose the job you would like to work in for the next three years.

Hope this helps. Wish you all the best!

Hello amar.akshat,

You haven't mentioned your experience level - how many years and your core technical skills. Also, please note that the education domain is one of the few areas, in addition to healthcare, that are largely recession-proof.

Regards,
TS

Hi Sajid, however, could you be more specific regarding why Chennai should be less preferred? I am sorry; I don't have much information about locational constraints.

Regarding (Cite Contribution)'s concern, I truly agree with you; the LoB is a deciding factor. Sustainability-wise, if I compare, the company manufacturing VoIP Products in Mumbai has been in the industry for 35 years. Its 10-member team used to make and ship Financial Trading Systems using principles of Mechanics. Lately, they have their own Embedded Systems Technology to support that and have numerous 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 is that a six-month on-site in Tokyo has to be covered to understand the product and implementation so far. They want me to work as a C++ Development Engineer, and I am comfortable with C++ so far. The company's strength is less than 50.

The other company in Chennai has been in business for the past 4 years and specifically caters to US Clients for its products. They have a strong parent company that has been around for a decade or so. They want me to work on .NET and C Sharp, which I have no experience with. They have recruited me for Programming and Analytic Skills.

To answer Sateesh's question: My experience is 1 year, with technical skills in 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. When I realized that not much product development or coding is involved in 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 work outside my skill zone.

Let me come back to my core question: Are these Contract Jobs safe if a company includes the following statements in its offer letter,

"Initially, the period of the contract will be for three months to evaluate your performance. Subsequently, we will renew it for 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 and 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 and 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 regarding contract jobs, please understand that in the current scenario [in fact since 2001 post-9/11], the demarcation line between permanent and 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 employees.

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.

Regarding 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 and water scarcity could be the reasons?

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

All the best.

Regards,
TS

Over the past few weeks, I have been busy connecting with the employees of the company and gathering feedback. Both of the offers were almost equivalent in terms of technology and product engineering. I have convinced the company that was initially offering me a contract to provide a full-time opportunity with the same compensation, so I guess I am good to join it. Thanks TS for your comparative analysis of 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 background in Embedded/RTOS 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, 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 others' mistakes. I recollect a quote here: "The satisfaction one gets while giving/sharing is far more than while taking."

Regards,
TS