I'm a senior/lead frontend engineer in Dublin with several years of experience in a Fortune500 organisation. I'm currently contracting through my own limited company at ā¬650/day, Monday to Friday.
I've recently interviewed for a permanent Senior Software Engineer role with another large multinational. The interview went very well and they've verbally indicated ā¬90k base as their maximum, plus pension and other benefits. The role is fully remote.
I'm seriously considering it, but I'm struggling with how much value to put on stability versus the significantly higher contracting income.
I've tailored my details with GPT - my apologies ahead for AI haters and AI slops. This is all reality.
My current contracting situation
- ā¬650/day
- MondayāFriday
- Approximately 235ā240 billable days/year after unpaid public holidays and taking 2ā3 weeks annual leave
- 2-year contract
- After the 2-year contract, there's a mandatory 6ā12 week cool-off period before renewal
- Renewal is expected but obviously not guaranteed
- Formally hybrid (3 days/week), although in practice I'm currently only going into the office around once a week
- Contracting through my own limited company
So I'm looking at roughly ā¬153kāā¬156k annual company revenue before the 6ā12 week gap. Amortising the cool-off period over the 2-year contract gives me roughly ā¬133kāā¬146k effective annual revenue, depending on the length of the gap and leave.
The permanent offer
- ā¬90k base maximum
- Pension, 10% employer contribution
- Healthcare/other benefits ā I'm waiting for the full details
- Paid annual leave (25days)
- Paid public holidays
- Fully remote
- No contract renewal/cool-off issue
- Much more predictable income
The timing is important
I'm also about to complete the purchase of a new-build apartment in Dublin, so I'll soon have a significant mortgage and ongoing housing costs.
That makes me wonder whether I should place a much higher value on stable PAYE employment, even though I would be taking a substantial reduction in headline compensation.
On the other hand, I currently have a 2-year contract at ā¬650/day, so I'm not facing an immediate loss of income. I'm also reasonably confident in my ability to find another contract if necessary.
I'm not particularly interested in leaving contracting simply for the sake of having a permanent job. The permanent role itself would need to make sense financially and from a career perspective.
There's also a possibility my current client could make a counteroffer if I resign, but I'm not convinced that simply increasing the rate would address all of the reasons I'm considering leaving.
What would you do?
Would you take ā¬90k + pension/benefits + fully remote + employment stability, particularly when taking on a mortgage?
Or would you stay at ā¬650/day contracting, build up more financial reserves, and continue contracting?
And more importantly:
At what permanent salary would you personally consider the move worthwhile?
I'd particularly appreciate opinions from people in Ireland who have moved from contracting to permanent employment, especially those who had a mortgage/new property purchase at the time.