495 Days: My Tenure as a Contractor at One of the Biggest Tech Companies in Silicon Valley
Pros:
- Free Food
- Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks. Seriously, who says no to free food?
- Workout Classes
- With free food, comes great responsibility. It takes a certain amount of discipline to not go all out and eat to your heart’s content. Before I started working at this famous tech giant, I was super out of shape and had a BMI that was borderline underweight. After three months of working out five days a week, I was in the best shape of my life. I still am in the best shape of my life, and I aim to keep it that way.
- “Flexible” Work Hours
- Given the right manager, work hours are pretty flexible. Come in late, dip early. Don’t even come in at all (yeah, I’ve done that) No one gives a shit.
- You are literally nobody.
- CEOs and VPs will never look for you - they don’t even know you exist, which gives you the freedom to basically do whatever the fuck you want.
Cons:
- No Vacation Time
- Probably one of the biggest cons of being a contractor. You miss a day, you don’t get paid. I heard Facebook gives two weeks of paid vacation to contractors…not so lucky at my former selfish-ass company.
- Limited Sick Days
- You’re limited to twenty four hours (3 full work-days) and you have to earn it. I forgot what it was, might’ve been thirty hours of work for every one hour of sick leave.
- Holiday Pay
- Fuck this. You get paid on holidays IF AND ONLY IF you worked 1000 consecutive hours within 180 days before the holiday. That’s basically taking zero days off. And sometimes you’re forced to take days off that don’t even qualify for holiday pay (ex: Black Friday, Xmas Eve, NYE, etc) I was pretty good about getting holiday pay and not taking days off but that went down the drain when I didn’t get paid for Xmas because I was an 8 measly hours short.
- Commute
- It’s a complete shitstorm for anyone who lives
more than 30 miles away. On average, it’s 1.5 hours each way, which
makes it 3 hours a day that I’ve basically lost. Wake up early, get home
late. This could also be considered a pro though - I think I’ve read
more books this past year than I have in the last five years prior
combined.
- You are literally nobody.
- Seriously, you’re nobody. They’ll end your contract without a days notice because you’re expendable. I’ve had coworkers get emails when they were OoO that said their contract was terminated.
