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I’ve put myself up for L4 promo this cycle. Assuming I get it, what would be the best next steps to optimize for long-term growth/TC?
My understanding is that L5->L6 is extremely painful at Google. It may be easier to leave for a handful of years and gain managerial experience before returning.
L4->L5 is less challenging; however, I’m under the impression I can do this quicker at another company (if I leave after being freshly promo’d) AND get higher TC.
TC: 270K
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These cats! They’re the best.
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No politics is huge. You get to be everyone’s hero; people offload on you and you listen and smile and be kind and help them. Also the $$$. Variety.
All of the above and no politics is a particularly strong incentive for strategy (in my exp)
Been freelancing for exactly a year now, and here is what it’s been for me:
➕ you get more money than FT
➖ you give most of it away in April during tax season, so it roughly comes out to same as FT
➕ you can take a vacation whenever you want and turn down projects if you are not into that
➖ there are seasons when there is literally nothing, in 2019 my very first freelance only started in April
➕ when you get hired, there is definitely something that you need to do, so you don’t have to waste time just coming to work knowing you have to pretend to do something because there is no work. Or at least you get paid to show up.
➖ sometimes when you work too fast and complete everything, they can end your contract earlier than expected
➖ sometimes they end projects that were supposed to be a month on week 1 because of some internal stuff
➕ no politics; no having to deal with coworkers you don’t like
➖ sometimes you feel like an outsider and have no one to talk to or get lunch together. You’re not a part of a “team”
➕ you work on various brands, some awesome, some meh
➖ you are doing only a part of something and helping out, so probably you won’t get many pieces in your book
All in all, freelancing is a full time job where you have to be your own project manager, finance manager, and everything in between. Have enough $ to sustain yourself for minimum 3 months, so you don’t end up broke when it’s dead season. Make connections with recruiters, agencies, etc. Reputation is very important - if you fuck up on a freelance, the word spreads like wildfire, especially if you’re an asshole about it, so you have to be 100% everyday, and not burn bridges.
You should change accountant or open an s Corp. Biggest tax refunds has been freelancing. I’ve been doing it for five years and every year I’m surprised, in a good way.
years salary with half a years work
THIS
Thoughts come to mind..
More money, less internal politics, freedom to just walk out the door at any given time, no need to justify/ request a month+ straight off work to travel.
I just wanted to be self employed so worked to make it happen. Constant networking is key. So is the lack of shame part. Helps too if you don’t have a big ego. Be helpful to clients without forcing your view. Sometimes you’ll feel
like a button pusher but believe me you can take that to the bank. I average $20k/month on small projects in the $5k-$30k range.
Video production in Boston.
Freedom, friendships, money, taking the summer off
Winter is the season I’d usually take off. Looking out the window as folks truck through the snow with big boots and 🧣
Also if you use your downtime to really skill up in design, writing, animation, programming, whatever you’ll be far more highly ‘hard’ skilled than an employee who uses downtime to Facebook, talk shit, or generally try to look busy doing nothing.
DRAMA FREE ZONE
Money. And the ability to say no is so powerful.
There are only so many times you can say No to whatever it is you're saying No to when freelancing if you want to be hired again or have a reputation of being collaborative and trustworthy and not a diva. Partly the point of freelance is to help others work on stuff they can't or don't want to or don't have staff to - it's not much of an opportunity to cherry pick your work at all. That's more of an illusion. Unless you're truly mad good and people are tripping over themselves trying to book you. That's not the majority of freelancers or at least it takes a while and a lot of hard work to achieve that level of freelance success. To me at the end of the day freelancing vs full-time is more of a lifestyle difference than any real pros/cons outweighing each other.
I fell into it but I adore it. I love novelty, and the breadth and range of projects I’ve worked in is insane. In the same time period, I would have had a few key accounts at an agency and maybe launched 1-2 interesting campaigns. If you can deal with the insecurity / instability of not knowing when you’ll get your next gig, it’s an awesome lifestyle.
DOUBLE the salary I was making full-time. And I’ve taken like 3 months off this year.
Why aren’t we saying: question to full-timers... why?? Society makes us think being full time is normal or the standard. We should be questioning why being in an office for 8 hours a day is normal.
Now, let's talk about downsides....
I don’t know all the details, but essentially all agencies over, say 50, employees have to offer freelancers who go over 120 hours have to offer insurance. At Grey, you can get their high deductible plan just like a regular employee (but you pay for all of it)