hm. My experience is that contract work (I mean, real contract work, not working as a temporary employee through an agency, like I'm doing now) has higher standards and pays less per unit work, for the 90% of us who aren't super effective all the time.
Taking a less-senior position for less-senior pay in the new tech stack is probably going to be more money per unit work, and my experience has been that you can get people to work with you on titles and that nobody actually knows what you got paid at your old jobs.
I mean, sure, if you really are that good and actually get things done regardless, your way might be better. My experience has been that good contractors going direct get a little more money than you can get through a body shop or as an employee. But... I'm talking like top 5%. Most of us aren't there. If you are mediocre... if you are merely 'good enough' - being a "real" contractor is difficult and under-remunerated. (to be clear, it's under-remunerated for the top 5%, too... but those people work like crazy all the time, so it's not like the customer is expecting more out of them.)
Taking a less-senior position for less-senior pay in the new tech stack is probably going to be more money per unit work, and my experience has been that you can get people to work with you on titles and that nobody actually knows what you got paid at your old jobs.
I mean, sure, if you really are that good and actually get things done regardless, your way might be better. My experience has been that good contractors going direct get a little more money than you can get through a body shop or as an employee. But... I'm talking like top 5%. Most of us aren't there. If you are mediocre... if you are merely 'good enough' - being a "real" contractor is difficult and under-remunerated. (to be clear, it's under-remunerated for the top 5%, too... but those people work like crazy all the time, so it's not like the customer is expecting more out of them.)