Month eight: I turned down the 60% offer, started contracting, and here are the full numbers

A few people asked what happened with the 60% offer, so here's the update.

The offer

The company agreed to a 6-month compensation review, verbally. When the written offer came, the role had been "re-scoped" to mid-level, with a lower title and the same pay. I asked about it twice and got two different explanations. I declined. Several of you told me in that thread to take it, and it was good advice for the offer I described. It wasn't the offer I got.

Contracting

A former colleague's company needed help migrating a Go service onto Kubernetes. Three-month contract, 25 hours a week, $95 an hour. Roughly $9,500 a month before taxes. Some things I didn't know until I did it:

• Self-employment tax is 15.3% on most of your net earnings, on top of income tax. You pay both halves of Social Security and Medicare yourself.
• Quarterly estimated taxes are now a thing in my calendar.
• Health insurance through COBRA is expensive. You pay the full premium plus a small admin fee, and it only lasts 18 months.
• jo_ships told me I was underpricing. I was. I'll quote higher next time.

The funnel, month eight

• Applications: 652
• Recruiter screens: 78
• Final loops: 13
• Offers: 1 (declined)
• Indie idea: paused. A salary-shaped thing comes first.

What's actually different

I'm working on real systems again. I'd forgotten how much that matters for how I feel about myself. The contract won't replace a full-time role, and I'm still looking, but it changed the job search from "I need anything" to "I need the right thing".

Thank you to Renee, who has referred me more times than I can count. To Danny for the mock loops. To Emily for quietly liking every update. And to everyone who said they felt less crazy reading the numbers. So did I, writing them.

I'm also sleeping better than I was in May. That counts for something.