Salaryman is over
Two years. That’s how long I have been able to survive as a wage earner since graduating. And I have been in a lucky situation: easy-to-live boss, paid formations, no pressure on results. Yet, I have had enough of all the corporate insanity. The promotion of mediocrity. The lack of actions. The sense that whatever you do to improve company business won’t ever go to market.
No longer will I be coerced to work for a company where I don’t set the rules. Or I hope so. But it won’t happen all by itself.
Dramatic changes ahead
I have printed my resignation letter, but not yet dated and signed it. I will enjoy the monthly money as long as I feel it required. But I give it a strict deadline: by 28th, February 2025, I will have signed it and given it to my boss. Four months to make a living outside finding a standard 9 to 5 for an engineer never taught in selling himself or finding customers won’t be easy.
All the more so when you add a little math to the equation. I currently earn a fix 41k€ + 3,5k€ of variable for 215 of worked days in a year, before tax, but after social security. That makes 206€ per worked day. To even what I currently earn, I will need to earn before tax, accounting for the fact I will need to pay for my own social security :
- 204€/day if I invoice 215 days in the year (yes, it’s surprising but that’s what governingl simulators give me);
- 243€/day for 180 invoiced days in the year;
- 437€/day for 100 invoiced days in the year.
Given the rates I can see for an engineer on the platforms, I may even be better off self-employed.
To achieve my goal, here are my next steps :
- Train on what I’m able to do and might be paid for by people: mechanical engineering, numerical simulations, and prototyping. I have followed a formation on 3D printing the last month, and is about to buy my first 3D printer in the following days. Seeing designs coming to life will be so thrilling!
- Document my undertaking by posting twice a week on this website.
- Create a custom-content system to leverage my posts to make LinkedIn posts in order to earn not
- Create my sole trader status and register on Malt & Fiverr.
Oh, and an added note: although I write in the language of Shakespeare, I’m located in France. There might eventually be a French and English section of the blog so I can alternate between these two languages at my will.
See you soon for the next post.