On contract at Big Tech Company - When to Ask for Renewal?
I'm on a 6-month contract with a Big Tech company and am now a little over halfway through the contract. I was hired together with another contractor for the same duration.
If only one of us can be re-hired (I don't know), it should (and probably will) be him, since he's done more and better work (he's also more experienced).
Should I ask about the possibility of a renewal now? Or should I wait another month or two?
My inclination is that I should ask sooner rather than later since there's a decent body of my work for them to judge me on at this point, so not sure how much benefit another month or two would provide.
Thanks!
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Discussion
(3 comments)- 13 months agoTech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
At a big company, I'd imagine there's existing policy for this, right? I'd have two different conversations:
- Ask your manager how they think you're doing. If you know the company is really happy with your work, it may educate how you approach the contract renewal conversation.
- Ask the manager/HR what the process is like to renew the contract. What data do they look at, and what indication can they give you about after 3 months?
- 1
3 months agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course HeroTreat the contract -> full-time conversion as a promotion.
Similar to a promotion, you need to do:
- Earn the trust of your manager
- Have the dialogue making it clear that you want this level up
- Create a plan outlining the delta between where you are now and what it takes to reach the desired destination
If you feel like you've done Step #1 by doing good work consistently over a decently long period of time, move on to Step #2. You don't have a ton of time left - You should have this honest conversation sooner rather than later.
Lastly, don't worry too much about the competition aspect. That's not something you can really control. Just take your best shot and hope 🤞
- 011 days agoMid-Level Software Engineer [OP]Taro Community
Follow-up: My contract got renewed and my colleague was offered a full-time role. So overall good, but I have lots of room for improvement if I want to get renewed again or ideally made full-time.
My manager 1:1s are not impactful enough, so I need to develop a plan-of-action with my manager on what I can do better and how I can do it better.
