Most engineers are employed directly by the businesses where they work. They receive a regular paycheck and benefits from their employer and provide services as employees to that employer. However, a growing number of engineers (and an even larger number of people in other professions) are not employees of the companies where they work. Many of us have left corporate employment for a kind of work known as the temporary worker, contractor, consultant, or the contingent workforce.
There is a broad spectrum of work arrangements. At one end is the consultant who runs a small business, perhaps is incorporated, perhaps has employees. Their work resembles the work of lawyers, accountants, architects, and others who own firms that provide professional services.
On the other end of the spectrum are often "perma-temps". These are employees who work within organizations just as if they were permanent, regular employees. Often they are indistinguishable from "regular" employees; only the payroll department knows of their status. Rather than receiving their paycheck from their workplace, they receive a check from an agency that in turn invoices the employer. They may receive benefits that are similar to regular employees; most often their benefits are not as good.
In the middle are engineers who work, often through agencies, on short term assignments with companies that have special needs for a few weeks or months. At the end of the assignments the engineers leave to find new assignments.
Individual engineers may work on more than one part of the spectrum. For example, an engineer may spend time working on a project as a temporary staff member of an engineering firm. At another time the same engineer may work out of his or her own office as a consultant providing assistance or consultation to a number of clients.
Why work in this way?
There are many reasons engineers work as other than regular, full time employees. For many, it is not their choice. A business, wanting to reduce "head count", may lay off regular employees and hire them back as "perma-temps". An engineer seeking full time employment may have to work as a contractor for a period of time before becoming a regular employee.
Many short term contractors prefer the variety of work or the ability to choose the types of projects and the direction of their career. Often their compensation is somewhat higher than full time employees. This is because they are working in one location only when the need is the highest.
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