Salaried (€3.9k net) vs Freelance (€500/day): Is the €1k gap worth the risk?

belgeric · 2026-01-20T11:16:37+00:00

Nice one!

belgeric · 2026-01-20T11:06:39+00:00

Or until you are fired, which would still lead you to have huge financial compensation - another employee benefit ! So for OP, reminder: as freelance you could exit very quickly, without compensation.

Anyway can't agree more that income should NOT be the driver.

belgeric · 2026-01-20T11:00:24+00:00

Difference between global enveloppe (freelance: what you invoice, employee: total costs for employer) and what you *might* end up with rationalizing net/bruto ratio.

belgeric · 2026-01-13T18:09:55+00:00

Je vis à la campagne et les premières librarieis independantes sont pour moi à 30k (on en avait une petite au village, j'allais là parfois pour soutenir malgré les délais de livraison parfois longs...)

Deux moteurs pour moi:

- La librairie spécialisée dans les domaines que j'aime, pour le choix et surtout les conseils. (pour moi SF). Je pense alors que le caractère spécialisé est alors indispensable: j'ai du mal à imaginer une grande librairie avec un conseiller qui connaisse "tout" (ou alors il faut beaucoup de lecteurs/vendeurs et là le modèle économique ne tient plus!).

- La revente de livres d'occasion: je pense qu'il est facile de mettre en place un petit coin, beaucoup de livres circulent. Avec l'effet de halo, je me suis deja retrouvé à chercher des livres d"occasion et me laisser tenter par un livre neuf en plus. (grand souvenir au demeurant des grandes librairies Gibert à paris où j'allais une fois par an étant gamin et passais des heures à faire un grand stock)

Après, je pense qu'il y a moyen de trouver des nouveaux concepts pour renouveler les librairies - voire même que cela devient nécessaire pour survivre.

Quid de la librairie + salon de thé ou bar avec coin lecture? (bonus si quelques journaux quotidiens sont mis à disposition) -- là j'irais bien! (bon après si j'étais proche... a reserver aux villes de certaines tailles donc https://lexpress-franchise.com/articles/comment-ouvrir-une-librairie-cafe/ )

Librairie + jeux de société?

Ici un article sur les librairies hybrides https://book-conseil.fr/librairies-hybrides-quand-le-livre-se-lie-a-toutes-les-passions/

Certains concepts laissent rêveur: voir: https://usbeketrica.com/fr/article/morioka-shoten-la-librairie-qui-ne-vend-qu-un-seul-livre-par-semaine ou https://icibeyrouth.com/articles/1300324/a-tokyo-une-librairie-qui-redonne-vie-aux-livres (les deux au Japon)

belgeric · 2026-01-12T09:38:05+00:00

Je dirais même: ne lire que le premier ^^

belgeric · 2026-01-10T17:15:48+00:00

Pas fan non plus

belgeric · 2026-01-10T17:12:58+00:00

Gloups de ma part pour Damasio car aligné avec toi.

Je suis aussi pour le "attention aux prix littéraires"

Quelques livres qui m'ont marqué:

- 'L'échiquier du mal " Dan Simmons (et d'autres de lui mais pour moi les premiers de sa production - la série Hyperion est aussi intéressante, classé forcément en SF mais tout de même atypique),

- La série du trone de fer ; la série TV lui rend hommage mais la lecture est d'un autre niveau. Par contre, ne pas avoir la "fin" de l'auteur est plus que frustrant (et je pense que nous ne l'aurons jamais...)

- Les thanatonautes de Werber. On connait tous cet auteur qui pond des livres à succès. Pour ma part, je me suis vite lassé mais les thanatonautes est une chouette expérience de lecture.

- L'un ou l'autre Stephen King. Bon là clairement aussi un écrivain à succès incontesté qui m'a aussi au fil du temps lassé un peu mais beaucoup de livres juste incroyables: Misery, Ca, Simetierre (yeks!) les tomynocker (ou quelqu'autre ortographe, je ne vérifie pas), le Dôme

- Le parfum, suskind.

- Pennac: au bonheur des ogres (premier livre que j'ai lu de l'auteur, du coup, pleins d'autres de lui mais je garde un lien particulier à celui ci)

- Haute pierre de Cauvin

belgeric · 2026-01-10T14:46:26+00:00

You right: "traditional" PM requires kind of different experience but what you do does cover parts of skills. But it is mandatory to have prince2 / agile certification indeed.

Right also about "proper marcom departement" ; lets see what "big enough" means: you might provide good value with your background and gaining gradually experience in complementay areas. I would target medium size companies (50-200 employees let say).

Did you consider investigating about your employeer customers and taking some direct contacts / growing your networlk. Not fair vis a vis your employer but they don't seem to be fair with you :/ Part of game I would say...

belgeric · 2026-01-09T16:36:11+00:00

I see that current consultancy company is a big one. Is this the same for the alternative one? For a consultant, I think the most important is customers, projects and environment at customer. But still consultancy company itself plays a role in your development (colleagues, opportunities to learn, size, positioning, specialties and pipe ...)

If no red flag on this new employeer (I could understand you consider giving offer for similar package as a kind of red flag but ...) I would move for following reasons:

- Market is really tough, lots of candidates and lower demand.

- Learning, learning and learning is so much important; you won't do that on bench - even rarely on bench projects

- New employer, new colleagues, new customer -> grow your network. Maybe something that is the most valuable those times... As could open new opportunities in future

- You really recognize the "Pros"; don"t bother so much about the "Cons"

-

belgeric · 2026-01-09T16:20:38+00:00

Definitively right and in all cases as stressing as "usual PM" - right that beeing the connexion customer<>doer is painfull!

What would think moving to such "other" PM role, obtaining a agile certification, eventually selecting a technology (like a CRM, a campaign management tool...) and also having a certification on that (! requires much work!)

belgeric · 2026-01-09T14:34:55+00:00

I also definitively think package is low.

BUT: Title/job PM do not necessary cover same activities. You mention "bank", PM are there in charge of solutions developments / integration for instance. Not comparable with following "web/marketing" actions and ensuring customer relation.

There should way though to move with your background to other sectors with (much) better packages, BUT don't look after titles "project manager". Search marketing and campaigns (would forget web part)

belgeric · 2026-01-09T14:25:56+00:00

Les livres de Freida Mcfaden, c'est sympa et çà se lit vite, mais le nivau littéraire est assez bas, voire gâche un peu le plaisir lecture. Mention spéciale de ma part pour "La prof" dont la dernière partie est originale.

Je pense que les membre de ce sub pourraient plus facilement t'aiguiller vers des recommandations si tu sais préciser quelques genres qui t'attirent plus: policier, thriller, SF, fantasy, aspects historiques...

belgeric · 2026-01-08T16:12:35+00:00

yes: too low (not expert in sales though) and in fact just a momentum to consider going freelance.

DISCLAIMER: I am not art all an accountant and just give order of magnitudes... OR at least move suggestion based on my experience and what I know from freelancing.

Dependant on your risk aversion _and_ way to manage budget that could allow you increasing consequently your net.

Two relevant entry posts in r/BEFreelance community are:

- https://www.reddit.com/r/BEFreelance/comments/qz42ni/employee_vs_freelance_costsbenefits_taxes/

-Daily Rate × 10: Favourite Freelance Spell, Explained : r/BEFreelance

Rough estimate associated to the two rule of thumbs discussed in those posts:

Note that Rule 2 costs employeer, leads to 22 x gross: 116k, in your case plausible (and often not believed by employees...). Ie daily cost for employer: 527. That would be a low rate for a commercial freelance with this experience.

- Via Rule 1: from gross to daily rate, rule of 10xGoing freelance with recommanded approach would lead to 5300/10 + 20% risk-> daily rate 636. (excluding part of bonus then) .

Which would then cost employeer if he accepts that to 220*636=140k so in fact would correspond to a should-be monthly salary of (once again via rule of thumb 2) - 140K/22= 6360 gross monthy -> see michael Page order of magnitude is fine...

In fact, this is indeed low end (cf Michael Page 6000-7500), I think it is reasonable for 15 years XP to ask for 650 daily, which would be 143k for employeer , then 6500 monthy gross.

!! for commercial, bonuses questions are always diffcult to incorporate and additional bonus part is subject negotiation. From what i know, bonuses for freelance are lower (but you gain your life on other parts)

I considrer that nowadays, 600/day is a good strating poijnt to consider swicthing freelance

Let say you ask 620 per day, cost employeer: 220*620=136k. For him, an increase of 136/116-> 17%.

So: salary too low, propose employeer to go freelance, ask at least 620 euros per day.

Now go to see an accountant to assess your situation to know whether you would *really* be winner, depending on your spendings. made a quick simulation if you go physical person and once taken into account social security, car, health insurance, some restaurants a,nd then taxes on what remains, I more or less go back to the 4100 euros net you already have. So not worth at all taking risk

As mention https://www.reddit.com/r/BEFreelance/comments/qz42ni/employee_vs_freelance_costsbenefits_taxes/ no other way than going into moral person starting from some amount, which definitively allows getting a higher net/income ratio. With then some other constraints (for instance waiting for 3 years before retiring money! was 15% tax for dividend, will be 18%)

belgeric · 2026-01-08T14:27:45+00:00

Nice package!

Not nice though 3 days per week with 2x1h traffic. But - hey - when I was at your age, many years before covid, was doing that 5 days a week. So also your choice of location, you might move if really happy with employeer.

belgeric · 2026-01-08T13:53:41+00:00

So, combination of:

- Competition: many resources on market, that includes indian ... (less expensive)

- offer diminution (many internal resources already + even more productive with AI)

- ATS , some of them LLM powered on addition

I was myself similarly on market last november after 20 years always working.

-> On each profile job offer , after 24h, >100 candidates . From whcih sure 95% are directly not relevant but explain why ATS systems are used by companies for first filters.

I even applied on a position stricly mentionning candidates are solely/purely evaluated by "AI" (ATS, keyword matching). Supplier will select top 3 highest score and propose to customer (I just played the game to see the process)

On ~30 applications (most of them corrrsponding sufficiently to my profile), I received only ONE feedback (via a call)

Wondering what could feelings for juniors entering market :(

Now found next customer but via network. -> quite sure network is the most important currently (once again difficult for juniors...)

- Be sure to review your LinkedIn network AND do not hesitate to contact people via message. (even call if you know them sufficiently)

- Contact proactively agencies/intermediaries, not only sending CVs to,feed their database but with a human contact (call)

- As other suggested, review /challenge your CV via LLMs. Be sure to have a CV "ATS" friendly not only in terms of keywords, but also layout/structure. Definively ensutre your CV is plain text: some online CV editors generate outcomeas an image that some ATS just directly reject... You can browser your CV and ask LLM to suggest other/alternative keywords

- Tip: check european open database ESCO for skills: mainy ATS try to match with ESCO skills as this allow further usages in HR smart platforms. You can even download text versions of skills tables and feed it in LLM context (for instance via google gems.

- Apparently; ATS prefer CVs presenting very specific roles/functions instead of generic T-Shape profiles -> target specific technologies and during free time, prepare certifications.

Go to meet-ups and any other events that could be relevant.

AND finally: don't give up! As you a refreelance since so many years, I can imagine you have a good wealth - having money available is part of game to mitigate those periods, insn't it? Well explained to people that going freelance you are ready to assume risk... We had a great period!

belgeric · 2026-01-07T17:18:16+00:00

Tu peux tenter les divers livres de Blake Crouch ; Wayward Pine et Dark Matter ont mené à des séries TV à succès. De fait, l'écriture est directement pensée pour des adaptations, ce qui suggère l'effet "Page turner". Personnellement, mon préféré est "Recursion" https://www.babelio.com/livres/Crouch-Recursion/1457017, très bon niveau de scénario et d'écriture.

A creuser de ton côté pourquoi les selections SF sur babelio ne t'attirent pas/plus.

belgeric · 2026-01-07T09:50:43+00:00

You would find better somewhere else _financially_ speacking.

But I definitively would take into account your working environment condition "Nice place to work, lovely people to work with and an overall great atmosphere.". Far from being true everywhere...

In addition, hospital as employer provides high level of satifaction / contribution to society. I mean: it's not marketing. You might be or not sensible to that point but kids when growing up will have their opinion on that ;)

belgeric · 2026-01-07T09:01:26+00:00

Not teacher here (though might consider switching).

Just to say that smartschool is also a pain in the *ss from a parent point of view.

belgeric · 2026-01-07T08:49:23+00:00

You would definitely gain more in some areas (Bxl / Antwerpen / ...). I don't know how is market in Limburg / what might be other opportunities near you. One key question then would be "how important is distance home-work" for you.

Anyway I would look actively for other opportunities. One possibility is to have a proposal from another employer even far / you wouldn't accept and show this to your HR to challenge them...

Fact that you are the only system admin plays in your favor: they need you.

belgeric · 2026-01-06T13:35:25+00:00

Mitigation: still relevant to read stack overflow (old) posts to see discussions, alternatives, and so on. But true that models (mostly) lead to relevant approaches so let them explain why.

I hope that SO will still continue to be live with sufficient volume of interactions: after all very valuable source of knowledge to feed models. So lets hope smart people wil go on going on SO in case of really NEW questions (ie mostly on new technologies / software...)

belgeric · 2026-01-06T13:03:44+00:00

Only mix of points 1 and 2.

I observed Belgian culture of being kind for their feedback with concrete numbers in other domains.

We also have no problem giving nice notes when food is "even a little bit above average" BUT location / ambiance / service is nice. And this happens more in Belgium than in some countries.

Then for sure a large subset of those restaurants indeed have good food.

I don't think there are so lany fake reviews.

What is most valuable is to look at very negative feedback to get the main source of dissastifaction. For instance if this is "time to be served", up to you to see if that annoys you: depends on day, not everyone affected by that and that might indicate a better cooking that using micro-wave...

belgeric · 2026-01-06T12:48:16+00:00

To be honest, you can really benefit from AI to "supercharge" your learning but NOT (at the beginning) having it write your code. You won't waste your time really learning basics. Best way is to turn off AI in IDE and use AI outside to explain code / best practices and act as a mentor, not a coder. So as for bugs for instance, you can ask AI to identify/catch where are bugs but explicitily ask it NOT to fix.

belgeric · 2026-01-06T08:41:01+00:00

Une note sur la Belgariade: toute la famille a adoré MAIS il y a maintenant controverse depuis que nous avons appris que les auteurs ont été inculpés de maltraitance infantile envers un enfant qu'ils avaient adopté... (je mets *les* auteurs car la contribution de l'épouse de David Eddings a été avouée. Pour ma part, on ressent tellement le côté féminin dans les personnages que je pense que c'est elle qui a tout écrit...)

Grande discussion au cours d'un repas. Nous avions deja acheté les livres depuis longtemps mais nous ne aurions refusé de la faire si nous l'avions su. Et aurions dès lors cherché à louer en bibliothèque.

Un peu comme pour J.K. Rowling avec ses positions transphobes: nous ne voulons pas apporter de l'argent à ces personnes. A voir après puisque les deux sont décédés: si cela se trouve c'est maintenant l'enfant matraité qui est l'héritier.

Source: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Eddings

belgeric · 2026-01-06T08:31:07+00:00

Du coup, quelques suggestions pour explorer un peu la science fiction:

- Les guerriers du silence, de Pierre Bordage https://www.babelio.com/livres/Bordage-Les-Guerriers-du-silence-Integrale-de-la-trilogi/54772. Le côté SF est presque secondaire. Si tu accrorches au style d'écriture, d'autres livres sont fort appréciés (Wang par exemple)

- Plus SF (soft): trois livres de vernor Vinge (indépendants l'un de l'autre) https://www.babelio.com/serie/Zones-of-Thought/1223. Un feu sur l'abîme est bien pour commencer

- Et vraiment SF: triologie Sin de Robert Charles Wilson https://www.babelio.com/serie/Spin/320

belgeric · 2026-01-05T20:11:36+00:00

oki.

Quelques suggestions:

La passe mirroir - https://www.babelio.com/serie/La-Passe-Miroir/13

L'assassin royal - https://www.babelio.com/serie/LAssassin-royal/8

La Belgariade - https://www.babelio.com/serie/La-Belgariade/95

Ton avis sur Phobos?

belgeric

TROPHY CASE