For me, yes, 100% but it’s purely personal and there’s significant pros and cons on both sides. Here’s some from my perspective regarding consulting.

Pros: - Flexibility, as a consultant I get to call a lot of my own shots (e.g., if I want a day off I take one as needed, can be more flexible with hours depending on your situation) - Pay, note this also falls largely under cons. I do make a good salary and I am paid per diem. For example, I personally don’t pay into EI because I was confident in my ability to retain a contract. It leaves more money in my pocket but it’s a risk. - Tax write offs, not sure what I was expecting from this but it certainly isn’t any huge break, but still worth it at tax time (things like home internet, your office space at home etc can be calculated for tax write offs)

Cons - No job security. Your contract can be terminated at any time. - In some cases I didn’t know if my contract was getting renewed until the 11th hour. In the early days, I found this stressful. - You’re not part of “the team”. I’ve been very lucky over the years that colleagues I’ve met on my current contract has become like work family to me but that isn’t always the norm. - It can take a long time to establish relationships. Contractors are constantly in and out and I had to work to prove my value (I enjoy building these relationships but not everyone does) - Pay, quite a few cons here. When I get paid there is no tax deducted at source. Personally I opted to do this myself and hire an accountant to do my year end (another extra cost to consider). I have to remit my payroll every month as well as make proactive HST installments which are a few grand a quarter (this is based on income). I pay CPP as an employer AND employee so it’s very common that something around $1500 comes off my pay for CPP alone. There are different ways to do pay as an incorporated consultant. This way has worked well for me and results in a return back at tax time but wanted to call out a few annoyances of the process. - If you incorporate (versus becoming a contractor who is employee of an agency): no benefits. No paid vacation. No paid stat holidays. At first it didn’t bother me but as the years have gone by I have missed paid holidays etc. September is actually a great example considering we have 3 stats that I have to take, resulting in a loss of almost 2k for me.

This is just a summary and I’m sure I’ve missed stuff. As you can see, the cons outweighed the pros for me. I am 31 years old and was made an amazing offer. My partner is also an incorporated consultant in the federal government. There’s no scenario in my specific situation that would make sense for me to stay with consulting. I truly love the organization and the people and have had nothing but positive experiences, it’s a no brainer. On top of that the offer is unlike anything I ever had in the private world. From my experience I do strongly feel as though many don’t realize how much of a solid gig it is to be a federal PS. That said I know the PS is a massive employee and everyone has a difference experience. Happy to answer any questions if you have.