"That will work until your employer makes the wrong business decision and the company goes out of business or there are budget cuts and you get laid off."
That doesn't matter. This is no different from being self employed and making bad decisions yourself.
When you are employed you typically know if you job is safe enough as you have a fair idea of how the company is doing and have a feeling about how important you are to the company.
If you know you are dispensable and your company just lost a big contract you would worry. Otherwise you wouldn't. Self employment is very similar.
Regarding contracts, this is why it is very important to read your contract before signing. I have turned down a number of jobs due to unrealistic non-compete agreements and the potential employer owning discoveries I make in my own time.
"That doesn't matter. This is no different from being self employed and making bad decisions yourself."
The difference is that you have control over your own path. There were many bad decisions at my previous job that I warned my managers and bosses against. They wouldn't listen to me and the company ended up losing money or the idea was a complete failure. I could see the company on a path of failure and the only thing I had the power to do was ride it out. Every good idea was squashed.
"When you are employed you typically know if you job is safe enough as you have a fair idea of how the company is doing and have a feeling about how important you are to the company."
This is sometimes true and it sometimes isn't. I've been in the dark about how well the company is actually doing. It happened at my last job: They kept assuring us that the company was still profitable and everything was fine. Two weeks later, I got laid off.
In the end, it was actually positive, because I used it as an opportunity to start my own company. I was always on the treadmill of a 9-5 and it was tough to really get anywhere.
"Regarding contracts, this is why it is very important to read your contract before signing. I have turned down a number of jobs due to unrealistic non-compete agreements and the potential employer owning discoveries I make in my own time."
Very true. However, most of the big tech companies require this (Microsoft, Google, Facebook).
That doesn't matter. This is no different from being self employed and making bad decisions yourself.
When you are employed you typically know if you job is safe enough as you have a fair idea of how the company is doing and have a feeling about how important you are to the company.
If you know you are dispensable and your company just lost a big contract you would worry. Otherwise you wouldn't. Self employment is very similar.
Regarding contracts, this is why it is very important to read your contract before signing. I have turned down a number of jobs due to unrealistic non-compete agreements and the potential employer owning discoveries I make in my own time.