Thoughts on my contract Speech Pathology Job a Few Years out of Grad School

[California_SLP_]

I never thought I'd say it, but I am actually staying with my contract job in the Bay Area (California) for the third year in a row. I went to Berkeley for undergrad (Linguistics) and Vanderbilt for grad school, and have had so-called prestigious internships at hospitals and specialty clinics. When all is said and done, I can't believe that my contract company job as a public school SLP (pre-K and elementary) is the best job I've ever had in the field.

80k/year (working up to more as I gain experience/take on more responsibilities) for a school schedule, salaried, with the sweet holiday breaks and better benefits than I had at my last hospital job. I feel like my school site and my supervisors through the agency appreciate what I do, but don't provide too much overbearing feedback. My workload feels heavy at times, but I've always gotten help (SLPAs, etc.) when I really needed it.

I'm not on here to gloat and I'm NOT a recruiter. I just see a lot of SLPs stressed, underpaid and under-appreciated in their jobs on these forums and I want to throw it out there that I actually have a positive review of the company I work for, when I wasn't expecting it to be more than a year-long gig. I've even had other SLP friends from grad school come out and join me! If anyone is looking for a job in NorCal/Bay Area or just has questions about contract/public school jobs/SLP jobs in CA/etc., feel free to PM me. I know when I was looking for CFs, I was scouring these forums for honest reviews of companies. There are even a few positions open for the coming school year--I'd be happy to hook up anyone in need!

TLDR; If you go with a small contract company instead of one of the huge national ones, you can have a pretty sweet gig as a regular old school SLP in CA and avoid *some* of the hassle/burnout that comes with the job