Tea Bagger Terrorism Strikes the Heartland

[grumbler]

MiM is right.  Sometimes there is only a need for a short term programming gig, and then there'd be no need for that person (or someone else with their skillset) for another three years.  You're not going to keep someone around for years in case there's an issue, and if there is an issue unexpectedly you bring a contractor back in to apply the bandaid.  This is more common with older skillsets like COBOL, and part of what's driving the very high contracting rate is the scarcity of the skills required.

That's the opposite of what MiM is saying.  He is saying that a contractor makes "double what an employee does" for a given job.  Of course contractors make higher wages for what they do when they have a scarce skill that one doesn't want to pay to have around full time, but that has always and forever been the case.  See:  dowsers.

[MadImmortalMan]

MiM is right.  Sometimes there is only a need for a short term programming gig, and then there'd be no need for that person (or someone else with their skillset) for another three years.  You're not going to keep someone around for years in case there's an issue, and if there is an issue unexpectedly you bring a contractor back in to apply the bandaid.  This is more common with older skillsets like COBOL, and part of what's driving the very high contracting rate is the scarcity of the skills required.

That's the opposite of what MiM is saying.  He is saying that a contractor makes "double what an employee does" for a given job.  Of course contractors make higher wages for what they do when they have a scarce skill that one doesn't want to pay to have around full time, but that has always and forever been the case.  See:  dowsers.

Perhaps I communicated it badly, but that was indeed what I'm saying. If a company needs them for a long-term or permanent basis, then of course they don't pay contractor rates. They just hire them at half the cost. There was a time when contractors could get quasi-permanent contracting gigs paying the contracting rate, but those times are long gone.

[grumbler]

Perhaps I communicated it badly, but that was indeed what I'm saying. If a company needs them for a long-term or permanent basis, then of course they don't pay contractor rates. They just hire them at half the cost. There was a time when contractors could get quasi-permanent contracting gigs paying the contracting rate, but those times are long gone.

And my point was simply that, "those days being long gone," the actuality is that a given computer programmer, like my brother, will probably discover that one makes more as an employee than as a contractor, once taxes, billable hours, and benefits are accounted for.  In other words, that Mr. I'll-fly-an-airplane-into-a-building was utterly mistaken about how rich he would have been had the Evil IRS not kept him from being a software contractor.

[Ed Anger]

Mart should have tackled him.

[Caliga]

And my point was simply that, "those days being long gone," the actuality is that a given computer programmer, like my brother, will probably discover that one makes more as an employee than as a contractor, once taxes, billable hours, and benefits are accounted for.  In other words, that Mr. I'll-fly-an-airplane-into-a-building was utterly mistaken about how rich he would have been had the Evil IRS not kept him from being a software contractor.

Ok, I get what you are saying now and that is correct.  It also explains why independent consultants also generally bill in the range of hundreds of dollars an hour: they need to charge that much once you account for taxes/benefits.

[MadImmortalMan]

And my point was simply that, "those days being long gone," the actuality is that a given computer programmer, like my brother, will probably discover that one makes more as an employee than as a contractor, once taxes, billable hours, and benefits are accounted for.  In other words, that Mr. I'll-fly-an-airplane-into-a-building was utterly mistaken about how rich he would have been had the Evil IRS not kept him from being a software contractor.

Ok, I get what you are saying now and that is correct.  It also explains why independent consultants also generally bill in the range of hundreds of dollars an hour: they need to charge that much once you account for taxes/benefits.

It also explains why that guy is a complete fucking retard.   

[derspiess]

Mart should have tackled him.