
Freelance Pricing: How does that work? - rtisdale
https://roberttisdale.com/freelance-pricing-work/
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scarface74
I don't have any problem with the math, just the anecdotal reality of the
situation.

When I started looking for another job in my local area about three months
ago, I wanted to contract thinking I could make more money. I'm covered for
benefits under my wife so I didn't factor that in.

My "minimum salary" was $135K a year. As a W2 contractor (meaning the
employment agency pays the employers half of Medicare and Social Security),
and considering a 1760 hour work year:

2080 hours a year

-80 hours federal holidays

\- 120 hours paid time off

\- 120 hours between gigs

1760 hours would be about $77 hour as W2 or around $84 hour Corp to Corp.

Yes companies are paying at least $90-$100 an hour to recruiting firms but
once they take their cut, it's hard to net the amount I wanted. If I don't go
through a recruiting firm, I'm left hustling for gigs, competing with people
who will work for a lot cheaper and I would have a lot more down time.

On the other hand, going through the same recruiters, it was relatively easy
to get a full time job with benefits and the hiring company paid the recruiter
20%.

Besides, most companies aren't going to hire someone as a contractor who
doesn't check all of the boxes. A company will allow an FTE to learn on the
job if they don't meet 109^ of the requirements.

I'll see what things look like in a two or three years and stick my toes back
in the water.

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rtisdale
Hey everyone, author here.

I wrote this article after spending a lot of time trying to figure out how I
should charge for my services as a freelancer and was unable to find anything
else that fit my needs.

I recently made some corrections to my math thanks to a suggestion from a
Hackaday user (It's a good thing I'm not a freelance mathematician :P).

If you see any other issues, don't hesitate to let me know :).

Side note: On the off chance you have an IPv6 only address with no IPv4
gateway, my website is not currently IPv6 compatible (Thanks to Hackernews
reader Raul for reporting this).

I've raised a request with my host and this will hopefully be fixed by the end
of the year.

