In my experience, it is NOT valid in general. If you simply go out on the marketplace and say, "Hey, I'm a good hacker, give me a contract job!", then clients will calculate your worth by taking the $80K figure. (Clients are much better businessman than you are, much better negotiators, and usually need you much less than you need the contract.) But, you won't have 8 hours worth of work per day, so you'll go broke.
The trick is to be more than just a general-purpose "hacker". You have to be a "Security expert" or an "iPhone SEO expert" or an "Oracle DBA"... The trick is, you have to know a market segment, and have a good understanding of what the business value of your skill/work is, and then you can charge based on that.
And of course good networking, good people skills, good self-management skills, etc. Stuff that "hackers" usually don't care about.
This isn't quite correct. Contractors and freelancers (of which I am one) charge substantially more than the clients' employees salary ($75-150/hr, typically, vs 70-100k/year). This is accepted due to the cost savings of not paying for insurance, 401k contributions, etc.
In my experience, I charge more (than I made when salaried), but only bill the 4-7 hours a day really, actually working. I'm much more productive, work less hours, and make more money doing it.
Specialties are certainly a lucrative way to go, but not necessarily essential. An all-rounder is more likely to have a long-term relationship with a client (depending on the industry of course).
"This is accepted due to the cost savings of not paying for insurance, 401k contributions, etc."
Probably more about the liquidity of the arrangement than those things. Not always easy to hire and fire as needed whereas with a contractor/freelancer you can take someone on board for a particular job and then not use them again.
The trick is to be more than just a general-purpose "hacker". You have to be a "Security expert" or an "iPhone SEO expert" or an "Oracle DBA"... The trick is, you have to know a market segment, and have a good understanding of what the business value of your skill/work is, and then you can charge based on that.
And of course good networking, good people skills, good self-management skills, etc. Stuff that "hackers" usually don't care about.