Ask HN: How to attract perm Snr Engs when the contract market is so lucrative?

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In my experience, there are a couple of scenarios where there is payment risk.

With very small clients, sometimes they will decide to pivot and not want to pay for work that they're not going to use, or the project is completed and they decide that they can save money by not paying the last couple of invoices.

With larger clients, you start to deal with the finance department and these guys have no stake in keeping contractors happy and just want to keep a big balance in their bank account for as long as possible. The larger the organization, the less influence the person who hired you has over the finance department, and the more disconnected the finance department becomes from the negative consequences of paying late.

A few tips that have helped me: (In about 20 years of contracting/consulting, I haven't had to write off an invoice so far. I have given a discount to get paid once, and had to chase down payment a few times)

1. Maintain a good relationship with the person at the company responsible for the contract. If they like you personally and you've done good work for them, they can work the problem from inside the company and will be motivated to do so.

2. Include an IP clause in your contract where you retain IP to the work product and it automatically transfers upon full payment. If they aren't paying and are using unpaid IP that you developed, there are often some big sticks you can hit them with or threaten to hit them with if they aren't paying.

3. Make your opening offer on terms be 15 days, but be willing to give 30. If they insist on longer terms and won't budge, this is a red flag for problems later. Insist on an appropriately sized retainer based on anticipated billing to limit your exposure to 30 days after invoice. For example, if they insist on 60 days, get a retainer of 30 days anticipated billing. Often when you demand this, the contract people will circle back with the finance people and give you 30 day terms.

4. If you have subcontractors, pay them within 1-2 days of receiving their invoice. With interest rates at near zero, the value you get from delaying payment is minuscule, but paying early generates huge goodwill.

The top 3-5% of software engineers do not work at startups. They work via their own S Corporation... Why? To copy the same way most doctors and high end professions get paid...

1. solo 401k - hit maximum contribution limit (57k-63.5k)

2. cash balance/defined benefit plan - your solo pension plan up to 3 million For year 2021, the maximum compensation is $290,000 to contribute to your defined benefit plan...

As governments grant corporations better preference in tax treatment, you really got to ask yourself why anyone would want to be a W-2 employee anymore... (w-2 employee of your solo S-corp is the exception)

Nothing stopping any company from giving you options as well...

Some extra rules and costs arise with defined benefit plans but well worth it.

SV wants capitalism and free markets but when forced to do so with workers the hesitation comes up... but but but you gotta come a play foozeball at work on the weekends... and we gotta share a beer and tell me about your dev friends..

https://www.manning-napier.com/insights/blogs/research-libra...

https://saberpension.com/defined-benefit-plans-self-employed

https://www.dedicated-db.com/one-person-plus/

> 5. Raises that matter. Not some 1 or 2 pct insult.

IMO, pay or raises don't matter much (as long as it's enough to live without worries).

If the company culture is bad then yes, it's all about money. Pay me top of the market or I'm looking to move. But if the job is a pleasure and I'm respected, I don't much care for the pay.

What does it take to make job a pleasure? In a summary: respect expertise.

I wouldn't dream of telling our legal or accounting departments how to do their job, they're the experts in their fields. But for some reason engineering no longer commands any respect (pay != respect) so has lost all autonomy. (I say no longer because it wasn't always that way, in the 90s engineering expertise was highly valued.)

Here are three sure fire ways to make me leave ASAP:

"Agile". If you treat everyone as a replaceable cog kept under the daily whip of constant status reports then don't expect me to stay very long.

Lack of autonomy. If engineering decisions are being made by a product manager with a BA in Arts instead of principal engineers, you can bet I'm interviewing behind your back. (Sadly this is most silicon valley companies these days.)

"Unlimited vacation", aka might get 2-3 days per year. Instead, align compay interests with mine, accumulate vacation days and I can take everything I've accumulated. No less than 20 days per year + holidays.

They're all important. I don't really see the point in chosing one or the other.