Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 304 posts

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#191

Post by ydt »

seangrogg wrote: post #167
acconrad wrote: post #76

Am I in the minority here for being a contract developer who is happy to be in this place? * I make over 40% more than I did when I was full-time, and I was already in the top band for pay in my title. This far exceeds the 15% markup for self-employment tax. * My wife works full time so she has our back for health insurance * I can save way more for retirement with an SEP IRA than I ever could with a company-sponsore…

For those interested (namely, me) could you describe your current situation? * What sort of business entity are you using? What considerations did you make when choosing this entity? * What is your work like? Are you remote/onsite? Do you have one client or multiple? * What is your staff like? Are you a lone worker? Do you have coworkers in your business? What did you choose to offload onto others? * How do you manag…

I've been doing contract work since 2004

* LLC with S-Corp designation. This is very tax-advantaged vs. Sole Proprietor.

* Currently, I'm mostly on-site for one client.

* 1-person shop.

* I have an accountant. You want a good, small business accountant.

* I buy health insurance for my family through the ACA exchange. It's very expensive so make sure you factor it into your rate.

I've had 2 FT gigs that lasted 6 months each since 2004 and regretted it both times. If you can handle having to network and interview frequently you can make more money with more flexibility as a contract developer.

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#192

Post by gaius »

acconrad wrote: post #131
zardo wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, you are in the minority. The huge rise in contract work is not in boutique consulting firms or well compensated tech consultants. It's low skill work, groundskeepers, janitors, housekeepers, drivers. Businesses have moved to contracting to effectively lower total compensation.

I guess part of why I posted that is the audience - I imagine in submitting this article to HN, it is meant to resonate with two subsets of people here: 1. Entrepreneurs running gig economy startups and the implications for how they should treat their workforce 2. Tech workers who work in the gig economy (e.g. Gigster developers, PullRequest reviewers, independent developers) So I read this and bring up my point beca…

3. The customers without whom these sleazy companies could not exist. But Uber is oh-so-convenient, who cares about the societal consequences, right?

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#193

Post by seangrogg »

ydt wrote: post #191
seangrogg wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those interested (namely, me) could you describe your current situation? * What sort of business entity are you using? What considerations did you make when choosing this entity? * What is your work like? Are you remote/onsite? Do you have one client or multiple? * What is your staff like? Are you a lone worker? Do you have coworkers in your business? What did you choose to offload onto others? * How do you manag…

I've been doing contract work since 2004 * LLC with S-Corp designation. This is very tax-advantaged vs. Sole Proprietor. * Currently, I'm mostly on-site for one client. * 1-person shop. * I have an accountant. You want a good, small business accountant. * I buy health insurance for my family through the ACA exchange. It's very expensive so make sure you factor it into your rate. I've had 2 FT gigs that lasted 6 month…

Thank you very much for the insight! A few questions, if you would:

* What are some recommendations you have for establishing a rate? Do you use hourly, weekly, or project?

* What do you look for in a small business accountant (it sounds like you may have had a less-good one in the past)?

* What avenues do you typically find yourself using for contract work? i.e. LinkedIn, job boards, word of mouth, etc?

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#194

Post by mLuby »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #180
mLuby wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fundamentally it's lack of time due to having to work 2+ gigs likely while juggling child care or elder care. People with money can pay people to do things for them, freeing up time. Even if they do it themselves, they likely have a more comfortable life so it's easier to devote an evening or a weekend to figuring out complicated medical/legal/financial scenarios.

Do you similarly feel that it's impossible for poor people to buy car insurance? Disability insurance is LESS complicated than that. Do you want the 50% of your current salary or 75% of your current salary option? That's it. Maybe you can pay a few extra bucks for a rider that increases your disability coverage each year as you get a raise. This is not complicated stuff and any insurance agent is going to be happy to…

Nobody's saying it's impossible or even difficult. But if I'm rushing from my shift at McDonald's to pick up my kid and drop them off at home with some dinner before heading to the late shift at Home Depot, I'm not going to be able to talk to an insurance agent who might very well be happy to walk me through it, let alone spend time actively thinking about what coverage I need.

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#195

Post by Chiba-City »

Our lack of universal and convenient primary care hinders the formation of small or new large businesses. Our medical care quality is low due to lack of data sharing that national health services enjoy for free. Our oddly expensive but low performing healthcare is a pathetic vestige of our apartheid racist labor history here in the USA. These issues do not concern fancy elective medicine we also sadly fetishize amidst our ongoing dysfunctioning. We prefer endless pitches of futuristic delusions than reliable heartbeat services. We will continue to suffer this needless hamstringing until we catch up with civilized people who can add, subtract, multiply and divide.

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#196

Post by crankylinuxuser »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #104
lostcolony wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. I had asthma as a child. Now? No meds, no issues, for two decades. I would not qualify for affordable healthcare because of that pre-existing condition without Obamacare. Even as is, with the fragility of our political system, I am very wary of contract work; the concern that I could lose healthcare at any time based on elected idiots stymies me.

Did you ever actually shop for it? I bought health insurance before Obamacare and I have asthma.

Sure, you found some company willing to take your money claiming you had "insurance". In reality, had you actually try to use it, would have been in "pre-existing condition" hell. Because the asthma could have cause $ailment, and they don't cover preexisting. Tood bad, so sad. Glad you paid the premiums!

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#197

Post by neogodless »

briffle wrote: post #79
acconrad wrote: post #76

Am I in the minority here for being a contract developer who is happy to be in this place? * I make over 40% more than I did when I was full-time, and I was already in the top band for pay in my title. This far exceeds the 15% markup for self-employment tax. * My wife works full time so she has our back for health insurance * I can save way more for retirement with an SEP IRA than I ever could with a company-sponsore…

How would your situation change, if item number 2 was no longer there. (ie, your wife became a contractor) I think that is the largest concern/tipping point for most people..

I think the real tipping point is income level as an independent worker. Personally, I'm in software and got a 60% pay increase when I jumped to 1099. My wife didn't have health insurance offered before, and she still doesn't. But the $680/month I'm paying is easily covered by the increased income. (I was paying around $300/month even when my employer offered health insurance. And my coverage is actually much better now.) But I'm not a typical contractor, just a typical software contractor.

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#198

Post by Terr_ »

frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #10

Keep this in mind when looking at the government's monthly job reports. We've set the wrong metric, so while unemployment may be low the power that would normally flow to workers from a tight job market doesn't exist here. “We find that 94% of net job growth in the past decade was in the alternative work category,” said Krueger. “And over 60% was due to the [the rise] of independent contractors, freelancers and contr…

IMO this is one of the many different manifestations of a financial squeeze (or at least a "power shift") against middle- and lower-class workers that has been growing over 50 years.

What I find intellectually-interesting is the idea that it's a big hetereogenous system where different parts and aspects are "crumpling" (both concurrently and sequentially) rather than one big politically-noisy snap.

Push kids towards college for earning-potential; defer usual retirement ages; have fewer children; live in a smaller place; both spouses work, live in the city, since you need a denser job-supply for both spouses to be hired and commute; work a second part-time job; etc.

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#199

Post by crankylinuxuser »

chc wrote: post #71
pathseeker wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's historically the way it has been but it's absurd in general. Would you argue the same thing about housing, food, and water (they should all be provided by the employer)? Really what we need is an expectation of being able to buy healthcare on our own with regular incomes.

This is one of those solutions that seems simple and neat, but falls apart on a cursory inspection. For example, it implies that the poor should die of curable illnesses. It also largely ignores the economics of the situation — healthcare is inherently expensive because it involves high technology, high safety standards and lots of training. You can't have it be like food, where people just get it when they want it,…

Oh bullshit.

Sure, there's a lot of newer tech in medical. But for a ton of routine medicine uses generic drugs, simple testing (scales, blood pressure, simply viewing abnormalities), and cheap care. For "routine medicine" this should be negligible cost - it's only because of systemic garbage I can't just go to the pharmacist and buy metformin without going through a fucking paywall.

Sure, I get something weird and/or strange, sure all bets are off.

Re: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce

#200

Post by dragonwriter »

crankylinuxuser wrote: post #196
Consultant32452 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you ever actually shop for it? I bought health insurance before Obamacare and I have asthma.

Sure, you found some company willing to take your money claiming you had "insurance". In reality, had you actually try to use it, would have been in "pre-existing condition" hell. Because the asthma could have cause $ailment, and they don't cover preexisting. Tood bad, so sad. Glad you paid the premiums!

The other part of precondition hell was recisions, where if you had an expensive condition, the insurance company would look for evidence of a (potentially unrelated) pre-existing condition that had not been disclosed, cancel your insurance based on that (perhaps refunding all the premiums you had paid, for all the good that did you) and call it a day; as part of ending preexisting condition exclusions, the ACA ended recision.
Post reply on HN