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You aren’t going to find a chart on this subject, but I would not choose to be a contractor for just the money; that is short-sided thinking. I see a contractor as someone who has an advantage over typical employees and make more money with no benefits. Also, contractors don’t get stuck in the same place for their whole career; they can spread their wings and grow. If that is your passion, then go for it.
To answer your financial question, my suggestion would be to either write a program or create a spreadsheet and take comparable salaries, benefits (medical, life, and 401k), raises, and inflation and determine how much you’d make. This is over your lifetime, not 6 months or 1 year. I have done this for my life and decided contract work would not be feasible after 35 years old. Unless you are a superstar contractor; you’d better expect to be working at Lowe's when you’re over 55 because I just don’t see many older contractors.
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Maybe you are used to have companies that actually PAY contractors. In Italy the payment is usually after 60 or 90 or 180 days from the receipt and normally companies simply won't pay. Add the fact that autonomous job has an overall fiscal pressure of about 70% and... well I'd never choose contract work here. It is assured slavery and doom (not the one from ID software though).
Geek code v 3.12
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- r++>+++ y+++*
Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
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I've always used 2048 hours per year. It's not exact, but is close enough.
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles
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...and a power of 2. Being the job we do what it is...
Geek code v 3.12
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- r++>+++ y+++*
Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
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wow man, where do you get that form? here in the uk, we get minimum 20 + 8 days off.
hear is how I got it to 1635 hours per year... (7.5 hour working days, we don't get paid for lunch hour  )
Days in year 365
Bank Holidays, xmass etc. 8
Weekend days (52*2) 104
Full Paid Holidays 31
Full Paid Sick Days 4
Days actually working 218
Hours working 1635
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40 hours per week * 52 weeks is 2080 hours per year. So I was 32 hours off; it's still close enough to be able to figure out a yearly salary based on a per-hour wage.
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles
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pfsWrite!
Oh how I remember that one.
Go for the contract. You cant buy priceless autonomy.
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If you are contracting through an agency, the agency will take care of taxes. If not, find yourself a good accountant. The annual salary takes into consideration FUTA, local unemployment and a few other fringe taxes the employer pays for which, as an independent contractor, you are stuck paying. Is your contracting rate inclusive of sales tax? This is sometimes a pain in accounting as your invoices need to carry sales tax as a separate line item and you need to report this to the appropriate tax agency. Failure to do so can bring substantial penalties.
The difficult may take time, the impossible a little longer.
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By my calculations, a $90 an hour job would bring you home approximately $112,000 after taxes, health insurance, and other deductions (depending upon where you live) if was extended out for the year. The $115,000 would put about $69,000 in your pocket if you got your own health insurance, etc. I use 60% as a general rule for what I put in my pocket from gross after deductions for taxes and the like. Keep in mind that the employer matches what you put in FICA. From the looks of it, you might put as much in your pocket in 6 months as you would working for them for a year.
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As someone who lives this way, the rule of thumb is 3x.
Take the rough salary ($90K/yr -> $45/hr (dividing by 2,000 is easiest)).
Charge Triple that -> $135/hr (Roughly. Could be $125 - $150).
The 3x is explained as:
1 for the Developer
1 for the Overhead (Your PC, Dev Tools, Paid Leave, Extra Taxes, Insurance, Lunches/Dinners)
1 for the Profit (This is the more "elastic" of the 3, but sets a strict limit on how low you go)
So, now that you see where the number is derived. You could easily accept $90/hr. And realize you will have no "profit" in your business. At least at $100/hr, you know you have a 10% profit.
I also suggest you setup a company, and use ONE Specific Credit Card for all expenses (and only legitimate expenses) for your business. Pay yourself as an employee from day one. Do NOT live off of the money that comes in (you may find yourself with a $50K tax bill due next year).
I use an AmEx. The best $75/yr I spend. My account grabs the year end summary and does NOT waste his time going through all of my little receipts. (The one downside to AmEx is that about 3-5 times a year, I end up having to use a Visa to charge something at some backwoods place that doesnt take AmEx, so your mileage may vary)
==
Start with that.
Then, shorter term work requires a Higher Profit Margin... Longer term work justifies being more flexible.
Over a decade at this, and I wish I would have done it this way, DAY 1...
HTH,
Kirk Out!
PS: Also buy a mileage tracker for your vehicle. Another thing I did not do well my first year or two. Over 50% of my mileage is business, so it pays for itself quickly.
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The one rule of thumb I know, is double your hourly rate = annual salary. so 180,000 compared to 115K, is a no brainer. Take the contract job, and get an accountant to make it work even better for you.
For instance - you can probably write off your car, gas and a whole bunch of other things that will more than offset the extra you pay on FICA. The scenario you describe, is really not much of a debate.
Where there's smoke, there's a Blue Screen of death.
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For short-term contract, like 6 months, you have to count the gap cost between two contracts. You need to negotiate this cost; otherwise they put the money to their pocket.
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I think the best negotiation in this scenario, is agreeing to an early notice for any layoff. This puts you in a better position to avoid the gap. Of course this is a matter of trust, but I think you can tell, if you pay attention, when the Life rafts are opening.
I don't think long term you can completely avoid all gaps. However, the salary differential should put you in a position to weather that storm, when it hits you about once every 3 years.
190k to 115K leaves quite a delta as insurance. Also consider that contract work pays overtime, rather than working for free.
IMHO - Looking for job security, rather than "career security", is a mistake in this flat world.
Where there's smoke, there's a Blue Screen of death.
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You're going to have to do the math yourself. Heck, you're a programmer - that's a breeze. It's not really that tough but the RISK and salary parts depend on you and where you live.
For me, I'll always prefer an employee position if the pay is decent.
During the early 2000s though, there were only contract positions available to me. So I took them and learned they are a GREAT way to get your pay rate up. ESPECIALLY if your wife gets benefits through her work. You don't have the security of having the same job next year. But you get paid for that. Then when you finally find a decent employee position, you're now in a good place to go "hey - I WAS making this and I want to keep doing that or I'll walk".
You can do the same thing by just CHANGING companies as an employee. It takes some serious work to do it. But it's well worth it. Companies could CARE LESS about their employees these days. Changing companies repeatedly is the only way to get the upper hand. Well, I'm sure there ARE companies who care about their employees/workers. But they're small and risky ones and are few and far between.
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I do both. I have a day job that pays pretty well and I work on the side to pay for my toys. Before I took my current "full-time" position, I did consulting/contract work for over a decade, including owning a staffing company.
For me, if I want to make $100K, I bill around $100/hr. If I like the project or I've been working on it for years, then the rate tends to be lower because I rarely raise my rate once a project is rolling.
Why the $100K to $100/hr ratio? When you are consulting there is a lot of extra overhead that you can't directly bill for. Generating invoices, unbilled travel (when you normally tele-commute), hardware, office space, broadband, E&O insurance, advertising, etc. And that's just doing the work, not living. You have to include vacation time, sick days, other personal time, retirement, insurance, etc. No one honestly works every possible day. If you want an apples to apples comparison then you have to throw in everything that takes place as part of "working."
If you're good at what you do you client list will grow. If you suck, then you'd better take a perm job and hide as long as you can until they figure it out. I tend to turn down work because I don't want or need more work to fill my imaginary "free time."
The ratio works for me. Your experience may vary.
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Only thing good about a full time job is the benefits and vacation, if your not getting those things than it's not worth it. Also depends on how many hours a week the full time position will require, if they expect you to work a long day then contracting is always better.
$90 hr x 50 hr work week = $4,500 a week. $4,500 a week x 24 weeks (6 month project) = $108,000
$115,00 per year / 2 (6 month project) = $57,500
How much will benefits cost for 6 months? $108,000 - cost of benefits = true earnings
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I want to change file name and file size and permantlty delete file from ntfs ie mft table .how to do.
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0. Read the permanent post at the top.
1. Hang your head in shame and sing the Very Sorry Song
2. Try to ask a question here[^]
veni bibi saltavi
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mukeshvishwakarma7 wrote: how to do
Ask in the right place for starters! 
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
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I'd just like a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
Me, all the time
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Process.Start("FORMAT", "C: /S");
Or, learn now to pay attention to what you are doing before you make a large mistake...
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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I think it is better to remove that line of code...OP may try and run it...
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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Not on my computer! 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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Would that actually work?
Regards,
Rob Philpott.
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No, Windows won't format the boot drive
Cause a little panic after he presses "run" though...:EvilLaughSmiley:
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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