I mean, sure, but they are not paid more because they are code monkeys, they are paid more because they have less stable employments, and in europe at least have a lot overhead costs they are responsible for that the employer would normally pay.

From the sound of it, Spotify was treating them like employees - most places would definitely not have contractors do hack time, or put code monkey contractors in the path of major feature estimations

Well, they get paid to be terminated much more easily. Typically at companies where that's "harder" for employees.

But the entire idea of contract + senior/architect is somewhat bizarre, given how much of the latter's jobs are consensus, relationship-based, and political.

Eh, I don’t know this persons position, but typically they’re not really paid more than ftes. The hyper expert high paid consultant does exist, but most contractors are just compensation wise a lower tier or at parity. But there are advantages in other ways. I liked thinking in the short term (just doing this for a year, then maybe change up career path a bit), and I went from interview to work in about a week, consulting companies move fast on getting you working.