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Comment by thexumaker | Hacker News Reader

yep that makes sense. Every job should be contractor status to maintain a flexible labor market. Tech market would've benefited greatly xD

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If you want to work wherever and whenever you feel like, you can be a contractor in the tech market.

There are a lot of relgulatory challenges, like AB5 itself, and prior court rulings (e.g. microsoft IIRC).

Most companies are scared of the legal liability of hiring willing contractors.

Actual contractors practically dont exist as a result. Most contractors you see in tech are actually empoyees of a 2nd firm, which takes 50% of the paycheck to shield the tech company from liability.

My company is extremely picky about who they will engage with for actual contrating. They must have a demonstrated contracting work history, and get no more than 1/3 of their annual income from the contract. This is all to prevent worker misclassification lawsuit.

But it’s not really wherever and whenever. The only way to make above minimum wage is to do the streaks/bonuses/etc.

Those are only offered during rush hour and aren’t consistently offered.

I know plenty of people who have left AWS Professional Services to go independent and are making much more than they made here (where I work). For reference ProServe consultants make about 10% less at each level than SDEs - most of us work from “virtual offices” that allow us to work from anywhere - this was the case pre-Covid.

What do you think the difference really is between being a contractor and being an at will employee?

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