[consulting] Salaries

[Dave Terry]

Hi Fred,
We can talk offline about this, but here are some things to consider:
* Who pays your taxes when you are consulting?
* Who handles your health insurance?
* Do you go on vacations?
* What happens when you get sick or come down with a short/long term
disability?
* Do you attend training events/Drupalcons?
* Do you defer money towards a savings plan?
* Do you go on interviews or how much non-billable time do you spending
sending out your resume or marketing your services?
* Do you work or get paid on holidays?
* Who handles the administrative duties of your consultancy?

Anyway, I'm not trying to come down like I'm against freelancing, but these
types of factors must be considered when doing an apples to apples
comparison of FT v. contract employment.  For what it's worth, I grew and
sold a staffing firm in Atlanta before getting involved with a Drupal shop
with a lifelong friend (that's another story in itself :-). If a consultant
was able to maintain a 70% utilization based on a 2080 hour (52 weeks x
40/hours) year then that was considered pretty good.

Hope this helps,
Dave
dave.terry at mediacurrent.com




-----Original Message-----
From: consulting-bounces at drupal.org [mailto:consulting-bounces at drupal.org]
On Behalf Of Fred Jones
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 2:40 PM
To: A list for Drupal consultants and Drupal service/hosting providers
Subject: Re: [consulting] Salaries

> I'm brushing with a wide stroke I know, but as a general rule you can take
> whatever your hourly rate may be as a contractor and use that same number
as
> a W-2 salaried employee.  For example, if your freelance rate is $60/hr
you
> can expect around 60K w/benefits as a FT employee at a company.

Really? Because if I do $60 an hour I can net $115K, just based on 40
hours a week and 48 such weeks in a year. Presuming I can get 40
billable hours a week.

> Well said, I agree with you, but just to clarify you're always picking up
> new skills for your toolbox when you roll off a project, but also having
to
> focus on identifying your next gig (which can be feast or famine at
times).

Precisely. Can even be both at the same time sometimes. ;)

Fred
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