[pault]

Have you considered going hourly with a staffing agency? A senior developer can charge a three figure hourly rate and if you aren't known in the industry an agency can place you at companies that can afford to keep you working full time. I've always gone above and beyond at my salaried jobs because I find the work gratifying, and I've been thrilled being able to charge for those extra hours. I doubled my yearly income when I started contracting. Providing your own benefits can be stressful and cost more when your employer isn't subsidizing it, but if you are making over $200k/year medical insurance is a relatively minor expense.

[demircancelebi]

Right now, I'm thinking about applying to the largest companies of our industry in a few weeks, but can you please briefly share your experience on staffing agencies, because making $200k/year without an office sounds appealing.

[pault]

I haven't worked at home since I started contracting (after a 10 year stretch of all remote work). In my experience most jobs that you get through a staffing agency are for big lumbering corporations that are completely out of touch with the industry and think that all employees are thieves and villains that must be supervised at all times. These companies are also the ones that have enormous budgets for contractors (for accounting reasons, I guess) and very little oversight (institutional inertia can keep you on a contract for much longer than it takes to finish a project, and projects take significantly longer than they should because of all the above factors). I've been fortunate that I'm mostly working on projects where I'm the sole front end developer and I get to dictate all of the technology decisions, and building something from the ground up is very gratifying, even if you have to work in a soul sucking office park in the middle of the suburbs.

[mtberatwork]

> medical insurance is a relatively minor expense

Many more "expenses" than just health insurance. Retirement, health insurance, business insurance (e.g. E&O), federal/state/county taxes, accountants (you need one), lawyers (perhaps), etc...that $200K/year salary dwindles fast (assuming you can maintain that year after year).

[sacado2]

Don't know if the equivalent exists where you live, but in France you can work with a contractor that does all the administrative work and just pays you a salary. You don't have to worry about accounting, tracking payments, business insurance, health insurance, retirement, etc. as you technically don't own a business, but you're still a freelancer, choosing who you work with, for how long, at which rate, etc. You have a salary without having a boss. I've used this system a few years ago, pretty cool.