[paxys]

To put things in perspective, based on recent experience my company has had getting specialists with 15-20 years of technical experience to work on a fixed-term contract (anything from 6 weeks to 6+ months), $250/hr would be considered a steal.

[flatline]

$250/hr is a reasonable ballpark figure. Working as a contractor, providing own benefits. I've worked with a lot of people in this position. He should expect to pull about $300k/yr gross, which is about how a company is going to allocate costs for a full time employee. He needs to be setting aside money for retirement, paying for health insurance, paying all relevant taxes, compensating himself for his own expenditures such as laptop, and paying himself a comparable wage for the industry.

[carlsborg]

Usually the buyer company paying this rate is paying for immediacy in addition to the expertise and there’s an agency or consulting company taking a spread, as a market maker would, for providing this immediacy.

[justsomeuser]

What tech do you use? Is your company still looking for contractors?

[avmich]

Any details? :)

[paxys]

Depends on what you want to know. Of course my company isn't looking for cheap coders to replace full-time employees without having to pay any benefits, but that is sadly how most vendor/contractor relationships in the industry work today.

The author of the post is a full-time employee, despite what he is (possibly illegally) classified as. He should be negotiating as such.