[noodlenotes]

At tech companies, "contractor" usually means someone contracted from a staffing company to work 40 hour weeks during normal business hours. They're not someone who is providing an end product with the freedom to set their own schedule, like you typically think of when you hear "contractor".

[Lio]

That very much depends on location.

In the UK a contractor could be someone from an outsourcing company as you suggest or they could be an independent service provider working on their own. This is very common in software dev here when you require someone with specific skills.

If you’re the latter kind then you’d be wise to bill on deliverables rather than time.

If you don’t you could run into a well known tax reg called HMRC IR35. It bars independent contractors from acting like “disguised” employees. It’s a world of pain if that happens.

[rentfree-media]

> bars independent contractors from acting like “disguised” employees. It’s a world of pain if that happens.

The US allows companies to fire long-term employees without cause and replace them with indentured servants.

We're the ones who actually hosted the cotton fields full of slaves, after all.

[shkkmo]

That is not correct. I won't speak to relative prevalence as that depends on the size and type of tech company, but there are lots of freelance tech contractors.