Re: Contractor pay (was: Tech Writers as Hourly Employees?!)

[Bill Swallow <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Many contractors make less than salaried writers. When contracting,
you take about 1/2 of your income and set it aside to cover taxes,
medical, dental, vision, and infrastructure costs. You take the
remainder and live off it while putting some in the bank or investing
some for hopeful eventual retirement. And, the majority of tech
writing contractors out there are earning less than $50/hour.

Yes, some contractors make quite excellent money, but they are quite
excellent at what they do and deserve the money they demand.

The same goes for excellent full time employees. If you're excellent
at what you do, and your company recognizes your contributions as well
above and beyond expectation, then you're handsomely compensated.

And yes, to get the true amount of a full-timer's actual cost to the
company, take the salary and multiply it by 1.5 or 2, depending on the
level and number of benefits you get from them.

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