Not really true. You have to figure in the cost of taking a vacation.
Medical. Dental. IRA contributions. E&O insurance. Lots of other
insurance depending on the clients. New gear. Software. Business fees.
Accounting costs. And on and on.
I was making $130K in 1998. $120-150K is not really reasonable as an
independent contractor. In any part of the country. What do you tell
lawyers? They do pretty well depending on their specialty no matter
where they are.
We really need to stop undercharging for our services. Salaries have not
kept up if you are working for a company. Teachers make a ton more than
they did in 1998. So do most public employees. Alot of private
employees.
Look at the starting salaries for some kids graduating college. We are
worth that too.
Doug Fuerst
------ Original Message ------
From "Jousma, David" <[email protected]>
To [email protected]
Date 2/17/2026 15:31:00 PM
Subject Re: Interesting
Steve,
I don’t know what part of the country you are in, but if you are asking for
$120/hr W2, that’s $250K a year based on 2080 hours. That kind of coin might
be normal in NYC, or LAX, but pretty much everywhere else that’s overpaid.
$120-$150K/year is reasonable, which on the high-end is close to $72/hr. More
power to you if you can get it. I realize you have to cover your own medical,
and IRA as a self employed contractor.
_______________________________
Dave Jousma
Vice President | Director, Platform Engineering
Fifth Third Bank | 1830 East Paris Ave, SE | Grand Rapids, MI 49546
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> on behalf of Steve
Beaver <[email protected]>
Date: Tuesday, February 17, 2026 at 3:23 PM
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Interesting
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Since there are so few of us all the Indian recruiters are starving and the
companies are learning that they need to come way up or hire Kyndral at $200/Hr
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