• bus_factor@lemmy.world
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              6 hours ago

              I’ve never hired a software consultant, but most of the time when I hire a company or person to do contract work like roofing, gardening or similar they prefer to be paid by check. Sometimes they accept credit cards, but usually not when the bill is over a certain amount, due to the cut going to the card company.

              Furthermore, “Direct Deposit” is basically a special term used for people getting their wages or salary paid to their bank account, as opposed to receiving it by check or cash. Other types of bank-to-bank transfers have different names, like “wire transfer” or “ACH transfer”.

              Americans love overcomplicating things in general, and particularly love using overly specific and technical names for stuff. There’s acronyms everywhere, and things are named after weird technicalities. Like nobody says “retirement account”, they call it “401(k)”, named after the paragraph in the law which defines it.

              You find stuff like that everywhere if you look. Some of their coins don’t even have a value printed on them, you just have to memorize how much they’re worth.

              • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
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                2 hours ago

                Americans love overcomplicating things in general, and particularly love using overly specific and technical names for stuff. There’s acronyms everywhere, and things are named after weird technicalities. Like nobody says “retirement account”, they call it “401(k)”, named after the paragraph in the law which defines it.

                As a plus, I can greatly confuse and terrify an Irish person by telling them about the thousands I send “to the old IRA” every year. 😂

              • mcv@lemmy.zip
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                3 hours ago

                In Europe (maybe also elsewhere outside the US?) nearly all transactions are simply direct bank transactions. Occasionally facilitated through some app, but usually it’s just your own bank’s app. Nobody has used checks for decades, and the only reason we’re using credit cards is because the US keeps forcing them on us.

        • Kraiden@piefed.social
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          12 hours ago

          A month!? I know it’s regional but that’s low for a monthly deposit for a contractor!

          • DreamButt@lemmy.world
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            11 hours ago

            You’re not accounting for taxes and insurance. You lose way more to both as a self employed individual (at least here in the states)

            • iamthetot@piefed.ca
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              11 hours ago

              If you’re a self employed contractor, you’re taking taxes and insurance out yourself, not from what you’d be paid.

              • mcv@lemmy.zip
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                3 hours ago

                Exactly. When I was self employed, my monthly invoice was almost always in the 5 figures. From that you pay your VAT every quarter, save up for income taxes, pay all sorts of insurances, and what you’ve got left is a lot less, but the initial transfer looks very good.

              • DreamButt@lemmy.world
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                11 hours ago

                I’m not really sure what your point is. If I bill my guy 8k for the hours I did last month he sends me 8k. I then personally have to buy my own insurance and do my quarterly taxes

                • iamthetot@piefed.ca
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                  10 hours ago

                  Right, which would happen after the direct deposit, so your entire tangent about taxes and insurance seems irrelevant to the meme and conversation involving the amount in the meme.

                  • DreamButt@lemmy.world
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                    9 hours ago

                    Reread the thread mate. If you already know that contractos charge more then you shouldn’t be this confused

    • BartyDeCanter@piefed.social
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      14 hours ago

      Eh, that looks like typical take home for a staff level engineer in a big city.

      Edit: Assuming they get paid every two weeks, that’s an annual take home of $161,122. Depending on state taxes, insurance coverage, 401k contributions, dependents, etc, that’s a base salary of $200-250k. Which, yeah, that’s what I budget for a staff salary.

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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        36 minutes ago

        Monthly it’s about what I’d expect for a low-medium experience engineer. But I’m an industrial engineer not software.

      • Bananskal@nord.pub
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        9 hours ago

        $161,122

        Heck, I’d be pulling more than that if I were a self-employed consultant rather than under a consulting firm, in our small city in northern Scandinavia.

        Now I’m raking in a little below that, and I’m taking out like a third of it as actual salary and saving the rest, to avoid high taxes, and to to pay for a leased car, pension saving, extra insurance etc, before taxes. But after all that I’m probably saving $3k every month tax free, and maybe $1,5k in my bank account.

        Engineering life is pretty okay. Still can’t afford a house yet though. Thanks boomers.

      • glitches_brew@lemmy.world
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        11 hours ago

        Key phrase is “big city”. I’m a staff and there’s a mid on my team that moved to Seattle. His cost of living adjustment when he moved allows him to make more than I do.

    • bus_factor@lemmy.world
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      16 hours ago

      That’s not that outrageous as a higher-level IC in a big tech company in a big city. But if you’re that senior you’re not questioning why you became an engineer.

    • Barbecue Cowboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      16 hours ago

      If you can add AI to your title somehow, that might even be midrange. I was talking to someone who has not been doing this long pushing pretty close to a half million dollar salary and then bonuses on top.