Reply to: How does freelance software development contracting in US differ from that in the UK

[vetran]

IPSE have launched a US Arm, might be useful for some...

https://ipse-us.org/

Tea & Biscuits with the Donald & IRS, worth watching.

[SimonMac]

IPSE have launched a US Arm, might be useful for some...

https://ipse-us.org/

[cloudninja]

I'd somewhat agree with earlier comments, but also you will find contracts and contractors similar to here, especially in the prime markets of San Francisco, New York, Chicago. Rates can vary widely, from what you might find here a standard 500 a day to 5 times that in cases.

Note - group health care is stupidly expensive. This is reason #1 why people opt for full time employment who might otherwise go contracting.

W2 is like PAYE/umbrella here.

Corp to Corp is like Limited Co. here. (and can be much more lucrative than here too if you structure it correctly)

Try www.dice.com (the US site obviously)

(FYI, I'm a US and UK citizen and have contracted in both countries.)

[jamesbrown]

U need H1-B visa, not so easy unless u have specialist skills

That really depends on your definition of "specialist". Put it this way, the cap is around 65,000 per year IIRC, and it's always greatly exceeded by the number of petitions (maybe 100,000). Many organizations that really do require "specialists", as opposed to code monkeys, are outside the cap. So it isn't that "specialist". It's also pretty much universally regarded as a flawed system (Trump especially hates it, of course).

[northernladuk]

U need H1-B visa, not so easy unless u have specialist skills

Like txtspk?

[saurabh1]

U need H1-B visa, not so easy unless u have specialist skills

[GhostofTarbera]

Thanks for that

US citizen here, ex UK contractor .

The other aspect to US contracting is the IRS (HMRC equivalent) has much clearer rules and enforcement about disguised employment. I feel like a majority of contractors in the UK would be caught out by that, and it would shrink the contract market a lot. The vagueness of IR35 always bothered me as a contractor here in the UK.

[squarepeg]

It differs in the following ways....

You've got to group hug at the end of meetings
You've got to high 5/fist bump every 30 minutes
You've got to order your skinny vanilla mocha frappuchino by saying 'Can I get a...'
You've got to call everyone 'dude'

HTH

Everything/everyone is 'awesome'.
You have to 'git stash' your sense of humour ('humor').

[motoukenin]

I think you need a US site to answer those questions. How would people in the UK know the details of how contracting works in the States?

Guys in the UK don't know how contracting works in the UK, let alone the states

[quackhandle]

I did read somewhere recently that the Yanks are the worst in world for not taking any vacation time.

Stems from the paranoia that you won't be missed and someone else will do you job better.

qh

[OwlHoot]

US contractors tend to be a pure niche skill and tend to be those individuals who just cannot seem to get a full time job. This means they're not that good. ...

Or perhaps in some cases they are good but have interpersonal or major hygiene issues, such as never washing or shaving.

[OwlHoot]

It differs in the following ways....

You've got to group hug at the end of meetings
You've got to high 5/fist bump every 30 minutes
You've got to order your skinny vanilla mocha frappuchino by saying 'Can I get a...'
You've got to call everyone 'dude'

HTH

and instead of saying "Can you do such and such?" it's "I need you to do such and such".

Yanks seem to be very needy these days, or just pompous and officious.

[jamesbrown]

Most if my clients are in the US, although I don't work in IT, so I'm not sure how far the analogies go.

First, and I almost hate to ask you this question, but do you have a cross-border tax expert that's helping with your US filing? Being a US citizen and a director of a Foreign Controlled Corporation is a notorious nightmare in terms of your reporting requirements (dreaded Subpart F etc.). If you're not aware of this, oh dear... If you are, great

Second, the market is completely different. The only way I get contracts in the US is through tendering (generally in a consortium of with one or more US-based companies) or through word of mouth. There's no equivalent to the general-purpose contracting market (mediated by agencies) that you'll find in the UK, partly because US employment protections are much weaker. That being said, there's definitely a contract market for niche skills.

Finally, in terms of the contracts themselves, they tend to be unnecessarily long and technical, but generally editable (depends on whether it's an SME or larger enterprise and how much they need you). One thing they rarely budge on is jurisdiction and governing law, so you need good insurance in place (the US is always an exclusion in default UK policies), because it's a bloody litigious society! They are ordinary commercial contracts and, for the same reason, the templates you get won't talk about things like "substitution" as distinct from subcontracting, but IR35 applies as normal, so get everything reviewed.

Otherwise, if you can get the work, fill yer boots. They don't mind paying for skills and the USD is strong at present.

[MarillionFan]

Quick question> Is it the US that is strange or is it the UK...

Ask as current clientco has a lot of UK contractors as the UK is the only country they can find them in...

I cannot comment for the rest of the Europe. It does seem more of a UK thing, but would probably need some input from some others. But if you look at the likes of NAT, Darmstadt and Scooterscot, then I'd assume that the rest of Europe is as tulip as the US as well.