Just to give you an idea, I am currently a contractor and I need
$50/hr just to get by. That assumes I have steady work, so I don't
spend a lot of unpaid time searching for new jobs. After paying
self-employment taxes and paying for my own insurance, I get about the
same after taxes as if I were making $52,000 a year with benefits.
For those who don't know, in most cities in the US, $52,000 is not a
very high annual salary. In the current economy, as an independent not
affiliated with a consulting firm, I'm not getting even that minimum,
and a couple of weeks ago I began looking for regular employment. (And
the consulting firm I looked into was only offering $35/hr, so
apparently they're having trouble in this economy as well.)
$50/hr translates to $8000/month (assuming 160 hours per month).
The contracts listed at
http://www.haiku-inc.org/funded-development.html paid:
$18.1875/hr = $2910/mo
$16.3875/hr = $2622/mo
$12.5000/hr = $2000/mo (x3)
$06.2500/hr = $1000/mo
$14.0000/hr = $2240/mo
So as you can see, a contractor couldn't really live on those rates.
These guys aren't doing this for the money.
And even if Haiku were paying at that level, as I mentioned before,
it's just not a safe bet to abandon regular employment for a contract
that will end when the product ships.
