I'd like to know which country/region has a low average of >$400K/y for a SWE so that you'd be "lucky" to find one for less. I know we're well paid, but definitely not that well.

It's contract work on the US west coast. Typically 3-12 month projects bringing some obsolete system into the current decade.

The rule of thumb I have seen is that you should charge around double the hourly rate when contracting compared to what you would make on salary to account vagaries of contracting. So this would be closer to $200k given that rule of thumb.

$200/hr is $416,000/yr. The world is bigger than Silicon Valley, but even there that's a huge salary.

That goes to the comtracting agency. The individual engineer might see a quarter of that if they're lucky.

There are many staffing agencies that only take 20-30% extra per head.

It translates to probably around $170k pre-tax income, definitely less than $200k, after overhead if you're an employee working for a contracting company. Actually that's for govt contracting companies with mandated limits of how much profit they can make, so normal contracting companies are likely worse.

Europe?

US west coast

I don't buy that for a second. Are you looking for specific niche skills?

Contract SWE gigs on the US west coast. I have a guy at $175, a full stack dev who does fantastic work, but he's booked out a year in advance and it's like pulling teeth to get him to accept more than 5-10 hours a week.

"Can I pay you a higher rate to take on project Z?"

"Nah man I'm as busy as I want to be. Maybe next year."

I'm sure he does the work in half the time stated, which is fine by me.

You might do well to add contact info to your profile

$200/hr fully loaded cost or $200/hr wage? Because a $60/hr wage isn't really that far away from a $200/hr fully loaded cost in some cases.

If you're hiring a non-employee contractor through some other company for $200/hr ... the SWE making $60/hr might just be that same person. Taxes, benefits, and overhead are very expensive.

It's contract work paid straight to the dev, with a 1099 when tax season rolls around.

Ok so they're paying the rest of the full load.

The overhead costs of highly paid employees in the US are something like 25-50% of the wage. $200/hr gross will pencil out at $1xx/hr received.

Depends on the company. I have seen people making $40k/yr being billed out between $180-210/hr... about $20/hr for the employee after PTO.

How do I tell an employer I just want my 'fully loaded' cost in cash?

Become a contractor. If you go this route, be aware an additional ~1/8 your income will be confiscated as taxes.

Worth it for the flexibility, IMO.

$60 an hour, or around $120,000 is the average rate for software developers currently in DC. There's plenty of places that employ developers for less too.

$200 an hour is FAANG rates, at least, but there's an entire economy outside of that.

For example, I know a guy who does custom software development for a sawmill in rural Maryland. They don't pay $500k (I think they pay $180k), but he seems pretty happy with his McMansion and 4 kids in private schools. So long as your housing costs aren't in the $1 million range, you can have a lot of disposable income with less money.

You can hire SWE's at the no-bullshit rate of $60/hr as soon as you ditch your own bullshit: the take-home exams, the 10 interview rounds, and the brain teasers.

I am available for part-time work at $60/hr

Most of the country? I was happy to cross the $60 barrier after a decade of experience and job hopping a few years back and now all of the jobs are in the high $40s now. I got laid off and I can see why now. These companies wanted to save $20 an hour at least per developer per team and they can.

Hell, I make much less than that with 7 years of experience. I work for my state's government, and that is the reason why.