Ask HN: Transitioning from FAANG to High-Paying Contracting–Any Advice?

2 points by rjpruitt16 1 year ago | 9 comments

I worked at Amazon and Twitch for about three years, with an additional two years of experience before that. After spending time in FAANG, I’ve decided that the lifestyle is overrated and often toxic, so I’m looking to transition into contract work at a high hourly rate. I’ve asked both Claude and ChatGPT, and they agree that finding contracts in the range of $150–$200 per hour should be realistic.

I’d love to hear from anyone who has transitioned from FAANG to contracting—how did you find your first clients, and what advice do you have for making the switch?

Currently, I’m building a startup and learning how to create content in the style of Fireship. My goal is to work around 40–60 hours per month at $200/hour, using the rest of my time to grow my business until it becomes profitable. At that rate, I estimate needing 2–3 clients, each requiring 15–20 hours per month. Given my experience in scalable software engineering and ability to create valuable content, I assume there are startups or larger companies that would find my skill set valuable.

I’m based in Seattle but currently living off my savings while I focus on my startup and content creation. I’ve considered moving back to my hometown, which has a lower cost of living, but I’m unsure if that would impact my ability to find high-paying remote contracts.

A few specific questions for those with experience in high-paying contract work:

What are the best ways to find $200/hour contracts? Do companies typically post these, or is it more about networking? How important is location? Would moving to a lower-cost city hurt my chances of finding premium contracts? Do you recommend going through agencies, or is it better to source clients directly? How do you structure contracts to minimize risk (e.g., payment terms, project scope, client expectations)? Are there any common pitfalls to avoid when negotiating high hourly rates? If you were starting over today, what would you do differently? I’d really appreciate any insights from those who have made this transition successfully!

gregjor 1 year ago |

I have 15 years of freelancing following 25 years working for big companies, including tech companies.

> I’ve asked both Claude and ChatGPT, and they agree that finding contracts in the range of $150–$200 per hour should be realistic.

Not reliable sources. I would call those rates realistic for established freelancers with in-demand skills, extensive business domain expertise, and a network of professional contacts. Rates vary a lot by city/region, the business sector, and supply and demand. Rates have little to do with what you describe as a “skill set.”

> What are the best ways to find $200/hour contracts? Do companies typically post these, or is it more about networking?

Mostly word of mouth and referrals. Freelancers in that price range get work by reputation. The gigs you find online — Upwork and Fiverr — I call piecework. Race to the bottom on price, too many people chasing the gigs, too much non-billable time, difficult to build long-term relationships.

> how did you find your first clients, and what advice do you have for making the switch?

Companies I used to work for, former colleagues and their professional contacts. I signed on with an agency ten years ago, they take care of the marketing and admin now. Maybe start with that kind of arrangement.

gregjor 1 year ago | |

I have some articles about freelancing on my web site typicalprogrammer.com. Free, no ads, popups, or other nonsense.

dustingetz 1 year ago |

freelance rates have way more to do with the economy than with merit/skill. You want to be early to a major platform shift (mine was Reactjs) but not too early - your offering needs to be both unique and in high demand. And then the big money gets made when this hype wave aligns with an economic boom such as 2018-2023 where companies everywhere are flush with cash, trying to pull projects forward, bidding up rates without looking too closely. Which is not exactly the case right now. Right now, you have to earn it. The first Solana cycle was another example where early freelance rates were out of control. Cloud cost optimization was another good niche (if you’re reducing spend by millions per year it’s easy to charge a good chunk of that). “Data engineering” before that. “devrel” in the startup scene during covid when everyone was stuck at home.

the other thing is - big tech pays better than that historically, has that changed? economy is bad everywhere, i’d be surprised if freelancing was the better gig

dustingetz 1 year ago | |

also higher rate can be a worse gig. So e.g. federal contractors have more flexibility on rate for key personnel. But the reason the sys integrators are not flooded with ex Googlers is because the contracts are dysfunctional. Money is not free, if market sets price high it is generally in exchange for pain. I’ve seen xooglers wash out over it, or get straight up fired for culture mismatch.

bdangubic 1 year ago |

there is no way you will find contracts at $200/hr organically unless you are some top expert in something very few are and just happen to magically get connected to a company that needs your expertise.

contract like this do exist (and significantly north of this amount) but they are in my experience scenarios where you were in some way connected to a business or industry (more so business) which specifically needs you - think like decade working for a company and knowing ins and outs of every little thing in their systems/infrastructure/... and full subject-matter expert in what the business does to a point where you are worth more to the company that company is to you... at this point you can pretty much dictate your rates.

of course I don't know much about you but with 3 years of experience I would be pretty confident to say that if you find a contract of more than $100/hr I would be pleasantly surprised. godspeed!!

mech422 1 year ago |

For what its worth, I was seeing contracts at $150/hr 5ish years ago... Now they mostly seem to be $75-100. On the other hand, being 100% remote was never an issue.

If you contract directly, remember many companies are on net 90 for invoices. Be sure to factor that into financial projections..

dylanhassinger 1 year ago |

in my experience trying to do full time contracting at half that rate, I found it difficult to maintain a full pipeline of work while also prospecting for future clients / supporting old clients.

it was very much feast or famine. Anybody with the budget to pay a solid rate is smart enough to watch the contract closely and get rid of the expense as soon as possible. No client who pays that kind of rate wants to share your attention and time with other clients.

Need a routine for responding to inquiries vs doing deep work.

And then there's taxes (put aside at least 25%, quarterly payments) and what about health care or not having formal PTO.

No easy answers but these are the struggles I faced. Eventually i went back to corporate gigs to stabilize my finances.

beebaween 1 year ago |

I have a few friends who do this - seems like the biggest hurdle is building a funnel via a personal brand or a connection to a larger org that can get you clients able / willing to pay $150-200 an hour.

How are you currently sourcing clients?

nobankai 1 year ago |

> I’ve asked both Claude and ChatGPT, and they agree that finding contracts in the range of $150–$200 per hour should be realistic.

Unless Claude or ChatGPT is offering to pay that salary, I would take it with a grain of salt.