• bus_factor@lemmy.world
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            23 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.

            • mcv@lemmy.zip
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              21 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.

            • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
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              20 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. 😂

        • DreamButt@lemmy.world
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          1 day 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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            1 day 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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              21 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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              1 day 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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                1 day 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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                  1 day ago

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

        • Owl@mander.xyz
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          16 hours ago

          less than median for software engineers in the US

          What

          I’m moving there the second the orange guy gets thrown out of the White House

          $2k/month is considered a very good salary in my country

          Btw how does 8k/ month make 150k/year? Do you get bonuses or shares or whatever? I heard that they give shares to employees in the US

          • NewSocialWhoDis@lemmy.zip
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            7 hours ago

            If it’s direct deposit, the $6k is probably for a two week pay period. That’s the standard for most corporations in the US. Withholdings, including taxes and retirement accounts and health insurance, is going to take roughly 1/3, so this guy is making $9k x 26 = ~$235k (probably more like $250k/yr).

          • zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            14 hours ago

            As far as I know, $150K isn’t less than the median for software engineers in the entire US . It is less than the median for Senior/Lead Software Engineers though, so maybe that still works for you. In a HCOL city, you likely get far more than this amount, but it wouldn’t go nearly as far obviously.