I think you're misunderstanding the parent. Their comparison is between: (1) a 50 hour contract at $500/hr = $25K (2) 1 month of paying a full-time engineer =

I think you're misunderstanding the parent. Their comparison is between: (1) a 50 hour contract at $500/hr = $25K (2) 1 month of paying a full-time engineer = $25K (i.e. $300K/yr including payroll taxes and benefits) If a freelancer comes in with specialized knowledge for solving a particular problem, it can be quite easy for them to add more value in 50 hours than an average engineer would in a month, and therefore it's worth it.