Now that I've been on the other side (hiring contractors as a company exec) after many years being a contractor, I kind of see it differently. Unfortunately a l

Now that I've been on the other side (hiring contractors as a company exec) after many years being a contractor, I kind of see it differently. Unfortunately a lot of this stuff (seeing someone's worth) is often gut feeling. We have had a couple contractors bill us on the higher side like you but in their case, I knew they were worth it. Even though it was a lot of money for us, we saw it as a "will they bring that much value and more?" I knew that they wouldn't just code, they would meaningfully move the company's foundational technology forward, mentor the team, etc. And they did exactly that. If we did have revenue pressure, they'd be the first ones whose hours we'd cut down (but they're so talented they'd find more work in a few hours). But it wasn't hard to justify getting them on board. I had one devops firm quote me $250/hr but quite honestly, I haven't worked with them yet. So it was a very easy no (it was more likely they would've put a random person worth 1/3 of that on our project). But for the right person (someone who performs at a very high level), for the right period of time (these folks get a lot done quickly), even that rate is palatable to companies.