You could also look for MVP-type projects, work for three months, and then take a three month break. Although I feel like that might work better for something l

You could also look for MVP-type projects, work for three months, and then take a three month break. Although I feel like that might work better for something like an phone app than the back end. I wonder if higher interest rates have put the squeeze on projects like that. Possibly indirectly, by reducing the number of worthwhile startups/projects and thereby increasing the number of available developers. Most developers will want full-time, so the companies might have enough full-timers now whereas before supply was so tight they'd take whoever they could get. Contracting definitely benefits from being a generalist, though. If you can expand into different languages, native development, adjacent areas, etc. that will increase the number of jobs available.