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What is the difference between a “gig worker” and an independent contractor? Jason Snell, the former editor of Macworld went independent after getting laid off

What is the difference between a “gig worker” and an independent contractor? Jason Snell, the former editor of Macworld went independent after getting laid off from MacWorld. He purposefully put together streams of income consisting of podcasting, writing articles for different magazines - including MacWorld, writing for his own blog and writing technical books. He said out of those, because of the initial laws passed in California, it made it harder for him to be what in essence was a gig worker when writing for various websites. The little time I did spend doing C2C contracting, I also had net 30 payment terms. Yes I realize it’s different for the gig workers in the article. But the last thing we need is laws that affect all “gig workers” whether they make $10/hour or whether they are making $150/hour. On that note, I did pay a third party company $10/hour for a short term contract that I had with a former CTO. It would have been too much work on both ends to get me approved to work directly for the company so I became a subcontractor for an established company to make every thing easier even though I found the initial contract.

stuaxo 2y ago
It's in your answer: the difference is low wages vs well paid. Once you get paid the amounts that people are in the "gig economy" it becomes exploitative, people don't have enough to live or to get out of their situation easily.
- scarface_74 2y ago
  I would be okay with laws that distinguish between when a worker is expected to make less than $X per hour or per job.
jandrese 2y ago
Contractors get to negotiate how much they are paid.
- scarface_74 2y ago
  Gig workers do too. Isn’t the idea behind surge pricing is that people decide whether it is worth them working or not?
  - daveguy 2y ago
    It's not the workers that get to decide surge pricing or wages. The employer decides that, and they keep the extra money for themselves.
    - scarface_74 2y ago
      Employers don’t keep the extra amount. If that were the case, the workers would have no motivation to work or to get the supply/demand in balance. I don’t get to “choose” how much I make. I just get to choose whether the amount of money I’m being offered per hour is worth my time.
      - daveguy 2y ago
        The point is, you're not the one deciding the split. You don't think the majority of the revenue goes to you over the ride share company, do you?
        scarface_74 2y ago
        You know the split because it’s a ratio that scales with the price. Just like when I sub contract as a W2 contractor with a third party firm. I know how much I’m going to net. The higher my asking rate is the more I’m going to make and the more the contracting firm is going to make.
        daveguy 2y ago
        Oh, I didn't know that ride share companies allow the drivers to specify their rate! Oh, right. They don't.
- burningChrome 2y ago
  While this is true, you don't control how many hours you're allowed to work. I've worked on several projects were I was promised an FTE conversion after performing really well during a project. My manager said the company wanted to keep me around and convert me to an FTE spot. Within weeks of my project being released, they dangled the conversion out in front of me while reducing my hours to 20-25 a week. I fell for it for a few weeks and then decided they had no intention of converting me, it was just to keep me around for various other shit work their devs didn't want to do so I moved on - another perk of being a contractor/part-time/"gig" employee.
  - scarface_74 2y ago
    This is another benefit of being a “gig worker”. I meet plenty of Uber drivers who do it just for extra side money and they can do it whenever they want to. I met one lady who was from another city and came to town to spend time with her child and grand children. Her daughter was at work during the day and her grandkids were in school. She drove Uber during the day, during the week when she was bored and wanted a little extra money.

stuaxo 2y ago

It's in your answer: the difference is low wages vs well paid. Once you get paid the amounts that people are in the "gig economy" it becomes exploitative, people don't have enough to live or to get out of their situation easily.

scarface_74 2y ago
I would be okay with laws that distinguish between when a worker is expected to make less than $X per hour or per job.

jandrese 2y ago

Contractors get to negotiate how much they are paid.

scarface_74 2y ago
Gig workers do too. Isn’t the idea behind surge pricing is that people decide whether it is worth them working or not?
- daveguy 2y ago
  It's not the workers that get to decide surge pricing or wages. The employer decides that, and they keep the extra money for themselves.
  - scarface_74 2y ago
    Employers don’t keep the extra amount. If that were the case, the workers would have no motivation to work or to get the supply/demand in balance. I don’t get to “choose” how much I make. I just get to choose whether the amount of money I’m being offered per hour is worth my time.
    - daveguy 2y ago
      The point is, you're not the one deciding the split. You don't think the majority of the revenue goes to you over the ride share company, do you?
      - scarface_74 2y ago
        You know the split because it’s a ratio that scales with the price. Just like when I sub contract as a W2 contractor with a third party firm. I know how much I’m going to net. The higher my asking rate is the more I’m going to make and the more the contracting firm is going to make.
        daveguy 2y ago
        Oh, I didn't know that ride share companies allow the drivers to specify their rate! Oh, right. They don't.
burningChrome 2y ago
While this is true, you don't control how many hours you're allowed to work. I've worked on several projects were I was promised an FTE conversion after performing really well during a project. My manager said the company wanted to keep me around and convert me to an FTE spot. Within weeks of my project being released, they dangled the conversion out in front of me while reducing my hours to 20-25 a week. I fell for it for a few weeks and then decided they had no intention of converting me, it was just to keep me around for various other shit work their devs didn't want to do so I moved on - another perk of being a contractor/part-time/"gig" employee.
- scarface_74 2y ago
  This is another benefit of being a “gig worker”. I meet plenty of Uber drivers who do it just for extra side money and they can do it whenever they want to. I met one lady who was from another city and came to town to spend time with her child and grand children. Her daughter was at work during the day and her grandkids were in school. She drove Uber during the day, during the week when she was bored and wanted a little extra money.