Most definitely, like I also mentioned. Actually at my current gig there is one engineer in the networking who is basically the load bearing wall of the departm

Most definitely, like I also mentioned. Actually at my current gig there is one engineer in the networking who is basically the load bearing wall of the department. Internal, will never even think about going external (or ask for a raise even...). One of my old managers always kept roughly 70-30 fixed/temp in his department, just for the scaling down quickly options, as well as occasionally pushing the contractors for the slightly shittier tasks every now and then. I have had two 5-7 year streaks now as a contractor with a large institution, at which point something funny happens, the internals on large struggling projects tend to move on to greener pastures, and it comes to me and a couple of other externals to keep things moving and effectively trade some extra money for the lack of inspiration at work. Lastly, sometimes, managers simply have a job which is a 200-300k a year job, but due to the HR policies, the position has a salary cap of e.g. 75k. Bringing in an external means they are able to spend more, and get more experience / higher quality people onboard. In any case, the market is open, so anyone who thinks that the contractors are unfairly advantaged, either put in your resignation and go for it, or enjoy your stability but accept the deal you made. Corporate does not owe you anything, and certainly not rationality in what they do ;)