Did you hire those two guys? Or did you hire someone else that paid for tools, carried the insurance, and then hired two cheap day laborers for minimum wage and

Did you hire those two guys? Or did you hire someone else that paid for tools, carried the insurance, and then hired two cheap day laborers for minimum wage and said "go lay this floor"? Most of the time it's the former. But if you really paid that much, maybe you're not that good at bargaining? But let's stop talking about plumbers and tile setters and get to what's really bugging you. > i see a lot of people hired to do work on computers for less then 37k > Charging $43/hr in software freelancing is HARD > (from your original comment) "they somehow charge often more than I can do." I'm gonna speak frankly here: you're either seriously overestimating your skills as a developer (and getting upset that people won't hire you) or you've managed to seriously undervalue your own work. If I had to guess, I'd guess it's the latter. I charge well over $43 an hour for actual freelancing - 1099-MISC, pay my own insurance, etc. Even in cases where I take a side gig while already having a job I typically charge more. I think I started around $45 an hour, and that was with a very limited skill set years ago. Far too many people undershoot the market rate and end up working for less than they should. The problem also is that when you undershoot the market rate you end up attracting clients that don't appreciate what you do and why it's hard, further depressing your pay. Here's what you should do: take whatever your hourly was when you last freelanced and multiply it by three. See what happens.