I live in SF Bay Area, CA USA. I'm looking to move out of this area but home prices require me make at least $4k/month for mortgage. I am not sold on the fulltime 40hour/week wage slave lifestyle.
Consulting jobs tend to come about through one's network of business contacts. Most of the consulting gigs I've picked up came by way of people I had worked with previously, or knew through the technical communities I've been involved in. It always helps to let people know what sort of project's you're interested or curious about. Consulting can be a great way to get paid to learn more about a topic you're interested in, but it can take some time to find the right match (which needs timing, project fit and financial fit). The more consulting you do, the better known your services will become.
Typically you'll need to work 30 hours per week to get health insurance. That is 75% of the 40-hour week. Assuming you do that, and not treating holidays as anything special, here are the numbers:
You're seeking $66.67 per hour. It's $104354.29 per year. (75% of $139139.05 per year)
That seems a bit high for a front-end developer unless you stay in the SF Bay Area.
Toptal pays exactly that to the intrinsically inferior - in their assessment - developers from Eastern Europe.
Since you are strictly more valuable by the virtue of living in the US, you will get an even better rate. You can find out the range of rates they pay online.
> I am not sold on the fulltime 40hour/week wage slave lifestyle.
You and me both, friend, but I think there's a lot of us that aren't doing 40hour/week because we want to, we're doing it because it's hard to find a part time gig that lucrative which is also reliable.
