First of all: a disclaimer: I work for Austin Software. Before Austin Software I worked at one of the biggest software factories for eight years, and before that as a freelancer. I know that experience doesn't cover the full spectrum of options we have today in terms of "middlemen", but I have experienced some of the trade offs that you can find in the different options. Not every company or any developer has the same needs and neither Austin Software or any other option is the best one for everyone. Having said so, I think may not be the cheapest "middlemen" out there, but they are investing in giving us good perks and finding good matches with clients. Providing perks gets easier with scale, and I've seen them reach some milestones (for instance providing private health insurance) far quicker than other companies. I don't feel my career as managed with a top down approach but they really pay attention to our needs and interests in terms of client assignments. We have periodical meetings with engineer managers to discuss all that. Also, the only way they have to increase what they charge for my services is increasing my salary. That doesn't use to happen in a software factory and that aligns our interests naturally. Freelancing on the other hand doesn't give you easy access to some kind of companies and so many interesting projects. To get the most of one developer they need to be doing something they see as an important step of their career and I think Austin Software is trying to build a good service to find good matches to make it happen.
