Do you earn a lot more if you're working freelance instead of beeing a bootlicker?

I earn about 25% more after accounting for extra taxes. I work less, have more than time off, and have more say in what projects I take. I could almost definitely make more if I were pushier, but I'm happy where I am.

One unexpected benefit is that I receive a lot more respect. Since I'm not just some dude who works at a company but am instead an outside expert that is being paid a higher dollar, people take me more seriously than they ever did as just a developer. This could be a bad thing if you don't know what you're talking about since you will quickly lose their confidence if you fail them.

The pros are money, flexibility, freedom, and independence. The cons are a feeling of instability, occasional lack of work, additional overhead (quarterly taxes in the US, cover your own insurances/retirement, etc), and need to wear many hats (accountant, programmer, consultant, sales person, etc)

I work at an institution but I am no bootlicker and fuck you for saying that ;)

I earn really good. Good enough to live the life that I want while at the same time having more than enough time to do some freelance here and there and get me about a good extra $k a month. Could be more if I went for it, but my office job takes priority.

Stable income, perks and commodities and I get a lot of respect where I am at, but comes at the cost of constant professionalism as well as the fact that there are inly 2 developers for the whole place(the lead developer and yours truly)

I like it, i prefer it over freelance, some had better experiences freelancing than I did. But I for sure would never want to make it my dedicated shift unless I had a dedicated client base.

I'm self employed and my partner is a employee (both working in development). We earn a similar monthly income but I get a higher income per hour and work less hours a day on average.

@AleCx04 wow you can say that and not get reported god i love this place (im new)(im also not batshit crazy and know youre just joking, i find it funny kinda heartwarming)

@nathanasius how did you hit those contacts? how many years of exp? what technologies do you use? do i, guy from latin america, stand a chance (i would not want to work for south am companies)(i bootlick a us company)?

@erandria I have about 8 years of development experience, with 5+ in JS/web app development. I have built contacts working on a popular cloud ERP that is desperate for solid developers. Most of the developers are from South America/Phillipines, and they make almost as much as I do with a much lower cost of living.

Using recruiters to find contracts can help to begin with. After that just prove you can do the work

You might have to resort to bootlicking while doing freelance too.
The only way to get out of it is be good at what you do, wether it's freelance or a stable job.