Full-Time Developer vs a Contract Senior Engineer

Short answer

If you can keep a developer busy all year, hire one: a fully used hire costs less per hour than $180, my effective rate. The median NYC developer comes to about $135 an hour fully loaded, assuming 1,800 productive hours a year. That is the median developer. A senior hire costs more, and the figure leaves out recruiting, equipment and management time. Pick me, Evan Coleman of Blackpaw Studio, a solo senior engineer, if the work is a project or a few hours a month.^{1, 2}

Who should pick what

Hire full time if…

You have enough work to keep a developer busy all year. A fully used hire costs less per hour than $180, my effective rate.^{1, 2}
You'll be building for years and want someone who learns the product, the customers and the codebase.
You need someone available every day, in your meetings and working your priorities.
You can recruit, manage and review an engineer, or you have someone who can.

Pick me if…

The work is a project with an end: an MVP, an internal tool, an AI feature, or a review of something you built with AI.
You need a senior engineer for a few hours a month. Ongoing support is from $2,700 a month for 15 reserved hours.
You can't wait on a hiring process. SHRM's median time to fill a nonexecutive role is 39 days, across all industries and roles.³
You aren't sure yet whether the work will last. A fixed-scope project lets you find out without a salary commitment.

Side by side

Side by side	Blackpaw Studio	Full-time developer
Cost	Fixed quotes. MVP from $15,000, ongoing support from $2,700 a month for 15 reserved hours at $180 an hour.	The median software developer in the NYC area earns $166,830 a year (BLS, May 2025). BLS puts wages at 68.5% of compensation for full-time private-industry workers, which makes the loaded cost about $243,547 a year, or about $135 an hour at 1,800 productive hours. The 68.5% is an average across all occupations, and the 1,800 hours is my assumption.^{1, 2}
Time to start	After we talk I send a written scope and a fixed price. Work starts once the first milestone payment is in.	SHRM puts the median time to fill a nonexecutive role at 39 calendar days. That figure covers all nonexecutive roles, not only software.³
Who does the work	Me, on a defined project or a block of reserved hours.	Your employee, working your priorities every day and learning the product over time.
Who's accountable when it breaks	Me. I correct defects in the agreed scope for 30 days after final delivery at no charge.	They answer to you as their employer, and you manage the work.
What you own at the end	Source code, designs and other assets are assigned to you once you've paid in full.	Set by their employment agreement. Check that it assigns their work to the company.

Questions

What does a full-time developer really cost?

BLS puts the national median for software developers at $135,980 a year (May 2025), which works out to about $110 an hour using the same loaded-cost arithmetic. In the NYC area the median is $166,830, which gives about $135 an hour. Those figures leave out recruiting fees, equipment, software and the time you spend managing, and they describe the median developer. A senior hire costs more.^{4, 1, 2}

How long does it take to hire a developer?

SHRM's median time to fill a nonexecutive role is 39 days. That covers all nonexecutive roles, not just software, so a developer search can run longer or shorter.³

What does a senior engineer cost?

Levels.fyi lists a median total compensation of $260K for senior software engineers in the NYC area, with a 25th percentile of $185K and a 75th of $380K, from 4,082 reports. That includes stock and bonus, so it doesn't convert to an hourly figure the way salary does. A senior hire costs more than the median developer I used above, and I can't say by how much.⁵

When does a part-time engineer make more sense?

When the work doesn't fill a year. My ongoing support starts at $2,700 a month for 15 reserved hours at $180 an hour, and a project is a fixed quote with a defined scope.

Sources

Other comparisons

Tell me about the project

I'll reply with a written scope and a fixed price, or tell you a hire makes more sense.

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Blackpaw Studio vs a full-time hire