This is how much IT/Engineering freelancers earn

One result of the survey conducted by the project portal Gulp is that the larger the company in which self-employed workers are deployed, the more likely it is that they arrived at their project via an intermediary.

But however the projects come about - the vast majority are freelancers by conviction. A total of 2107 freelancers in IT and engineering took part in the hourly rate survey.

On average, they receive an hourly rate of 79 euros. Only about a third (34.1 percent) work at hourly rates of less than 70 euros, while 17.3 percent receive more than 100 euros per hour. More than half (53.8 percent) of IT/engineering freelancers expect their hourly rate to remain where it is in 2013.

40.9 percent of them say they will raise it. At the same time, 44.7 percent of IT/engineering freelancers already receive a higher hourly rate in their current project than in the project before.

On average, IT/engineering freelancers work 145 hours per month on projects for the customer. In addition, they spend an average of twelve hours a month on training and development and 13 hours a month on administration, accounting, project acquisition and the like.

"That's a good three unpaid work days per month that IT/engineering freelancers spend on their own business. That's one of several reasons why a direct comparison between a permanent employee's salary and a freelancer's hourly rate will always be limp."

comments Stefan Symanek, Head of Marketing at Gulp.

But 93.8 percent of IT/engineering freelancers say of themselves: "I am self-employed out of conviction. In addition, 88.4 percent of them state that they are satisfied with their current
are satisfied with their professional situation.

And 78.9 percent are of the opinion that a self-employed person has more left over to live on than a permanent employee. Self-employed people are therefore consistently optimistic about their professional situation.

Overall, 72.9 percent of the IT/engineering self-employed came to their current or most recent project via an intermediary. Only a good quarter remain there for direct assignments, i.e., for contract awards without another instance between the end customer and the external specialist.

This proportion varies depending on the size of the company in which the outsiders are deployed. In companies with up to ten employees worldwide, 82.5 percent of IT/engineering projects came about without an intermediary. In large companies with more than 5,000 employees, the figure is only 18.6 percent.

"The larger the company, the less likely direct contracts become. Large companies and groups in particular are reducing the number of their suppliers for reasons of cost and complexity and are concentrating on a few preferred suppliers - it is then difficult for external specialists to conclude a direct contract."

says Stefan Symanek.