Great article. I interviewed with a software coop once and it was stunning how much it just ended up resembling an agency except with more owners and worse pay for the actual workers — many of whom were contractors without benefits. I think it’s possible software coops can work, but I haven’t seen it myself.

Having spent a lot of my career as a contractor, by choice, I think the only reason it is seen as “bad” is that in the US the our entire healthcare system is tethered to full time jobs. If you don’t have one, it’s a constant battle to afford it. Healthcare is most of my overhead as a contractor. Of course there is no reason it has to be this way. In other countries health care is much more affordable, whether it’s government (UK) or mixed-market provided (Germany).

Reducing this overhead cost would make contracting a lot more competitive with corporations. It would lead to a lot fewer “Bullshit Jobs” where people spend a lot of their time just sitting at work on Facebook (or Medium :) ).