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In Serguey Shinder’s account, the organization could pay for infrastructure work through a project budget but could not approve the permanent headcount needed to hire an engineer. It hired a contractor instead—and later faced overtime, concentrated operational knowledge, and a hurried handover. The story is about how one organization’s budget rules shaped its hiring decision, not evidence that every employer works this way.
How the hiring search turned into contractor work
Shinder says his organization advertised for an infrastructure engineer three times over five months. It received nine applications, of which two candidates were worth interviewing. One offer was declined in favor of a job paying £8,000 more.
The salary band had been set in 2023, and Shinder says its benchmark was refreshed every two years. In his account, the permanent role was constrained by a headcount ceiling even though the organization could fund work through a project budget. The contractor route therefore cleared an approval path that the employee route did not.
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Shinder reports engaging a contractor at £550 per day for fourteen months. He describes that rate as roughly £130,000 a year. That is his rough annualization, not a verified total cost or a like-for-like comparison with an employee’s salary.
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A meaningful comparison would need the same scope and time horizon, and would separate salary from the full cost of employment and the contractor’s invoice cost. It would also consider vacancy time, overtime, onboarding, and transition costs. Shinder’s account does not provide those calculations, nor does it establish agency fees, benefits, productivity differences, or the contractor’s legal or tax classification.
What the organization risked when the contractor left
Shinder says key knowledge about storage, backup design, and automation had become concentrated in the contractor. The handover lasted three weeks and relied on screen sharing and a wiki. He also reports that overtime remained high and that a permanent engineer left partly because of the gap they had been covering.
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These details make continuity part of the staffing decision, not an afterthought. When one person holds essential operational knowledge, departure can leave a team with documentation gaps and additional work for remaining staff. The account describes that risk in this organization; it does not establish how often it occurs elsewhere.
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After the experience, Shinder says proposals compared employee and contractor routes over three years and included an estimate for the cost of leaving a post vacant. The organization converted two contractors to employees and required an employee counterpart and a handover deliverable for engagements lasting more than six months.
Those measures address distinct parts of the problem: comparing routes over a shared period, making the cost of an unfilled role visible, and reducing dependence on a single contractor. They are the author’s account of changes at his organization, not a universal hiring formula or jurisdiction-specific legal guidance.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.The governance issue behind the title
The title’s apparent contradiction—no budget for a salary, but money for a contractor—turns on how spending is authorized. A headcount ceiling and a project budget can impose different constraints even when both fund work for the same organization. Shinder’s experience suggests that treating these routes separately can obscure the full operational and financial consequences of the choice.
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He closes with: “A hiring problem that dissolves the moment you rename the money was never a market problem. It was a governance shape.” The line is Serguey Shinder’s interpretation of his organization’s experience, not a general finding about labor markets.
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Quick Recap
Read Serguey Shinder’s article on DEV Community.
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