November’s job growth of 227,000 positions signals a clear trend: companies are increasingly seeking full-time W2 talent to build their teams. While Gun.io has built its reputation as a platform for connecting businesses with top contract developers, we’ve always been equipped to deliver exceptional full-time W2 talent for companies looking to scale their permanent workforce.
Beyond Labels: Finding the Right Fit
At our core, Gun.io is not just a freelance platform or a W2 recruiting firm—we’re a technology talent partner committed to finding the right fit for both companies and developers. While we’ve long evangelized the strategic value of fractional talent—as highlighted by Teja in a 2022 TechCrunch article, “Growth cheat code: Use fractional hiring to stay on plan when cutting costs“—we’ve always maintained a broader vision. Since our early days, we’ve been successfully placing developers in both W2 and contract roles, understanding that becoming too focused on any single hiring model would limit our ability to serve our clients effectively.
Our mission is simple: connect companies with exceptional developers in whatever capacity best serves both parties. Sometimes that means a full-time W2 hire to build and lead a core team. Other times, it means bringing in specialized contract talent for targeted initiatives. The key is remaining flexible and objective in our approach, focusing on the unique needs of each situation rather than promoting a one-size-fits-all solution.
Understanding W2 and Contract Employment
The distinction between W2 and contract roles goes beyond tax forms—it’s about finding the right talent structure for your organization’s needs. W2 employees become integral parts of your company, receiving comprehensive benefits packages, including health insurance and retirement plans while enjoying the security of permanent employment. In contrast, 1099 contractors offer specialized expertise for specific projects or temporary needs, providing flexibility in terms of engagement.
We’ve seen many successful companies maintain a strategic mix of both W2 and contract talent, leveraging the unique advantages of each to optimize their development capabilities and maintain competitive edge.
Market Dynamics and Talent Adaptation
One of Gun.io’s unique strengths lies in our developer community’s adaptability to market conditions. When the market trends toward full-time roles, as we’re seeing now, our talent pool naturally shifts to accommodate this demand, with more developers seeking stable W2 positions with comprehensive benefits packages.
Conversely, during periods of economic uncertainty or market downturns, we observe an increase in top-tier developers pivoting to contract work. This shift aligns with companies’ needs to preserve runway while maintaining access to elite talent. Contract roles, despite similar base rates to W2 positions, often present lower total hiring costs due to the absence of benefits packages, unemployment insurance, and other traditional employment expenses.
This natural ebb and flow of our talent pool ensures that whether you’re looking for W2 or contract developers, Gun.io maintains a healthy supply of qualified candidates ready to match your hiring strategy.
The Benefits of W2 for Growing Tech Teams
When building for the long term, W2 hires represent a major investment in your company’s future. These full-time team members don’t just write code—they are the architects of your technical infrastructure and champions of your company culture.
The comprehensive benefits packages associated with W2 positions are attractors for top-tier talent. In a competitive market, offerings like health insurance, 401(k) matching, and paid time off can make the difference in securing exceptional developers who might otherwise pursue contract opportunities.
Perhaps most importantly, W2 employees tend to develop deeper connections with their teams and stronger alignment with company goals. This enhanced cohesion translates into more efficient collaboration, better knowledge retention, and more consistent product development cycles.
The Value of Gun.io for W2 Hiring
Our tried-and-true vetting process—the same one that’s made us a trusted name in contract staffing—applies equally to our W2 placement services. Every candidate undergoes technical interviews and a cultural fit evaluation, ensuring they’re not just capable of doing the job but ready to excel in your specific environment.
Whether you’re looking to convert a contractor to a full-time role or hire W2 talent directly, Gun.io’s flexible approach adapts to your needs. Our platform supports remote work arrangements, allowing you to access exceptional talent regardless of geographic constraints while maintaining compliance with employment regulations.
Strategic Hiring: When to Choose W2 vs. Contract
W2 Is Ideal For:
Long-term strategic initiatives require stable teams that grow together. Consider W2 hires for roles like technical team leads, principal engineers, or developers working on your core product. These positions benefit from the continuity and deep institutional knowledge that comes with permanent employment.
Contract Makes Sense When:
You need specialized expertise for specific projects, such as a database migration or cloud infrastructure overhaul, or when preserving capital is a priority. Contract talent excels in situations requiring focused, time-bound expertise without long-term commitment while offering more financial flexibility due to lower total hiring costs.
Contract-to-Hire: The Best of Both Worlds
For companies and developers who want to ensure an ideal fit before making a long-term commitment, contract-to-hire arrangements offer a perfect middle ground. This approach allows both parties to work together on real projects while evaluating cultural fit, work style, and long-term potential. Contract-to-hire is particularly valuable as a pathway for organizations that need immediate talent but require a thorough evaluation period. It gives both the company and the developer an opportunity to ensure the role and company culture align with long-term goals while maintaining the flexibility to scale thoughtfully and manage risk.
Our understanding of both W2 and contract hiring models isn’t just theoretical—it’s built on years of successful placements in both categories. While we’ve long focused our thought leadership on fractional talent deployment, we’ve simultaneously maintained a robust W2 placement practice, helping companies build their core teams with exceptional full-time developers who contribute to long-term success.
The Blended Approach:
Many successful organizations maintain a core team of W2 employees while strategically engaging contractors for specialized projects or scaling needs. This hybrid model offers both stability and flexibility, allowing companies to adapt quickly to changing market conditions while maintaining consistent product development.
Why Gun.io Is the Right Partner
Our decade of experience in tech talent placement has evolved into something more comprehensive than traditional recruiting. We’ve purpose-built our Find. Hire. Work. platform to modernize how companies connect with technical talent. Our matching system considers numerous factors including tech stack compatibility, time zone overlap, geographical considerations, required and preferred skills, experience levels, and rate expectations to ensure optimal fits.
For contract engagements, our platform goes beyond just matching. We provide a complete ecosystem where developers can manage their entire professional workflow—from time tracking to billing—all in one place. This integrated approach means less administrative overhead and more time focused on what matters: building great software.
Traditional hiring processes often take months and require significant coordination between multiple systems and stakeholders. In contrast, Gun.io’s platform streamlines everything from sourcing and interviewing to ongoing engagement management. We can connect you with qualified W2 candidates in weeks, not months, while maintaining the highest standards for technical assessment and cultural fit.
Our platform’s scalability means we can support your hiring strategy whether you’re looking for your first technical hire or building out entire development teams. We’re not just helping you find talent—we’re providing the infrastructure and support systems needed to ensure successful long-term engagements.
Ready to Build Your Team?
Gun.io is ready to support your hiring needs with a comprehensive understanding of W2, contract, and contract-to-hire talent solutions. We believe in looking beyond traditional employment labels to find the perfect fit for each situation. Whether you’re looking to build your core team with full-time hires, need specialized contract talent for specific projects, want to explore contract-to-hire arrangements, or require a strategic mix of approaches, we have the expertise to help you succeed.
Our commitment isn’t to any particular hiring model—it’s to finding the right solution for your specific needs. By maintaining this objective approach, we ensure that both our client companies and our talented developers find arrangements that truly work for them.
Finding the right software talent doesn’t have to be hard. Don’t just take our word for it; get matched with the right developer for free today.
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