> You should be protected by the dutch law. If you are an employee, you basically cannot be fired if you didn't do anything outrageous.
Unfortunately, as a contractor, you do not have these protections. Given that the entire company is remote, only a tiny percentage of the people that work at GitLab are actually employees, and they take full advantage of that.
Well, Bay Area salaries have gotten way out of hand in the past few years, mostly due to the cost of living there, but that is besides the point.
Since we are a remote company we have the luxury to be able to hire amazing engineers from all over the world. Paying 1 Dev salary in the Bay Area is almost the same as paying 2 salaries in Europe, or even 5 in Latin America. Talented people can be found everywhere, not just the bay area.
And having a global workforce also allows us to have the best people with a vast variety of backgrounds, which also contributes to our culture.
Unfortunately, as a contractor, you do not have these protections. Given that the entire company is remote, only a tiny percentage of the people that work at GitLab are actually employees, and they take full advantage of that.