New top story on Hacker News: Ask HN: Whatever Happened To *Free*lancing?

Ask HN: Whatever Happened To *Free*lancing?
18 by tHrOwAwAyXXX900 | 30 comments on Hacker News.
I'm trying to break into freelancing/consulting/contracting. Following best advice on the net/podcasts/etc I'm contacting my past companies plus some new ones and all of them tell me the same exact story. "No. We cannot hire freelancers directly. You must go through a third company (consulting firm/body shop) which we work with." But why the heck would I even consider doing that? The whole point of freelancing (at least IMO) is being _free_ from the middlemen. Anyway, humoring the idea of actually doing that I contacted one of these middlemen companies and was sent a hideous contract full of terms that -let's put it mildly- are not in my favor. (Liabilities fully on me, limitations on where I can go afterwards, Information asymmetry, need to support for long after project finish, etc). So the question remains - is there any real freelancing still on? (I'm not talking platforms here - I wouldn't go there for several reasons). Could it be that the specific market I've been looking at (UK/IE) is skewed like that and other markets are in better shape? Thanks