Are we in a bubble yet? One indicator: When there's a lot of demand for talent, the smartest talent goes freelance, because there's no upper limit to what you can charge when you're a consultant. Open-source programming guru Nat Torkington notes that many of his techy friends have done just that, presumably in search of $300 per hour IT consulting fees.. The flipside: when contractors start heading for the security of regular jobs, watch out.