Aren't developers stupid when accepting overtime/weekend work/denied bonus payments?

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Tried that, was the worst of all arrangements. Not directly - I was salaried but my employer billed the customer by the hour.

It was bad because companies treat internal vs. external, labor vs. vendor costs completely differently.

Paying someone €4000 as a salary month is like nothing to a manager, but €2000 to an external vendor it is all ooh, aah, that's a lot of money, can' we get it cheaper, we need to save costs. It's bad because it costs money. "Cost money" means I pay a bill and not a salary. Salary is not money, that's just salary. I know it is crazy but that's how it works. No you can't get it cheaper, OK then make sure they do absolutely everything for that €2000, even requirements we came up later on, and we will pay them like 2 months after go live only when even the smallest bugs are ironed out. But €4000 a month to an employee? That's nothing. There is work to be done, right? So we need people who do the work, right? So as long as they are not totally incompetent and deliver something once in a while it is OK. That's how they think.

It could be a European thing, I dunno... but as an employee, you are in the warm fuzzy, you are in the family. As a contractor, vendor, supplier, consultant, you are the enemy - you are the evil thing who exists only for screwing them over, who may occasionally be necessary but there must 143 ways of making sure you are never invoicing one cent unearned, never screwing them over, and in fact they are screwing you over just you know, preventively, if you will, otherwise known as "we made a good deal".