Ask HN: Where to get $4-5k per week django gigs?

Post by 1123581321 » Sun, Jun 02, 2013, 7:29 PM UTC

throwaway011001 wrote: post #5

shire wrote: post #3

what is your hourly pay at the moment? and how did you become a Django ninja? want to follow the same route lol

Just recently I have put a hard floor at $50 per hour, but its hard to get people to accept $50 per hour when I can't give an exact time frame for all of their wants to be met. They try to push for a flat rate, but I won't anymore because I have been burned many times by this. It's not as easy a road as I thought it would be. My flat rate projects always ended up taking longer because of client demands and so my hour…

Please understand I am writing this kindly -- the issue is that you are not an experienced enough freelancer.

You can compensate for this if you have the marketing and client management skills to get an aspirational rate, but if you don't, you need to be so good that you not only can see your way through a project in a conversation but see the potential traps and talk through them with the client confidently.

I believe that you can get this experience quickly -- good luck!

Post by hedonist » Wed, Jun 12, 2013, 8:33 PM UTC

In your position, I would consider getting past my resistance to fixed time frames. Yes, people can pile on extra requirements but there are ways to manage this -- first by strong communication, and then just mentally figuring in some buffer time (1.5x up to 4x like some people have said) in drawing your original estimate. Also, you can start iterating in smaller-scale projects and iterate gradually up from there. You can also ask for intermediate payments once certain milestones are completed.

Thing is, fixed-budget projects have a lot of psychological advantages for people making these kinds of decisions, in addition to just providing very pragmatic ass coverage on their part. And in the end, if the money (and stress / time) tradeoffs work out for you, that should be all that matters.

Also, once you're above the $50 an hour range it's better to bill daily or weekly anyway. There was a nice long thread about this issue a couple of weeks ago, I believe.

Re: Ask HN: Where to get $4-5k per week django gigs?

Re: Ask HN: Where to get $4-5k per week django gigs?