DS/ML Consulting $300 an hour Don't have much free time these days unfortunately to grow it out further.
Need some help? I'm employed as an engineer at a top knotch tech company, looking for side work
Ask HN: Contractors, what is your hourly rate?
81–90 of 242 posts
Re: Ask HN: Contractors, what is your hourly rate?
#82100 EUR/hour although I don’t bill per hour but per day. This is without VAT and for Germany, but I charge the same for clients from other countries as well.
Hi, do you add VAT on top of that? Also, do you count a day as 8h or how does it work?
Re: Ask HN: Contractors, what is your hourly rate?
#83Between $50-$80, senior engineer and consultant.
Not sure where you live, that seems pretty low for your seniority. I'm going into consulting so I'm curious:
1. Do you do it full time? 2. Do you get more clients than you can work for? 3. Are you comfortable financially?
Re: Ask HN: Contractors, what is your hourly rate?
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Would you want a 10.000USD or the 30.000USD surgery? I'd like to have the 0USD surgery, but maybe that's just my inner European.
We don’t have a VAT tax. Free just means you pay with other peoples money while they pay with yours.
> Free just means you pay with other peoples money while they pay with yours.
You've just described insurance
Re: Ask HN: Contractors, what is your hourly rate?
#85It used to be $225/hr. But I don’t have an hourly rate anymore and I basically never will. You need to understand that as a contractor clients value more than just your time and the work you do. They value flexibility in staffing, getting an outsider’s opinion, their own time, working with a true expert, and making progress on projects which they can show off to their boss. That’s why for all my work I scope project…
Hi, some people need health insurance for themselves and their family, a retirement plan, and predictable financial stability in their lives. > You are full of it. Anyone can do this. Your part to whole fallacy aside, in the real world, there are different constraints on people and family units other than trying to make the most amount of money all the time.
I think they meant "anyone can switch from hourly to project-based/retainers," not "anyone can switch from full-time to contracting."
Re: Ask HN: Contractors, what is your hourly rate?
#86I do backend Java development as a mid-senior engineer (~10 years of experience). I have a good grasp of SQL, git, Spring, ... I do 35€/hr in central/southern Europe, working for a local fintech company (2-3x what I'd get as wage). I plan on rising my rates later this year. I was in talks with a US company, and they balked when I requested 42$/hr as that was what they paid their employees from the US.
You should rise your rate to 2-4x that, and only bother talking to companies that accept such rates (possibly in other regions). If they haggle and you like them / the project, give a symbolic discount like 20%.
Re: Ask HN: Contractors, what is your hourly rate?
#87I have three rates. You are a charity, or other worthy cause, or someone I really want to work with - 50% - 100% discount. You are a normal client - 100%. You are either an arsehole or have asked for something very last minute - 150%-200% depending on the mood I'm in. The last one, colloquially known as the fuck-off rate, is probably the best bit of contracting advice I ever got from a colleague. He hated the gig we…
>I have three rates.
If you mention one of them, we can probably calculate the other two.
Re: Ask HN: Contractors, what is your hourly rate?
#88OT, but important: don't bill hourly. Do a day rate. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4103417 You can benchmark day rates by your hourly rate, if that's easier for you to think or talk about. Your benchmark hourly rate should probably start at 150%-200% of your salary (backed out to hourly). It can reasonably go much higher. It can't reasonably go much lower.
> your salary (backed out to hourly)
Is there a standard rule of thumb for "hours worked in a year" at companies?
Off the top of my head I come up with ~ 1700 for my last salaried job:
365 - 104 (weekends) - 32 (vacation) - 10 (holidays) - 5 (sick) = 214 days or 1712 hours @8/d.
Also I think for "your salary" you should use your total compensation but maybe that's what you meant.
Re: Ask HN: Contractors, what is your hourly rate?
#89I charge around 75$/h for backend and devops work. I started at 42$/h two years ago. Increasing the rate at every contract. I usually only bill coding hours which is around 5h/day for me, but I realized that it is not a good strategy.
As someone that works 9-5 and looking into freelance, why > that it is not a good strategy ?
Because as an independent contractor/consultant you're spending a lot of time meeting with the client, making or reviewing plans or reviewing planning docs, researching things, just thinking about the problem, and so on... These things become a sizable portion of the time you spend on a client, and more importantly they increase the value you provide to the client. Why would you not charge for it?
Re: Ask HN: Contractors, what is your hourly rate?
#90I have three rates. You are a charity, or other worthy cause, or someone I really want to work with - 50% - 100% discount. You are a normal client - 100%. You are either an arsehole or have asked for something very last minute - 150%-200% depending on the mood I'm in. The last one, colloquially known as the fuck-off rate, is probably the best bit of contracting advice I ever got from a colleague. He hated the gig we…
I always called that 3rd rate the "rush rate"
It also applies for salaries in a job search, you adjust based on the company.