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Ask HN: How much do you earn on average through software freelancing?

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Re: Ask HN: How much do you earn on average through software freelancing?

#61

Post by keviv »

mchristen wrote: post #44
keviv wrote: post #33

I'm a full-stack developer and I was working full-time till last month and freelanced occasionally. After leaving my job I decided to take up freelancing and currently, I'm making $35 an hour working on CakePHP/Laravel/Angular project which is low considering my experience (11 years). I usually charge upwards of $50 but this time I made an exception because the company is looking to raise Series A (which means more w…

I don't where you are located, but in the US, $35/hr as a contractor is absurdly low. Your take home is closer to half of that after you consider all of your tax implications.

That's true. I'm in India and I pay 30% of that as taxes. So, basically I make $24.5 dollars after taxes. I usually charge $50-60 an hour for PHP work and I charged $80 an hour for a small ReactJS project last month. The only problem is I don't know where to find clients.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you earn on average through software freelancing?

#62

Post by vijayr »

mikeleeorg wrote: post #25

Back when I was freelancing, I charged around $150-200/hr for fullstack development. I know this is on the higher end, but it is definitely possible to find clients that can afford this higher price point. I routinely took work from clients that had hired a cheaper team and weren't satisfied with the final product, needed someone to fix numerous bugs, or to optimize the performance of their technology. Also, if you a…

Could you share the tech stack you work on? Any specific domains?

Re: Ask HN: How much do you earn on average through software freelancing?

#63

Post by keviv »

fightfortheuser wrote: post #43
keviv wrote: post #33

I'm a full-stack developer and I was working full-time till last month and freelanced occasionally. After leaving my job I decided to take up freelancing and currently, I'm making $35 an hour working on CakePHP/Laravel/Angular project which is low considering my experience (11 years). I usually charge upwards of $50 but this time I made an exception because the company is looking to raise Series A (which means more w…

I suggest you increase you triple your rates. Clients want good solutions to their problems, and a low rate suggests that you do poor quality work. And if you are good, (which it sounds like you are), the only reason why you can't charge more is in your head. So charge more. Stop acting like some first-year freelancer and start charging what you are worth.

Thanks! Got your point.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you earn on average through software freelancing?

#64

Post by ddorian43 »

throwmenow_0139 wrote: post #58
fightfortheuser wrote: post #32

I used to charge $50 USD per hour, but I kept upping my rates. Soon I charged $100 per hour, and then $125 hour. The highest I ever got for programming/consulting was $150 USD per hour, but I don't charge that anymore. I've moved on to day rates. Now I bill around $800 per day, but I only work about 6 super-focused hours, and I use the Pomodoro method every day. My clients are happy because I get a lot of work done,…

I'm 18 years old, doing full-stack web dev for ~2 years (Django, node.js, whatever.js, no wordpress stuff) and charge ~35-40 euro/hour while studying computer science. I get most of my projects through word-of-mouth and I'm currently trying to create products that allow me to build a small company - I'm partnering up with some software developers, entrepreneurs and a project manager. It's not uncommon that web agenci…

Go remote across the ocean to the promised land of USA. Things in EU suck for software-people.

Source: Have you ever read of someone making 200K+ in EU ? Me neither.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you earn on average through software freelancing?

#65

Post by fightfortheuser »

keviv wrote: post #61
mchristen wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't where you are located, but in the US, $35/hr as a contractor is absurdly low. Your take home is closer to half of that after you consider all of your tax implications.

That's true. I'm in India and I pay 30% of that as taxes. So, basically I make $24.5 dollars after taxes. I usually charge $50-60 an hour for PHP work and I charged $80 an hour for a small ReactJS project last month. The only problem is I don't know where to find clients.

I suggest you invest in yourself, and learn how to find clients. There's plenty of free info on doubleyourfreelancing.com, and I'd start diving into the blog articles there.

And if you want to invest in yourself, I wrote a course that you could take and it has a whole module on finding more clients. Don't feel pressured to spend any money, but I think it's pretty solid, and you can check it out here: http://freelance-college.teachable.com/p/freelance-college-w...

At the very least I have some lessons that you can preview in full for free (just scroll to the bottom).

Re: Ask HN: How much do you earn on average through software freelancing?

#66

Post by fightfortheuser »

attaboyjon wrote: post #51

I worked on top of my full time job doing web dev for Ad agencies, usually php, asp.net or CMS work. Billed at $80/hr, probably netting 40-60k per year on the side. I had always hoped it would lead me to a career as an independent, but that rate is not enough to make a living with a family. I eventually made it to being an independent, but I had to switch to doing enterprise consulting in a niche market at a much hig…

So what did you end up niching in? Also, how did you bill for your services?

Re: Ask HN: How much do you earn on average through software freelancing?

#67

Post by fightfortheuser »

karmajunkie wrote: post #53
tuckerwales wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a little hesitant to ask for more, because I'm really not in a position right now (for a couple of months, anyway) to be able to afford losing that extra income...

I sympathize with that, but what you should also consider is that by greatly undercharging the market rate, you're actually depressing wages for other in your peer group.

and you'll just keep getting more low-end work. The next client you get, double your rate, don't even bat an eye when you quote it, and you'll be surprised when people say yes.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you earn on average through software freelancing?

#68

Post by ddorian43 »

NicoJuicy wrote: post #60

I freelance on .net projects for 70€ per hour, now I also doing e-commerce for myself which gets me excited now. Also busy with GPS webapplications on asp.Net mvc (embedded device who track trucks and the refrigerator °), WordPress sites, NodeJS ( MVP's),,.. I have a Cordova app before I go to clients, currently landing on too much work because of it ( it's a great conversation starter and builds trust). Will up hour…

You'll kill/burnout yourself with 16 hours/day.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you earn on average through software freelancing?

#69

Post by fightfortheuser »

beachstartup wrote: post #47
tuckerwales wrote: post #20

I'm a 21 year-old who has recently gotten into contracting to supplement my primary income (a Software Engineering Apprentice for a Defence contractor). I earn £12 an hour for my contract work, which I'm quite happy with at the moment because 10 hours a week means I get an extra £500 per month (which is considerable at my age, it pays my rent and bills and some). I know it doesn't seem much, but I think I'm actually…

charge more. like 5x more.

Agreed.

Re: Ask HN: How much do you earn on average through software freelancing?

#70

Post by [deleted] »

fightfortheuser wrote: post #55
femto113 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely recommend billing by the day (or even week). It can make a huge difference in your relationship with the client and helps get them past thinking about how much you work and focus more on what you accomplish. On a side note I actually offer billing by the half day, but price a half day at more than half a full day. This is intended to encourage clients to batch up work rather than feed it to me in dribs.

Well done. Daily billing is loads better than hourly billing. I think I made an extra $10,000 in a year, just because I billed by the day. And you are right. A day rate starts to shift the focus on the outcomes of the project, and less on how much it costs.

[deleted]
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