Mike Lee on why he can charge $1,000/hr for iPhone development
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Re: Mike Lee on why he can charge $1,000/hr for iPhone development
#2Wow, he might be good at programming, but from his writing, he sure seems like a jerk (Zed Shaw's long lost twin?). I've known many professionals who, being very good at what they do, charge both less and more than $1k/hour, but none of them would ever mention their rate in public, much less feel the need to explain why they deserve it.
On the other hand, this is great PR for software engineers: a couple more posts like this, and I'll be able to double my rate and still seem like a deal by comparison :)
Re: Mike Lee on why he can charge $1,000/hr for iPhone development
#3tldr: Mike Lee is the Brad Pitt of programmers. :/
Re: Mike Lee on why he can charge $1,000/hr for iPhone development
#4The Dunning–Kruger effect at work.
Re: Mike Lee on why he can charge $1,000/hr for iPhone development
#5Wow, he might be good at programming, but from his writing, he sure seems like a jerk (Zed Shaw's long lost twin?). I've known many professionals who, being very good at what they do, charge both less and more than $1k/hour, but none of them would ever mention their rate in public, much less feel the need to explain why they deserve it. On the other hand, this is great PR for software engineers: a couple more posts l…
I am sort of torn. Lets not be the bucket of crabs, who have to pull down anyone threatening to leave the bucket.
Engineers need to learn to be comfortable with business. Part of that is professionalism, which cuts against talking rates too loudly. Part of it is being uttetly unembarrassed to say that, yes, you are priced at what the market will bear and the market will bear an awful lot.
Re: Mike Lee on why he can charge $1,000/hr for iPhone development
#6I'd be curious if he actually can charge $1,000/hr for iPhone development. It sounds like it's deliberately less than his time-filling rate: he doesn't get fully booked weeks at that rate. In fact he seems to imply that his schedule is so empty that he's likely to be free on any given day to start working on a new project immediately. That's certainly a reasonable strategy, since sometimes the money-maximizing rate is not the same as the one that fills your schedule. But, how empty exactly is his schedule? Are we talking 10 hours/wk billed on average? Or are we talking no work most weeks, with the occasional job every few months?
Re: Mike Lee on why he can charge $1,000/hr for iPhone development
#7tldr: Mike Lee is the Brad Pitt of programmers. :/
No, it's even better: he's the Brad Pitt and the Wolf (from Pulp Fiction) of iProgrammers. I always thought being the Wolf would be an interesting job; certainly stressful but never a dull moment.
Re: Mike Lee on why he can charge $1,000/hr for iPhone development
#8The "motherfucker" page doesn't load, maybe I can help him with some web development at only $1,000/hr
Re: Mike Lee on why he can charge $1,000/hr for iPhone development
#9It also sounds like he can convince you that if you don't go with him you are going to have problems and then you are going to have to hire him eventually anyway. Being able to convince people not to look around at other options is a very good way to drive your price up.
I'm surprised he didn't make that point in the article; it certainly is related to why he can charge so much...
Re: Mike Lee on why he can charge $1,000/hr for iPhone development
#10I'd be curious if he actually can charge $1,000/hr for iPhone development. It sounds like it's deliberately less than his time-filling rate: he doesn't get fully booked weeks at that rate. In fact he seems to imply that his schedule is so empty that he's likely to be free on any given day to start working on a new project immediately. That's certainly a reasonable strategy, since sometimes the money-maximizing rate i…
Working 10 hrs a week at 1k/hr would be awesome. Saving time is better than maximizing money.