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Mike Lee on why he can charge $1,000/hr for iPhone development

le.mu.rs

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Re: Mike Lee on why he can charge $1,000/hr for iPhone development

#101

Post by donaq »

patio11 wrote: post #5
andreyf wrote: post #2

Wow, 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.

Another reason not to be the bucket of crabs, guided strictly by self-interest, is that if one person declares that he's charging a big sum for doing something and consistently getting paid, it will raise the bar for the entire industry.

In other words, if you're a good iPhone developer, you can also raise your rates while still giving your customers a discount compared to that Mike Lee guy.

Re: Mike Lee on why he can charge $1,000/hr for iPhone development

#104

Post by moe »

JoachimSchipper wrote: post #54
loboman wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He should say he's offering iPhone consultancy then.

The list of options he offers does look like consultancy.

iPhone consultancy can be had for much cheaper, though.

I have worked with contractors from eastern europe that work an entire week for the amount he asks for an hour. And despite the cliches their performance was absolutely okay. Not mindblowing, but as solid as it gets within the constraints of the iPhone platform. It's not exactly rocket science.

I'm entirely okay with people charging what they're worth. But I don't believe someone can be worth an order of magnitude above average in iPhone-land.

Re: Mike Lee on why he can charge $1,000/hr for iPhone development

#105

Post by alttab »

patio11 wrote: post #5
andreyf wrote: post #2

Wow, 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.

I'll agree with the bucket of crabs comment, as we all tend to do this.

However, I'm not going to hire this guy not because he is too expensive, but because he has no problem branding himself as a douche.

Re: Mike Lee on why he can charge $1,000/hr for iPhone development

#106

Post by danudey »

agotterer wrote: post #29
alexkiwi wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not so sure I would want to work with this guy, Zed Shaw on the other hand was one of the nicest people I've ever gotten an e-mail from

I met Zed in person a few months ago at a meetup. I had an awesome 45 min chat about everything technology. What a nice guy. I wish him all the best. Mike Lee's blog title is "motherfucker". From that alone you can derive what type of person you're about to do business with. Theres no question his experience and skills are incredible. Fact of the matter is there are other successful app developers who likely have a r…

I believe the title of his blog is (indirectly) explained in this post (as well as 'world's toughest programmer'):

http://www.atomicwang.org/motherfucker/Index/Entries/2007/9/...

Re: Mike Lee on why he can charge $1,000/hr for iPhone development

#107

Post by danudey »

sharpn wrote: post #61

There are no testimonials on his website. Just saying.

He worked for Delicious Monster and Tapulous, well-known names in the Mac/iPhone dev community. Also, Apple hired him to build their Mobile Store app, which is pretty significant because I'm sure they have a lot of talented developers already.

Re: Mike Lee on why he can charge $1,000/hr for iPhone development

#108

Post by jbrennan »

mkramlich wrote: post #76
mrshoe wrote: post #25

That’s a little like hearing what Brad Pitt got paid for his last movie and wondering why the producer didn’t instead hire Brad Pitman for scale. Oh you’ve never heard of Brad Pitman? You’re not familiar with his work? But you are familiar with Brad Pitt’s work, right? After all, he’s an experienced actor and producer with not one, but two, Academy Award nominations and a portfolio full of household names. Bzzzt. Hor…

But... he's a household name for some reason, right? There was some original core non-meta reason he became famous. I suspect the reason had to do with some combination of the following: women find him attractive, men admire him and/or want to be as cool as him, PLUS arguably he's actually a pretty decent actor given the right role/script.

You can't beat Mickey O'Neil in Snatch.

Re: Mike Lee on why he can charge $1,000/hr for iPhone development

#109

Post by jpcx01 »

petercooper wrote: post #56
mrshoe wrote: post #25

That’s a little like hearing what Brad Pitt got paid for his last movie and wondering why the producer didn’t instead hire Brad Pitman for scale. Oh you’ve never heard of Brad Pitman? You’re not familiar with his work? But you are familiar with Brad Pitt’s work, right? After all, he’s an experienced actor and producer with not one, but two, Academy Award nominations and a portfolio full of household names. Bzzzt. Hor…

He commands his rates because he is a household name. [..] You, however, are an iPhone app developer. App purchasers have never heard of you. They will not turn out in droves to buy an app just because you worked on it. I think his conclusion is wrong but the analogy is good. It's unnecessary to be literal with the term "household." Most of the world's top scientists, lawyers, and bankers aren't household names, yet…

No post body was provided.

Re: Mike Lee on why he can charge $1,000/hr for iPhone development

#110

Post by jpcx01 »

mrshoe wrote: post #25

That’s a little like hearing what Brad Pitt got paid for his last movie and wondering why the producer didn’t instead hire Brad Pitman for scale. Oh you’ve never heard of Brad Pitman? You’re not familiar with his work? But you are familiar with Brad Pitt’s work, right? After all, he’s an experienced actor and producer with not one, but two, Academy Award nominations and a portfolio full of household names. Bzzzt. Hor…

Would having "From the developer of Tap Tap Revenge and Delicious Monster" help sell additional copies on the App Store? Would it help get blog coverage within the tightly nit mac elites?

I believe so.

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