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I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

idiallo.com

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Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

#2
Amazing. It kind of sound unbelievable, but I don’t have that much experience working with big corporations.

This should be read by everyone concerned about, how few people in a startup can beat big corporations

Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

#4
post #2

Amazing. It kind of sound unbelievable, but I don’t have that much experience working with big corporations. This should be read by everyone concerned about, how few people in a startup can beat big corporations

Big corporations are batshit.

One division will be counting paperclips and another dropping $50k on a machine no one needs to do their job.

It entirely comes down to management in each place.

Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

#5
post #2

Amazing. It kind of sound unbelievable, but I don’t have that much experience working with big corporations. This should be read by everyone concerned about, how few people in a startup can beat big corporations

Big corporations are batshit. One division will be counting paperclips and another dropping $50k on a machine no one needs to do their job. It entirely comes down to management in each place.

This is true of every BigCorp I've been at. An IT department will be carefully evaluating some extremely expensive class of enterprise software. A business department will randomly purchase one of those options at random, without consulting IT, just because a software vendor mentioned it in a passing.

Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

#7
post #2

Amazing. It kind of sound unbelievable, but I don’t have that much experience working with big corporations. This should be read by everyone concerned about, how few people in a startup can beat big corporations

Big corporations are batshit. One division will be counting paperclips and another dropping $50k on a machine no one needs to do their job. It entirely comes down to management in each place.

Be on a project where you billed over a 100 hours for some aspect of it that they decide to cancel. It is amazing how group decisions can blow so much.

Now, I do not mean experiments and throwing the artifacts of that experimenting. That makes perfect sense. Its when they have a need for something that is part of their current business and they just don't execute properly to the point of cancellation.

Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

#8

Entertaining story - although as advice to anyone reading it, running up the clock without proactively notifying people that you're going way beyond your original estimate is a very good way to make getting paid incredibly difficult.

It was my impression that that's what he did. Of course the whole situation still could've made it difficult to get paid, but I don't think there's anything else he could've done.

Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

#9
post #2

Amazing. It kind of sound unbelievable, but I don’t have that much experience working with big corporations. This should be read by everyone concerned about, how few people in a startup can beat big corporations

It sounds believable to me. I've had some interactions with big companies and you have to readjust what you think is a reasonable price for something.

I work with hardware and you'd be amazed how much people will spend without batting an eyelid (eg tens of thousands on a single instrument). In some cases they'll even remark at how inexpensive what you've offered is.

For example, the thermal cameras I work with are now consumer available for $5k. A decade ago you'd easily spend an order of magnitude more for the same sort of performance. And companies would happily fork out for it.

Bear in mind this company just lost a developer. The overheads for that member of staff alone, for two months, probably exceed $20k in the US.

Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

#10
This is how corporate works. They have budgets for things. The money doesn't come out of the pocket of the person who cuts the cheque. You send in an invoice and it gets paid. If it doesn't, the company is insolvent or they are at risk to lawsuits which will cost them more than your paltry $18000. But they don't even think about the lawsuit part. Bill comes in, cheque goes out.
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