I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page • Hacker News Board

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

#41

Post by testplzignore » Wed, May 15, 2019, 5:33 PM UTC

Anyone else think $21k for this much time is too low? That's $156k a year assuming full-time hours which a contractor probably isn't going to get. Plus the guy lives in California. Plus health insurance.

What's a typical rate for this length of contracting work in California?

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

#42

Post by tomcam » Wed, May 15, 2019, 5:33 PM UTC

ryanbrunner wrote: post #3

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.

According to the article he emailed them daily.

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

#43

Post by romainsestier » Wed, May 15, 2019, 5:33 PM UTC

axlee wrote: post #32

pornel wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Large companies operate on a completely different scale of money. If this was a page for a product that's going to make a million dollars, this expense was still a rounding error.

But why are they so stingy with salaries, then?

Because they have to manage these costs at a much bigger scale.

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

#44

Post by tmaly » Wed, May 15, 2019, 5:34 PM UTC

Icing on the cake would have been if he had made a little extra effort and got additional contracts from the same company

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

#45

Post by monicageller018 » Wed, May 15, 2019, 5:34 PM UTC

This is an impressive story! It's unbelievable to read about how some big companies function. The funniest part is that he didn't get paid $18,000 like the title says - but $21,000!

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

#46

Post by jhallenworld » Wed, May 15, 2019, 5:34 PM UTC

But is this really want to do with your time, even if you are getting paid?

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

#47

Post by peshooo » Wed, May 15, 2019, 5:34 PM UTC

qnsi wrote: 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

I don't know how it is in big corporations in America. But working as a consultant in Western Europe, I have been more than once in a situation where I'm starting on a project and I have to wait more than 3-4 months for things like accounts, access/permissions, laptop. Its pretty pathetic at the dailies, to report every day that I'm still waiting for these things.

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

#48

Post by beachy » Wed, May 15, 2019, 5:35 PM UTC

axlee wrote: post #32

pornel wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Large companies operate on a completely different scale of money. If this was a page for a product that's going to make a million dollars, this expense was still a rounding error.

But why are they so stingy with salaries, then?

Because they have thousands of employees and squeezing salaries is an obvious easy to move the bottom line significantly. In the short term anyway.

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

#49

Post by zitterbewegung » Wed, May 15, 2019, 5:35 PM UTC

I charged $500 for a single static HTML page in the early 2010s. I figured out free hosting using Google App Engine. Also I was on a Skype call the whole time and it had to be done by the end of the day with the client . I don’t think the author did anything wrong .

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

#50

Post by Scramblejams » Wed, May 15, 2019, 5:35 PM UTC

axlee wrote: post #32

pornel wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Large companies operate on a completely different scale of money. If this was a page for a product that's going to make a million dollars, this expense was still a rounding error.

But why are they so stingy with salaries, then?

Salaries usually come out of a different budget, one that has visibility all the way up to the C-suites. The web page mentioned was probably paid for out of a marketing budget, which often doesn't get as much scrutiny because (1) it's handed out in a big chunk and it's up to the business unit to decide how to divvy that chunk up and (2) marketing spend is much easier to turn down in the event of a slowdown than salaries.