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I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

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

#61

Post by _bxg1 »

sharkweek wrote: post #54
duxup wrote: post #18

I know someone working as a contractor for a big company. 1 year contract. 6 months have gone by and they've done ... nothing. Their boss keeps saying "Don't worry we'll get to you, we're just swamped right now, you're good." They're already talking about extending the contract.

Big companies (rather, people at big companies) WANT to spend money on this kind of stuff for all sorts of reasons. -A team might have use-it-or-lose-it budget, so they have to spend it on something, and a contractor might be the lucky recipient! -Tax purposes! -Spending a lot on a contractor gives them someone to "fire" when they need to explain why something wasn't getting done or something went poorly! The list go…

One would think the use-it-or-lose-it problem would've been solved by now. It's so obviously dysfunctional. Is there really no better way to determine budget?

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

#62

Post by qnsi »

peshooo wrote: post #47
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.

my friends in Poland (but working for international corps) have similar stories. Starting work and not doing anything for few months before they get everything they need

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

#64

Post by maxxxxx »

duxup wrote: post #24
tomduncalf wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah this happens more than you’d expect! Never had it myself but I’ve worked st places where it’s happened to colleagues (usually assigned unimportant BAU work than actually doing nothing but I do know of people who’ve basically had nothing to do!)

I sort of suspect all these people I've met that I've wondered why they like being a contractor .... are all on that system. I kinda want to be a contractor now.

I have been in this situation and you have to strong nerves. You always expect to be sent home any time soon.

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

#65

Post by tetra_proxy »

protomyth wrote: post #7
noir_lord wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I work at a decent sized Engineering Firm, I billed 4 Months of time to a project they then outsourced. Then again I'm salaried, but that's still 4 months of wasted effort.

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

#66

Post by duxup »

maxxxxx wrote: post #64
duxup wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sort of suspect all these people I've met that I've wondered why they like being a contractor .... are all on that system. I kinda want to be a contractor now.

I have been in this situation and you have to strong nerves. You always expect to be sent home any time soon.

Yeah I would certianly feel like I had to be ready to move on unexpectedly.... but you know if I could work from home and clean the house a bit... worth it.

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

#67

Post by duxup »

AchieveLife wrote: post #37
duxup wrote: post #18

I know someone working as a contractor for a big company. 1 year contract. 6 months have gone by and they've done ... nothing. Their boss keeps saying "Don't worry we'll get to you, we're just swamped right now, you're good." They're already talking about extending the contract.

That's why I offer a retainer package. Get paid for just being available when needed and work a non-conflicting contract elsewhere.

Yeah a sort of

"Hey I'm already up to speed on this so if you want to pick it up again quickly ...." proposal probabbly would seem like a good idea to the company for a while at least.

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

#69

Post by dzhiurgis »

I'm in midst of a contract that was supposed to take 2-3 weeks - my mate asked for help, they desperately need good developers.

I think it's 6 months now ($60k++), while past 3 were "we are almost there now". It's all typical crap - trying to squish some crap into JIRA, molesting Slack in some weirdest ways, tester reporting bugs in less than 6 sentences... All I can think of is that I didn't ask for a high enough hourly rate and I want this over ASAP.

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

#70

Post by bryanrasmussen »

duxup wrote: post #18

I know someone working as a contractor for a big company. 1 year contract. 6 months have gone by and they've done ... nothing. Their boss keeps saying "Don't worry we'll get to you, we're just swamped right now, you're good." They're already talking about extending the contract.

I've worked at pretty big companies and the only way I've ever gotten away with not producing any code was because I was going through onboarding hell. At the worst 2 weeks to get onboarded.
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