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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

#161

Post by busterarm »

greggyb wrote: post #57
testplzignore wrote: post #41

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?

Keep in mind the work being done. He emphasizes its simplicity. This is not a senior role requiring a huge amount of expertise. Of course, he's probably charging too little in general. Everyone is.

3x salary is the general advice given to contractors starting out.

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

#162

Post by pier25 »

maxxxxx wrote: post #58
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.

Happens all the time. We can hire only at certain times when budgets open, so you go ahead and hire but you have no time to deal with the person. It’s better to have the person sit around until you have time because the alternative is losing the contractor and not being able to hire when you really need someone. Stupid but very real. I always find it funny that wasting 100k this way is perfectly fine but a 5k raise i…

> I always find it funny that wasting 100k this way is perfectly fine but a 5k raise is almost impossible.

This is too real.

At my current job they are incapable of even small raises to keep up with inflation or even investing money in making a better product. Although the company has no problem redecorating the office, sending management to a useless international fair where they spend their time in bars getting drunk, or spending exorbitant amounts of money for sending someone to CNN and getting $0 ROI from that.

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

#163

Post by ElFitz »

duxup wrote: post #113
_bxg1 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I think the issue is management unwilling to trust other levels of management to make the call when they need money / a strong desire some folks have to filter / make decisions for others. I don't know what the fix is for that except to take a chance and trust folks but ... it doesn't seem to be a thing and instead they come up with easy systems to just make arbitrary decisions and there ya go. It boggles my mind som…

He also had some experience hiring terrible people.

Practice may not make perfect, but it sure damn helps. As long as we learn from our mistakes.

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

#165

Post by LeifCarrotson »

_bxg1 wrote: post #91
sneak wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are, of course, better ways; the thing is that non-dysfunctional methodology is not evenly distributed. This comes to mind: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recurrent_laryngeal_nerve

I don't understand the relevance of that Wikipedia article

That nerve is a popular example of an optimization process that produced a local maximum which is highly sub-optimal.

For various evolutionary reasons, a nerve routing that was direct and sensible when the aorta passed to, say, the gills of a fish, now makes a silly, circuitous route in modern mammals from the brain, down under the aorta near the heart, and back up into the neck...close to the brain. Natural selection has proven incapable of fixing this tangle.

Similarly, organizational budgets that departments need to spend any way they can or suffer cuts next year seem silly. But they stem from reasonable policies, gradually changing and improving over time.

Just like an organism can't sever its aorta and have a better routing of the nerve, organizations are incapable of getting from the current budget situation to a better one.

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

#166

Post by LocalPCGuy »

adamqureshi wrote: post #131

We did some agency work Ad agency / sub contract) in NYC. I said to the agency we will deliver HTML/CSS/JS and its $12,500 for the site / pages. They came back with NO our budget is $25k and we will pay that. Im like ok wire be the bread, here is my ACH ( They did) I delivered the HTML/CSS/JS. They came back with but who is gonna do the API work with our back end guy. Seems they could not make a distinction connectin…

In my experience, where the Front End stops and the Back End starts is always a fuzzy line for non-technical clients (even if that have devs on staff). Especially when you're talking to the marketing department and devs work in IT or another similarly separated department. It pays to have the discussion and get it in writing up front (plus, if you CAN do API work, it may provide additional revenue that you didn't necessarily know was available).

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

#167

Post by HeWhoLurksLate »

JakeTheAndroid wrote: post #135
sharkweek wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I remember growing up and going to work with my Dad. There was like a 3 hour period where he had no work for me to do. He told me I'd only get half wages for the day (I was like 12) since the last few hours I did nothing. I felt betrayed. He empathized with me, saying 'It sometimes feels like more work to not have any work to do'. I completely agree. In my current role, there is no real roadmap or trajectory for what…

Better yet, at an internship, create your own roadmap (complete with a timeline, too) and, with no external validation, so it.

so hard

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

#168

Post by sharkweek »

madeofpalk wrote: post #120
sharkweek wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Its stories (and personal experience) like this that make me laugh when people try and say that governments are inefficient and lacks accountability.

Right - the government is the world's largest employer, with all the inefficiencies that come with that title.

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

#170

Post by sct202 »

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 of my bosses was the recipient of one of these during a corporate merger, and I think it did a lot of damage to him. He has been mostly was coasting off of his reputation from before he slacked off for 3+ years in that role. But it doesn't look like he's able to last for more than a year anywhere. I suspect that he was one of those competent-but-lazy types whose skills rusted out to to just lazy.
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