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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

#181

Post by lone_haxx0r »

w23j wrote: post #127
umeshunni wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to spend X anyway, because the money is pre-tax or non-taxable, you can spend 1.5X-2X, so the extra money is 'free'.

I'm with peteradio, I also never understand this line of reasoning. Let's say the company has earned 1,000$ and the tax rate is 50%. Your expenses X are 100$. So 1,000$ - 100$ = 900$. Of which 50% (450$) are tax and 50% (450$) are profit. Now double X to 200$: Then 1,000$ - 200$ = 800$. Of which 50% (400$) are tax and 50% (400$) are profit. That means your profit is 50$ lower (400$ instead of 450$) then if you hadn't…

I guess in some situations you can either pay $1 in taxes or burn $1. it's probably better to burn $1.

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

#182

Post by alasdair_ »

peteradio wrote: post #73
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…

Unless you are getting taxed >100% I never understood why you'd want to throw away money for "tax reasons". Can someone please help me understand this, it always comes up and I feel dumb for not understanding.

Simple example:

My FSA card is pre-tax money to be used for healthcare expenses. Towards the end of the year, I ended up still having a balance that would go away if not used, so I bought things that I would not have otherwise purchased.

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

#183

Post by jld »

lone_haxx0r wrote: post #177
madeofpalk wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

At least private companies are losing their own earned money when they're inefficient, not someone else's.

How are dollars I have paid to the government any more mine than dollars I have paid to a company?

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

#186

Post by mrguyorama »

solotronics wrote: post #136
osrec wrote: post #12

You should try working in an investment bank as a contractor. You need to find the right team, but a lot of them are massive collections of people doing virtually nothing but getting paid great daily rates. The trick is to look busy and wrap your team/yourself in a perceived sense of enigma and complexity. If you play your cards right, you can end up in a situation where no one will ask questions as long as you fire…

I have a theory that in most large companies the 80/20 rule applies. 20% of the engineers do 80% of the work.

It also feels like those same 80% of the engineers doing nothing are taking home 80% of the compensation

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

#187

Post by mrguyorama »

TomVDB wrote: post #116
IkmoIkmo wrote: post #36

I've got similar experiences working for corporate clients, but it was legal work, not tech stuff. It was a bit more complex than the equivalent of a static HTML, but something that anyone with an IQ of > 90 could learn in less than half a year. There were days when I'd charge clients $15k... for a day's work. This wouldn't have been possible if I worked on-site. But I was essentially completing $15k of contracted wo…

There was a time during the golden dotcom era when my manager scheduled a monthly management meeting across the Atlantic, which required me and 2 colleagues flying all the way over for a meeting that lasted about 4 hours. Business class plane tickets, 2 nights in a nice hotel, rental car, dinner at very fancy restaurant. Meanwhile, that same 100k+ employee company wasn't able to set up email fast enough for new emplo…

I'm sure they also were very touchy about giving out raises too

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

#188

Post by mrguyorama »

noir_lord wrote: post #4
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

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.

>Big corporations are batshit.

Why do you think this is limited to big corporations? Plenty of smaller shops are doing the exact same thing

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

#189

Post by whowhatwhy »

jld wrote: post #183
lone_haxx0r wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least private companies are losing their own earned money when they're inefficient, not someone else's.

How are dollars I have paid to the government any more mine than dollars I have paid to a company?

a company is accountable for the dollars you pay to it, and has to provide a commensurate value, or you take your business elsewhere. dollars paid to the government keep coming in no matter how wasteful their practices

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

#190

Post by chc »

spiderfarmer wrote: post #60
tomcam wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to the article he emailed them daily.

Yeah but not to let them know his estimate was off.

It sounds like he gave them an hourly rate, not a project rate, and emailed every day to let them know how many hours he'd worked and what he still needed, both before and after the estimated time frame was blown. It doesn't sound like he did anything irresponsible.
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