Earlier quoted context omitted.
you seem to be on the low side, i do 4000p/day not less
I recommend that you double your rates -- you're worth more than you think.
I believe they're worth even more! Double it again!
Ask HN: Generalist contractors, what is your hourly rate?
61–70 of 328 posts
Re: Ask HN: Generalist contractors, what is your hourly rate?
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I bill around £14k a month and after taxes i walk away with about £7k a month. You should employ some sort of a tax-reduction strategy. Paying 50% of your gross in direct taxes is absolutely batshit crazy. I used to contract for £350-450 per day as a PHP backend dev and paid an effective 30% tax rate. Which is still crazy insane high, but it's not 50%. Does your 50% figure includes VAT? Because if that's not VAT in…
If that's net after pension and everything it's not really that surprising. In Finland for example the employee pension rate is 25% of gross. Then tax and employer insurance on top of that and you're left with about half of the total paid sum. Of course, as independent contractor you can set your own pension rate as low as you want but that's a different debate.
Virtually all contractors in the UK are operating through a LLC and paying themselves in dividends, so there's no pension at all, and legally they are not even employees of their businesses (because board members can provide the business with whatever services without being employees).
If you go through PAYE, you make yourself an employee, and you must pay yourself a pension. But going through PAYE is a net loss, because then you also have to pay national insurance not only on your side, but also on the employers' side. Paying NI if you can perfectly legally avoid paying it is stupid.
Re: Ask HN: Generalist contractors, what is your hourly rate?
#63I'm a cyber security specialist (in web application security) with a few certifications and 10+ years of experience. I charge usually $350 an hour unless it's something I estimate will require the help of an outsider to which I may go as high at $1k an hour. Answering everyone asking how we find clients - I love public speaking and so I try to do as much as I can. 80% of my clients saw me speak, the other 20% come fr…
Man. I (CISSP, CISA), 20 years of experience, everything from development to dev management to sales and marketing to finance to fundraising, the whole shebang, do ISO27001 ISMS’s and coach through certifications… for $70/hr. But then, my clients are based in the U.K., where technology is still generally seen as worthless.
Re: Ask HN: Generalist contractors, what is your hourly rate?
#64I recommend Weekly Rate Consulting[0] About four years ago a friend of mine, who specializes in personal brand consultation, suggested whatever my hourly was that I double it. I didn't believe her. I doubled it and landed the first proposal. You're probably worth more than you think. Specialization can increase your rate, but business sense, communication, and ability to articulate and contribute value at the executi…
> About four years ago a friend of mine, who specializes in personal brand consultation, suggested whatever my hourly was that I double it. I didn't believe her. I doubled it and landed the first proposal.
Doubling your rate is really only an option when you’re already charging too little or if you’re dealing with clients who have no idea what market rate actually is.
I encourage everyone to explore incrementally higher rates until they are losing deals over pricing. That’s the only way to really know the ceiling.
The other important thing to keep in mind is that higher rates bring higher expectations. I’ve had contractors who charges in the $100/hr range and delivered okay-but-not-great work with mediocre communication. We kept them on because they could deliver eventually and we felt like we got what we paid for. If they doubled their rates to $200 the first thing I’d do is wind down the contract and switch to any number of more diligent and qualified contractors I know who charge in that range.
As soon as you violate the client’s sense of “you get what you pay for”, the relationship is in trouble. If someone doubles their rates, they need to be prepared to deliver work and communication deserving of that rate. There are a number of contractors in my area who have reputations of charging expensive rates but delivering budget quality work. They’re mostly limited to new clients at smaller companies who don’t have enough of a network to check their reputation.
However, if you can increase rates and deliver quality work that matches the price, you could work yourself into a premium market segment. And that’s a good place to be!
Re: Ask HN: Generalist contractors, what is your hourly rate?
#65In Canada, $80/hr. Aiming for $90 for my next contract starting next month. Or to move to the US and make way more, apparently.
Re: Ask HN: Generalist contractors, what is your hourly rate?
#66Generalist can be a specialization in itself. Imagine someone that can do a bit of front-end, backend, infra, design, would be a specialist in bootstrapping a startup.
Don't get too attached to market/industry defined roles.
Another way to raise rates is to take risks (like deadlines, promises) but every person had their own risk profile.
Re: Ask HN: Generalist contractors, what is your hourly rate?
#67I'm a cyber security specialist (in web application security) with a few certifications and 10+ years of experience. I charge usually $350 an hour unless it's something I estimate will require the help of an outsider to which I may go as high at $1k an hour. Answering everyone asking how we find clients - I love public speaking and so I try to do as much as I can. 80% of my clients saw me speak, the other 20% come fr…
Man. I (CISSP, CISA), 20 years of experience, everything from development to dev management to sales and marketing to finance to fundraising, the whole shebang, do ISO27001 ISMS’s and coach through certifications… for $70/hr. But then, my clients are based in the U.K., where technology is still generally seen as worthless.
That's what a (Master-level) plumber charges per hour in Germany. By offering such discounted rates, people consider you 'less valuable' a priori.
I have indeed heard anti-"IT" sentiments in the UK, where managers often come from outside disciplines (e.g. "politics, philosophy and economics" type of oxbridge degrees). Some of these people adjust quickly and pick up technical skills naturally, whereas others couldn't insert a 9 V block battery into a toy without a YouTube video after a decade of "IT" exposure. But they also do not know what something is worth without a clear explanation, so your value is bound by your ability to articulate it.
Re: Ask HN: Generalist contractors, what is your hourly rate?
#68No post body was provided.
Re: Ask HN: Generalist contractors, what is your hourly rate?
#69I'm a cyber security specialist (in web application security) with a few certifications and 10+ years of experience. I charge usually $350 an hour unless it's something I estimate will require the help of an outsider to which I may go as high at $1k an hour. Answering everyone asking how we find clients - I love public speaking and so I try to do as much as I can. 80% of my clients saw me speak, the other 20% come fr…
Man. I (CISSP, CISA), 20 years of experience, everything from development to dev management to sales and marketing to finance to fundraising, the whole shebang, do ISO27001 ISMS’s and coach through certifications… for $70/hr. But then, my clients are based in the U.K., where technology is still generally seen as worthless.
Sounds like it is less technical correct?
I find that there are a lot of auditing firms out there willing to do compliance work for cheap therefor bringing down the prices (still not super low).
Technical auditing and training in cyber security was always a kind of niche that allows you to charge more.
Re: Ask HN: Generalist contractors, what is your hourly rate?
#70$150/hr for small ($4000/week with no Fridays for bigger contracts.
It usually gets negotiated down for startups and non-profits.