Ask HN: Generalist contractors, what is your hourly rate? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Generalist contractors, what is your hourly rate?

#111

Post by swader999 » Sat, Sep 03, 2022, 4:16 PM UTC

madaxe_again wrote: post #63

bubblehack3r wrote: post #17

I'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.

I've looked at UK rates and salaries over the years and could never understand why they are so low.

Re: Ask HN: Generalist contractors, what is your hourly rate?

#112

Post by scrollaway » Sat, Sep 03, 2022, 4:19 PM UTC

mxuribe wrote: post #93

scrollaway wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Simply put: Talk to people who have more money and higher expectations, and highly value efficiency (OP's selling point of being a "single person" means not dealing with a whole team, back&forth comms, etc). Don't talk to your local barber who wants a website to show up on google maps. I have a similar weekly rate but $200 hourly; How I bill depends on the client (though yes, gravitating more and more towards weekly…

Would you kindly share some examples of the types of people/orgs to seek out, then? For example, if not the barber shop, then the owner of a barber shop franchise, or owner of a chain of barber shops? Genuinely interwested in learning the archetypes of people to seek out here. Anything that you could share would be greatly appreciated!

Networking is critical. My clients are mostly in fintech, so I network in fintech, but you should seek out in whatever field you're most comfortable in and have loads of expertise with. If you're good at what you do and produce excellent results, you only need to hunt for the first few clients, and then you'll get a lot of referrals.

Re: Ask HN: Generalist contractors, what is your hourly rate?

#113

Post by Dig1t » Sat, Sep 03, 2022, 4:19 PM UTC

lumost wrote: post #96

ryanSrich wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn’t answer my question. How do you find people “who have more money and higher expectations, and highly value efficiency”? > “Don't talk to your local barber who wants a website to show up on google maps.” The specific case I was referring to was a series seed funded startup that needed to build an MVP. Even for them $10,000 was too much. They ended up finding someone for half that to build their entire V1.…

A tech seed round can easily be 7 figures these days. A new initiative at a non-tech fortune 50 could start in 8 figures. Hiring someone at 10k per week who can kickstart the project to working production system isn't a bad deal at these budgets.

Wait wait, is it really possible to get that big of a seed round WITHOUT an MVP??

Re: Ask HN: Generalist contractors, what is your hourly rate?

#114

Post by cronix » Sat, Sep 03, 2022, 4:21 PM UTC

wcarss wrote: post #101

ryanSrich wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn’t answer my question. How do you find people “who have more money and higher expectations, and highly value efficiency”? > “Don't talk to your local barber who wants a website to show up on google maps.” The specific case I was referring to was a series seed funded startup that needed to build an MVP. Even for them $10,000 was too much. They ended up finding someone for half that to build their entire V1.…

Your last point there is the stinger: they rebuilt everything themselves after going cheaper to start. So: they had the money, and they had cause to spend it, but they chose not pay you for your service, and as a result they likely paid more in the long run. It is a (admittedly pretty tough!) sales task, but it is the task: you had to convince them that $10k was worth it for you . Once they have 3+ programmers workin…

> So: they had the money, and they had cause to spend it, but they chose not pay you for your service, and as a result they likely paid more in the long run.

That's one possibility. Another, and one that I think is more common with startups (majority are people using their own savings and family/friends, not raising millions from seed rounds) is that they really didn't have that much money up front, but paying a cheaper way allowed them to minimally get a product out the door until they had enough revenue to "do it right."

Re: Ask HN: Generalist contractors, what is your hourly rate?

#115

Post by ehnto » Sat, Sep 03, 2022, 4:22 PM UTC

aantix wrote: post #91

madaxe_again wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You have to get out of Europe. For whatever reason, Europeans just don’t seem to value software engineering and it shows. Great engineers. Zero money to show for it.

Venture Capital and FANG pay obscene money because their business models can afford to, they just happen to be powered by software. The actual work of software development isn't somehow worth more to society than your average white collar job, at least in my opinion. It's just another job, and it would be better for the world if the pay came down rather than everywhere get inflated, so that software could thrive in other markets, not just the tech bubbles. Perhaps not the right forum to be preaching for that, and it's certainly not in my best interest either, but that's how I see it.

Re: Ask HN: Generalist contractors, what is your hourly rate?

#116

Post by lostboomerang » Sat, Sep 03, 2022, 4:22 PM UTC

hollywood_court wrote: post #33

lostboomerang wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Automobile repairs techs Is that a different term for "mechanics"?

In the repair industry, technician is reserved for folks that can properly diagnose and make any and all repairs. A mechanic is someone who can throw parts at a car but isn’t likely to be able to perform in-depth diagnostics or advanced repairs especially on newer cars with complex electrical systems. A mechanic in Alabama should expect to earn $50k-$60k while a tech is closer to $110k or so. I know at least 9 guys i…

Thank you for the explanation.

Re: Ask HN: Generalist contractors, what is your hourly rate?

#117

Post by swader999 » Sat, Sep 03, 2022, 4:28 PM UTC

nathancahill wrote: post #25

rebuilder wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it controversial that meetings should count as billable time? I mean, it’s not like you’re there because you just really like meetings!

I bill double for meetings. Suddenly was invited to a lot less meetings that I never needed to be in as a contractor. Perfection.

There's no way my wife will go for that.

Re: Ask HN: Generalist contractors, what is your hourly rate?

#118

Post by candiddevmike » Sat, Sep 03, 2022, 4:28 PM UTC

joshmanders wrote: post #5

I specialize in the ability to competently and fully build from the ground up your whole business from design, development, system administration, deployments, testing, seo and other stuff as a single person. My rate is $10,000/week pre-paid monthly.

For those drooling at this: you probably don't want this work. The clients who pay this amount are typically soul crushingly bad to work with, and you're under the gun to deliver 10k worth of value both to secure future work with the client and ensure your reputation stays clean. One bad experience can sink you with other clients, folks talk.

IMO, build something for you and sell it vs building something for other people.

Re: Ask HN: Generalist contractors, what is your hourly rate?

#119

Post by joshmanders » Sat, Sep 03, 2022, 4:28 PM UTC

rtlfe wrote: post #48

joshmanders wrote: post #5

I specialize in the ability to competently and fully build from the ground up your whole business from design, development, system administration, deployments, testing, seo and other stuff as a single person. My rate is $10,000/week pre-paid monthly.

Have you tried asking for more? If you're actually good at everything you say, you could be making the same amount of cash plus benefits at a FANG, so I'd expect the contracting rate to be much higher.

I also charge a non-refundable down payment of $100k to sign non-compete or NDA and that doesn’t guarantee I’ll accept the job.

Both my rates and this keeps people who aren’t serious about working with me away. Anyone else is most likely worth my time and the cost is acceptable because I don’t work a full 40/hr week for the client. I plan the work to be done for a week and let them know. If it takes me 40hrs ok but most don’t.

They’re not paying me for hours logged. They’re paying me for my experience and skills.

Re: Ask HN: Generalist contractors, what is your hourly rate?

#120

Post by cromd » Sat, Sep 03, 2022, 4:28 PM UTC

wpietri wrote: post #79

rtlfe wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried asking for more? If you're actually good at everything you say, you could be making the same amount of cash plus benefits at a FANG, so I'd expect the contracting rate to be much higher.

Why's that? Large companies generally don't need single generalists; what they mostly have is teams of specialists, people who can get much deeper into a subject than a generalist can. Is there some role at a FAANG where generalists would thrive?

Also, the two types of generalists aren't quite the same. Being a generalist in a 10k person company feels different from having to do everything alone at a 5 person company.

I think some heuristic like "earn double a FAANG income" isn't going to go over well with companies that are getting off the ground. Are the companies stupid for not paying that? Maybe sometimes. But there are definitely way more companies willing to hire someone at $200/hr than at $500/hr.

The calculations are just different for the companies. An operation spending $1B gains a lot by shaving off 1% (and small improvements are not strictly in the domain of specialists). But a new venture with $0 in revenue may have a very real risk of running out of cash one day, even if their product idea is great and well-built. "Hire the best people in the world" seems more prudent for a company who is certain it will pay off.

But to be fair, I guess one should occasionally try asking for high amounts anyways. I think jaquesm had recommended aiming to have 50% of your clients turn you down on the basis of price, to find the sweet spot for a rate.