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

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

#211

Post by xcambar »

swader999 wrote: post #132
kache_ wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Canada & I've done the spreadsheet math. I can probably ~triple my salary if I go balls to the walls. Insurance is a drop in the bucket (I can just outright buy my drugs). I'm just kinda comfy where I'm at, and I'm having fun at my job.

Agree, I've never seen a benefit package that gets me excited. With our health care system here, the FTE jobs are a lot less compelling vs the contractor route. About 1/20 that go the FTE equity route seem to hit the jackpot.

Freelancing is as stressful as it can get. No matter where you are an FTE, freelance will get you much further in terms of stress.

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

#212

Post by trhoad »

elliekelly wrote: post #205
noodlesUK wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I seriously doubt parent is earning that much. I expect they probably bill avg 10-15 days per month at that rate. Most contractors like them in the UK that I know operate this way most of the time.

And there are lots of expenses.

Contracted for a few years. Almost zero expenses (a new laptop, an accountant, some PL insurance).

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

#213

Post by JoshTriplett »

davedx wrote: post #53
vilius wrote: post #4

I’m also curious what’s a good way finding projects for generalists. My contracting experience was that I ended up doing specialized work even though I would able to complete the project from start to finish.

Startups! They love generalists.

The downside of a startup is that they don't have as much money to pay you, and as a contractor you don't get equity.

(On the upside, you don't get equity, and for most startups the money they pay you will be worth more than any equity ever will be.)

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

#214

Post by galfarragem »

xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #178

Most recently my floor was USD$300/hour but billed in weeks, and sometimes I didn't do full weeks (like four day weeks during good weather). Usually minimum engagement of four weeks, 25-50% upfront (longer engagements get the lower end). I increase the rate with respect to beurocracy and scope. If I'm working with a small, single digits shop then the lower rate usually holds. If it's a larger shop and I'm going to be…

..What's your main stack?

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

#215

Post by phphphphp »

noodlesUK wrote: post #201
trhoad wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean this in the nicest way possible, but it's easy to say money isn't everything when you're already earning £120k/$140k pa.

I seriously doubt parent is earning that much. I expect they probably bill avg 10-15 days per month at that rate. Most contractors like them in the UK that I know operate this way most of the time.

£500/day is the rate for software engineering contractors in the UK that guarantees a continuous stream of work: it would be trivial for someone to bill 100% of billable days in a year at that rate. I don't know anybody who only bills 10 - 15 days per month, I personally bill ~21 on average per month and I am always fully booked (I turn down work). All you need is a profile on LinkedIn and you'll get a constant stream of offers at £500/day -- no reputation or relationships required. Anybody billing 10 - 15 days per month is doing so out of choice.

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

#216

Post by raesene9 »

madaxe_again wrote: post #80
bubblehack3r wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

No, I typically end up filling the roles of CTO, CISO - I can advise, implement, whatever, on virtually any stack. It’s just that in the U.K., technology skills have little to no value.

If you're doing $70/hr in the UK at CISO level you're way under some of your competitors.

Heck Pentesters charge more than that and they're 50%+ cheaper in the UK than the US.

My hourly rate in the UK as an Big-4 Infosec consultant 15+ years ago was way more than that and I wasn't doing CISO work. Partners (who were the kind of people doing that kind of work) were 10x your rate back then.

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

#218

Post by cutler »

Which back-end programming languages do you find are most commonly required by clients who pay good rates? I'm particularly interested in the relative popularity of statically typed frameworks such as Spring Boot and ASP.Net vs Rails, Django and Laravel where serious money is at stake.

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

#219

Post by joshmanders »

rco8786 wrote: post #198
joshmanders wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What’s your strategy for finding clients, if you don’t mind me asking? Referrals from existing clients, HN monthly threads. > And how do you handle ongoing maintenance/sysadmin? $10k/week, pre-paid monthly. I don't do hourly because I don't work hourly. You're paying for my skills and expertise not the geo coordinates of the chair I am sitting in for however long I am working. I charge accordingly. The price is for…

Amazing. Any oncall type of work? What if things go down at 3am?

Nothing I do is on-call worthy. I may build the product but I don't run the product after it's built.

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

#220

Post by amelius »

joshmanders wrote: post #140
candiddevmike wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 pe…

This is not accurate at all. I've found people who pay these rates are better to work with and demand less. You know that trope all startup people say "raise your prices and get rid of the low value high cost customers" Same thing.

Now I'm very curious how you find clients and what software stacks you work with.
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