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Poll: Freelancers/Consultants – What's your yearly income?

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Re: Poll: Freelancers/Consultants – What's your yearly income?

#11

Post by jhh »

negamax wrote: post #6
re1ser wrote: post #5

You can't compare income from FL between 1st and 3rd world countries. I know for a fact that some of countries don't have other choice but to do FL business over various semi-shady sites like Freelancer, Elance, oDesk, Guru, etc, where it is incredibly hard to generate >$20k/year income.

I worked on oDesk from Mumbai for a while making ~50k/year. It was surreal.

could I ask what kind of services/technologies you were offering?

With this kind of income you can make a very decent living in India.

Re: Poll: Freelancers/Consultants – What's your yearly income?

#12

Post by amalag »

negamax wrote: post #6
re1ser wrote: post #5

You can't compare income from FL between 1st and 3rd world countries. I know for a fact that some of countries don't have other choice but to do FL business over various semi-shady sites like Freelancer, Elance, oDesk, Guru, etc, where it is incredibly hard to generate >$20k/year income.

I worked on oDesk from Mumbai for a while making ~50k/year. It was surreal.

That is great money for India.

Re: Poll: Freelancers/Consultants – What's your yearly income?

#13

Post by tartle »

re1ser wrote: post #5

You can't compare income from FL between 1st and 3rd world countries. I know for a fact that some of countries don't have other choice but to do FL business over various semi-shady sites like Freelancer, Elance, oDesk, Guru, etc, where it is incredibly hard to generate >$20k/year income.

"2nd world" (Eastern Europe) freelancer here - it really depends what things you work on, even on Elance, oDesk etc. It's not that hard to generate >20k, of course if you know what you're doing. oDesk clients brought me >40k this year, most jobs north of 5k (I do mobile apps). There's of course a lot of crap job postings there, but once you get a minimal reputation, you don't even look at those "make website for a peanut" contests. Of course rates are well below those that American developers usually get, but really not <20k year, at least when you work full-time.

Re: Poll: Freelancers/Consultants – What's your yearly income?

#14

Post by pjmlp »

eriksank wrote: post #7
re1ser wrote: post #5

You can't compare income from FL between 1st and 3rd world countries. I know for a fact that some of countries don't have other choice but to do FL business over various semi-shady sites like Freelancer, Elance, oDesk, Guru, etc, where it is incredibly hard to generate >$20k/year income.

Well, it is hard but not "incredibly" hard. Not all clients there are bottom feeders, even though the majority probably are. Even then, it still definitely beats being an employee on a fixed salary in most "developed" countries. Someone told me that the average programmer in Poland makes 800 EUR/month. That doesn't sound spectacular either ;-)

In Portugal the minimum wage is currently 485€ per month, before taxes.

With a degree one usually one starts at around 1000€ per month and grows from there.

You have to be already quite senior to even dream of the 2000€ barrier, in a few selected companies.

However with the current economical situation, many people are quite happy if they happen to just get something.

Re: Poll: Freelancers/Consultants – What's your yearly income?

#15

Post by mritun »

jhh wrote: post #11
negamax wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked on oDesk from Mumbai for a while making ~50k/year. It was surreal.

could I ask what kind of services/technologies you were offering? With this kind of income you can make a very decent living in India.

$50k in India won't get you far in Mumbai, especially if you are married and have kids

Re: Poll: Freelancers/Consultants – What's your yearly income?

#16

Post by tartle »

eriksank wrote: post #7
re1ser wrote: post #5

You can't compare income from FL between 1st and 3rd world countries. I know for a fact that some of countries don't have other choice but to do FL business over various semi-shady sites like Freelancer, Elance, oDesk, Guru, etc, where it is incredibly hard to generate >$20k/year income.

Well, it is hard but not "incredibly" hard. Not all clients there are bottom feeders, even though the majority probably are. Even then, it still definitely beats being an employee on a fixed salary in most "developed" countries. Someone told me that the average programmer in Poland makes 800 EUR/month. That doesn't sound spectacular either ;-)

850 EUR is average salary in Poland (before taxation). Programmers would usually get more, at least in big cities.

Re: Poll: Freelancers/Consultants – What's your yearly income?

#17

Post by mantas »

pjmlp wrote: post #14
eriksank wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it is hard but not "incredibly" hard. Not all clients there are bottom feeders, even though the majority probably are. Even then, it still definitely beats being an employee on a fixed salary in most "developed" countries. Someone told me that the average programmer in Poland makes 800 EUR/month. That doesn't sound spectacular either ;-)

In Portugal the minimum wage is currently 485€ per month, before taxes. With a degree one usually one starts at around 1000€ per month and grows from there. You have to be already quite senior to even dream of the 2000€ barrier, in a few selected companies. However with the current economical situation, many people are quite happy if they happen to just get something .

That's funny. Up there in Lithuania 1000eur is average salary for non-senior developers. Senior developers may easily get 2000eur in a good company. Or they're not that senior. 3000eur/mo is not unheard of for really good seniors.

The main (uneducated) public is in the same spot though, with minimum wage of 290euros.

Good time for IT guys.

Re: Poll: Freelancers/Consultants – What's your yearly income?

#18

Post by negamax »

mritun wrote: post #15
jhh wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

could I ask what kind of services/technologies you were offering? With this kind of income you can make a very decent living in India.

$50k in India won't get you far in Mumbai, especially if you are married and have kids

Have you lived there? It's not that expensive. Primary costs would be rentals. And they fall exponentially as you move away from Nariman Point (city center)

Re: Poll: Freelancers/Consultants – What's your yearly income?

#19

Post by sangel10 »

There should be a smaller poll option to distinguish between people who just started/for whom freelancing is not a major source of income and those that are doing it as their main source of income. For example anyone making under 4 or 5 k is probably not a "freelancer" exclusively.

Re: Poll: Freelancers/Consultants – What's your yearly income?

#20

Post by davedx »

First year of freelancing, so I can only give a projected income, but it should be accurate as I'm on a long term contract until the end of the year: $80k.

It's been a very variable year of course. I consider myself as having had a successful year, but I think most people not on long term contracts will have highly variable monthly incomes.

My lowest monthly income: EUR 457 (in January too. That month was difficult).

My highest monthly income: EUR 9185 (this month).

In my experience it's the transition periods where you really have to be careful (unless you have a substantial savings buffer). Switching between contracts with different invoicing cycles; holidays.

I'm still enjoying it. Hoping to break EUR 100K next year.

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