Because software people don't ask for more. developer auction offers I'm getting is 85k to 130k so far, for someone with close to 10 year experience in the valley! wtf
Possibly it's due to your poor grammar?
$700/hr for legal advice vs. $100/hr for a top software engineer – why?
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Re: $700/hr for legal advice vs. $100/hr for a top software engineer – why?
#12Generally, a lawyer has a lot more responsibility that a software engineer. The repercussions of a bad legal error can be felt for a long time. A software mistake? easily fixed.
And, typically, a far more expensive education.
Re: $700/hr for legal advice vs. $100/hr for a top software engineer – why?
#13Because you're getting a steal from the iOS developer and you're also going direct vs through a firm for the attorney. To keep the situations similar you would need to hire a consulting company and see what they charge you per hour (or find an indie attorney).
Re: $700/hr for legal advice vs. $100/hr for a top software engineer – why?
#14A failure of a free market for legal services. Anyone can become a professional ios developer, there is free entry/exit in this market. The ABA artificially limits the number of potential lawyers with the Bar and requiring you go to an accredited school.[1] An intelligent individual cannot educate themselves in the legal field in their spare time and get to the point where they can hang their own shingle in the same…
That's not it, there are too many attorneys as it is (new grads aren't finding jobs).
One big difference is people brag about a high paid attorney (it's considered a good thing to pay a lot for legal advice) but never brag about how much they pay their developers (it's considered a good thing to pay less for developers).
Re: $700/hr for legal advice vs. $100/hr for a top software engineer – why?
#151. A top iOS developer usually costs more - between $150/hr and $200/hr in my experience. In the valley, it might be even more. Maybe your guy should be charging more, maybe he doesn't feel like it! A lot of guys I've worked with don't realize how much they're worth. Either way, hold on to him and give him a bonus when he finishes the project on time.
2. I think you're paying $700/hr because you 1) went straight for a partner and 2) you went straight for a major law firm in the valley. It's also a mindset difference. I think lawyers charge based on the value they add, not the hours they work, whereas developers typically think about hours. A developer who writes a piece of code that saves you $1M should charge $100k for it, and a lawyer probably would. On the other hand, your developer would probably charge you 1.5 hrs * $100 / hr. :) * Full disclosure: I'm a developer and I have lawyer friends, but
Re: $700/hr for legal advice vs. $100/hr for a top software engineer – why?
#161. Lawyers incur more liability with their work.
2. The quantity of workload they provide per job is less, thus pricing is more dense (i.e. companies realize programmers work thousands of hours for a project and that the project viability would collapse at $700/hr)
3. In many cases you have no choice but to hire a lawyer, while more often you can say no to a programmer should the economics not support the project.
4. A lawyer has to go to school for approx. 6 to 8 years (at least in Canada) while programmers have a wide variety of education levels.
I'm sure I could list more...
Re: $700/hr for legal advice vs. $100/hr for a top software engineer – why?
#17I truly hope he is not a great iOS developer because that rate is criminally low.
There is something magical that happens in the 100 pennies between 99 per hour and 100 per hour, a mental chasm that is in reality no different than 98/hr vs 99/hr but we make it into a big deal. Why he chose that number, and why people choose any number for an hourly rate is always a curious thing to me. We pick numbers that we think are palatable with no real regard for the same rigor we put into other processes. Has he tested his rate?
But the idea of hourly rates is accepting of the premise incorrectly...
My guess is that if he is truly great he could make some lawyers jealous. Charging $700/hr may seem far fetched for a developer but making 700/hr is a very different thing. 70K bill to a client for something that took 100 hours to make is a much more salient strategy if you give them what they want.
Re: $700/hr for legal advice vs. $100/hr for a top software engineer – why?
#18You sure it isnt $700/hr that hes with the client? Not trying to justify it but theres a lot of backend work like research that goes into legal advice and that cost is usually lumped in with the cost of the hour he actually talks to you. Also law school is very expensive and people know that so they can mentally justify paying more. You can make $100/hr programming and have no education. Plus their are tons of programmers who make more than $100/hr
Re: $700/hr for legal advice vs. $100/hr for a top software engineer – why?
#19Because if they were paid anywhere close to the same amount, who would choose to be a lawyer? Being a software engineers is way more fun! =)
Regardless, I wouldn't worry about it because software engineers will be automating away lawyers soon anyway. ;)
Re: $700/hr for legal advice vs. $100/hr for a top software engineer – why?
#20Generally, a lawyer has a lot more responsibility that a software engineer. The repercussions of a bad legal error can be felt for a long time. A software mistake? easily fixed.
Unless, of course..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life-critical_system#Software_...