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I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

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Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

#21

Post by tomduncalf »

duxup wrote: post #18

I know someone working as a contractor for a big company. 1 year contract. 6 months have gone by and they've done ... nothing. Their boss keeps saying "Don't worry we'll get to you, we're just swamped right now, you're good." They're already talking about extending the contract.

Yeah this happens more than you’d expect! Never had it myself but I’ve worked st places where it’s happened to colleagues (usually assigned unimportant BAU work than actually doing nothing but I do know of people who’ve basically had nothing to do!)

Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

#23

Post by BonesJustice »

jbob2000 wrote: post #15

Pfft that's nothing. We just had a contractor charge us $50k to setup a simple HTTP proxy. I looked at the code; it's a .NET starter app with our endpoints in it that route to other endpoints. $50k and it probably took them 2 hours, which was probably mostly just packages downloading.

Indeed, $50k for a few hours of work is a lot better (for the contractor) than the $21k for 280 hours chronicled in the original post.

Hell, considering probably he spent most of his time sitting around, bored out of his mind, and had to commute 50 miles each day, I would have passed on the contract.

Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

#24

Post by duxup »

tomduncalf wrote: post #21
duxup wrote: post #18

I know someone working as a contractor for a big company. 1 year contract. 6 months have gone by and they've done ... nothing. Their boss keeps saying "Don't worry we'll get to you, we're just swamped right now, you're good." They're already talking about extending the contract.

Yeah this happens more than you’d expect! Never had it myself but I’ve worked st places where it’s happened to colleagues (usually assigned unimportant BAU work than actually doing nothing but I do know of people who’ve basically had nothing to do!)

I sort of suspect all these people I've met that I've wondered why they like being a contractor .... are all on that system.

I kinda want to be a contractor now.

Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

#25

Post by holler »

jbob2000 wrote: post #15

Pfft that's nothing. We just had a contractor charge us $50k to setup a simple HTTP proxy. I looked at the code; it's a .NET starter app with our endpoints in it that route to other endpoints. $50k and it probably took them 2 hours, which was probably mostly just packages downloading.

did you pay it? that's crazy!

Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

#26

Post by wjnc »

rocky1138 wrote: post #10

This is how corporate works. They have budgets for things. The money doesn't come out of the pocket of the person who cuts the cheque. You send in an invoice and it gets paid. If it doesn't, the company is insolvent or they are at risk to lawsuits which will cost them more than your paltry $18000. But they don't even think about the lawsuit part. Bill comes in, cheque goes out.

Can you give my boss the 101? He has me methodically checking invoices against tenders. I would actually argue the other way. As our consultants rely on our return business, they would quickly solve any problem with the invoice even if not to the letter correct. We have bargaining power and they don't want to bite the hand that feeds them.

Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

#27

Post by beager »

jamesb93 wrote: post #6

So much waste - I'm not saying he didn't earn his money but how is it possible for a company to run cash positive when it wastes like that?

I've realized that a lot of companies settle into enormous tailwinds, and the mission of the company then becomes "don't screw it up".

I've worked my entire career in startups and venture-backed companies. I cannot fathom the level of sloth, but I'm sure when I'm older I'll crave it.

Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

#28

Post by irrational »

jamesb93 wrote: post #6

So much waste - I'm not saying he didn't earn his money but how is it possible for a company to run cash positive when it wastes like that?

I work for a Fortune 100 company, and I've been asking myself this exact question nearly every day for the past 18+ years. The amount of money that is wasted is astonishing. $18,000 for a static html page is so little that it's almost laughable. We think it's crazy, because we have a clue what it actually takes to build the web page. But, the people who pay the bills are not technical and have no clue, so they would happily pay $180,000!

Re: I Charged $18k for a Static HTML Page

#29

Post by codegeek »

The adventures of enterprise/corporate payments. They can be annoying, slow, bureaucratic but boy when the time comes, invoice gets paid. One of our smaller business customers recently got acquired by a large corporate so the next $5000 "small enhancement" project had to go through their procurement who then apologized when we demanded the payment immediately. Why ? Because they thought they had not paid on time even though we literally had sent them the invoice a week ago (our smaller business clients will pay "due upon receipt"). This corporate client apologized profusely but when we finally realized it was not 30 days (they pay net 30), we backed off :). Still got a couple of apologies.
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