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> $150/hr for a contract that will last 5 hours is terrible, because of all your overhead costs. That was my point about how $150 isn't some insane amount of m

> $150/hr for a contract that will last 5 hours is terrible, because of all your overhead costs. That was my point about how $150 isn't some insane amount of money. Depending on the length of contract, it may be almost nothing at all with the overhead factored in. Out of curiosity are those senior devs keeping their skills up, or are they programming in Java/.NET or something similar? At those rates I'd definitely be interested in taking a look at their CVs since I often need to hire developers. It's WAY below market.

steven777400 11y ago
Platforms such as Java or .NET make up a lot of the developer community, just not the visible (startup/tech) community. I'm classified as a "senior developer" at my day job ($90K/year) and I also do contracting ($60/hour). I could probably eek up both of those numbers a little bit, but not a lot without having to move to the cutting edge of technology. There's a lot of folks like me who program on older, non-sexy, maintenance roles on established systems which use older technologies. Outside of big cities, these positions don't generally command a big wage.
- exstudent2 11y ago
  > I could probably eek up both of those numbers a little bit, but not a lot without having to move to the cutting edge of technology. That's my point. As a developer (especially a contractor) you must always be learning new things and technology. It also helps to specialize in a field/domain. If you're a senior developer you could absolutely make double $60/hr as a contractor by just focusing on the business side of contracting a bit more.
- stcredzero 11y ago
  There's a lot of folks like me who program on older, non-sexy, maintenance roles on established systems which use older technologies. Outside of big cities, these positions don't generally command a big wage. I've been paid $109k a year for work on Smalltalk. And yes, it was this century, in Houston. (As of this writing, 4th largest city in the US.)
mbrameld 11y ago
> Out of curiosity are those senior devs keeping their skills up, or are they programming in Java/.NET or something similar? Those two things aren't mutually exclusive. There is very good money to be made consulting at the enterprise level doing Java/.NET or something similar, but you also have to keep your skills up.

steven777400 11y ago

Platforms such as Java or .NET make up a lot of the developer community, just not the visible (startup/tech) community. I'm classified as a "senior developer" at my day job ($90K/year) and I also do contracting ($60/hour). I could probably eek up both of those numbers a little bit, but not a lot without having to move to the cutting edge of technology. There's a lot of folks like me who program on older, non-sexy, maintenance roles on established systems which use older technologies. Outside of big cities, these positions don't generally command a big wage.

exstudent2 11y ago
> I could probably eek up both of those numbers a little bit, but not a lot without having to move to the cutting edge of technology. That's my point. As a developer (especially a contractor) you must always be learning new things and technology. It also helps to specialize in a field/domain. If you're a senior developer you could absolutely make double $60/hr as a contractor by just focusing on the business side of contracting a bit more.
stcredzero 11y ago
There's a lot of folks like me who program on older, non-sexy, maintenance roles on established systems which use older technologies. Outside of big cities, these positions don't generally command a big wage. I've been paid $109k a year for work on Smalltalk. And yes, it was this century, in Houston. (As of this writing, 4th largest city in the US.)

mbrameld 11y ago

> Out of curiosity are those senior devs keeping their skills up, or are they programming in Java/.NET or something similar? Those two things aren't mutually exclusive. There is very good money to be made consulting at the enterprise level doing Java/.NET or something similar, but you also have to keep your skills up.