4 ms·

Where do people get customers willing to pay $150/hr? Or is it a san francisco/new york thing and for the rest of north america/europe it's more like $50? (ca

by elai 16y ago

Where do people get customers willing to pay $150/hr? Or is it a san francisco/new york thing and for the rest of north america/europe it's more like $50? (canadian here)

grinich 16y ago
Try increasing your rate. I bet you'll get more business.
msbarnett 16y ago
Canadian here as well. If you're in any of the big cities and your rate is significantly under $100/hour, you're probably under-charging if you've got decent experience and rep and are doing something heavily in demand, like mobile work. $150/hour for devs as well known and with as good a reputation as the twitterific guys is pretty much par for course.
- elai 16y ago
  I'm a couple hours away from vancouver. Should that make a big difference?
  - msbarnett 16y ago
    I guess it depends on the size of the place you are at. I don't doubt that the rates are considerably lower than Vancouver-proper. In general your highest rates are going to be in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa, and Montreal (not necessarily in that order).
pmjordan 16y ago
I recently increased my rate to €80/h (~$113). I lose some customers that way, but I don't think I've hit the glass ceiling yet. Saying that, I'm trying to get out of the contracting game.
- wallflower 16y ago
  > I'm trying to get out of the contracting game. Consider Matt Gemmell's answer on his 5/10/20 yr plan below. For those who don't know, Matt Gemmell does bespoke high-quality UI. In fact, the whole Q&A thread is fascinating. > What do you see yourself doing in 5 years? 10 years? 20 years? In 5 years, hopefully earning a full-time living from software products rather than contracting. Beyond that, it's a stab in the dark, but I'll have a go: in 10 years, focusing on writing, speaking, mentoring and such (still within this field). In 20, ideally back in academia doing research and teaching. > The common factor is probably that you should only pursue things you really, really care about (whether it's romantic partners or your actual job). Life's too short for anything less, and finding something/someone great is a lot easier than you think. http://www.formspring.me/mattgemmell http://www.formspring.me/mattgemmell
  - pmjordan 16y ago
    I'll be releasing something soon (with the help of a co-conspirator) to take baby steps in that direction. Larger products are also in the pipeline. In hindsight, contracting probably made getting to this stage harder (slower) than having a 9-5 job and working on my own stuff in the evenings/at weekends would have been. Especially early on, I was often 2 weeks from running out of money, and I still occasionally screw up estimates. Still, I've learned a lot in the process. Working up a buffer has certainly been hard this way, particularly with the insane tax & social security rates here. Longer term, there's no way I'd realistically be able to be a mere employee without going nuts or locking myself out of the job market. Job hopping (I get bored with jobs that don't progress at my pace so quickly) looks terrible on the CV, contracting seems to be fine.
thibaut_barrere 16y ago
I'm in France, my rate is currently $160/hr (I only work with french clients currently).
Skroob 16y ago
I'm based in Jacksonville, Florida. All of my work is freelance telecommuting though, and my standard rate is $125/hr. And I have no trouble finding work.
- elai 16y ago
  How do you go about finding work usually?

by elai 16y ago

Where do people get customers willing to pay $150/hr? Or is it a san francisco/new york thing and for the rest of north america/europe it's more like $50? (canadian here)

grinich 16y ago

Try increasing your rate. I bet you'll get more business.

msbarnett 16y ago

Canadian here as well. If you're in any of the big cities and your rate is significantly under $100/hour, you're probably under-charging if you've got decent experience and rep and are doing something heavily in demand, like mobile work. $150/hour for devs as well known and with as good a reputation as the twitterific guys is pretty much par for course.

elai 16y ago
I'm a couple hours away from vancouver. Should that make a big difference?
- msbarnett 16y ago
  I guess it depends on the size of the place you are at. I don't doubt that the rates are considerably lower than Vancouver-proper. In general your highest rates are going to be in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa, and Montreal (not necessarily in that order).

pmjordan 16y ago

I recently increased my rate to €80/h (~$113). I lose some customers that way, but I don't think I've hit the glass ceiling yet. Saying that, I'm trying to get out of the contracting game.

wallflower 16y ago
> I'm trying to get out of the contracting game. Consider Matt Gemmell's answer on his 5/10/20 yr plan below. For those who don't know, Matt Gemmell does bespoke high-quality UI. In fact, the whole Q&A thread is fascinating. > What do you see yourself doing in 5 years? 10 years? 20 years? In 5 years, hopefully earning a full-time living from software products rather than contracting. Beyond that, it's a stab in the dark, but I'll have a go: in 10 years, focusing on writing, speaking, mentoring and such (still within this field). In 20, ideally back in academia doing research and teaching. > The common factor is probably that you should only pursue things you really, really care about (whether it's romantic partners or your actual job). Life's too short for anything less, and finding something/someone great is a lot easier than you think. http://www.formspring.me/mattgemmell http://www.formspring.me/mattgemmell
- pmjordan 16y ago
  I'll be releasing something soon (with the help of a co-conspirator) to take baby steps in that direction. Larger products are also in the pipeline. In hindsight, contracting probably made getting to this stage harder (slower) than having a 9-5 job and working on my own stuff in the evenings/at weekends would have been. Especially early on, I was often 2 weeks from running out of money, and I still occasionally screw up estimates. Still, I've learned a lot in the process. Working up a buffer has certainly been hard this way, particularly with the insane tax & social security rates here. Longer term, there's no way I'd realistically be able to be a mere employee without going nuts or locking myself out of the job market. Job hopping (I get bored with jobs that don't progress at my pace so quickly) looks terrible on the CV, contracting seems to be fine.

thibaut_barrere 16y ago

I'm in France, my rate is currently $160/hr (I only work with french clients currently).

Skroob 16y ago

I'm based in Jacksonville, Florida. All of my work is freelance telecommuting though, and my standard rate is $125/hr. And I have no trouble finding work.

elai 16y ago
How do you go about finding work usually?