If you are in an agency which basically sells labour (body shop) and if the agency is doing fixed bid projects ("you build us XYZ mobile app which does ABC by M

If you are in an agency which basically sells labour (body shop) and if the agency is doing fixed bid projects ("you build us XYZ mobile app which does ABC by MNP for XXX") you will be in a comparable situation. There is a difference however: * Devs are harder to find and currently they are likely to flat-out refuse to work on location * In dev, "time+materials" (bill by the hour) is much more prevalent. One of the reasons VFX work is so miserable is that the producers will try to place a project in the cheapest locality and with a fixed bid, implying an unlimited amount of change requests as long as the deadline is not passed. One of the best medicines against the indecision and non-commitment from clients is making them pay for time spent (both waiting while they meddle and working when the umpteenth change requests comes about). This works very well - it does imply you have to fire clients who do not want to work like this. VFX studios are in a bind because if you want to work "big ticket stuff" (Marvel etc.) they will negotiate hard on contracts, they will want insane deadlines, and they will want fixed bid. And they will want you to be in a locality which provides tax breaks.