4 ms·

who are these poor souls in the "Under $20" and "$20-$40" range?

artogahr 4y ago
Me, used to do full-time-style remote contract work for a company in Europe, and my hourly rate was $10/h. Granted it was still good money compared to where I live, but there you go. Now moved to and working in Europe as a TAC engineer for $18.5/h.
vbezhenar 4y ago
I live in KZ, I'm not sure if I'm qualified as a contractor as I mostly work for the same company, but technically I'm contractor. My current rate is around $15. I'm making like 3x of everyone around me, so not really poor.
- seabrookmx 4y ago
  > so not really poor I think this highlights an issue with this poll: the potentially huge disparity in cost of living. Where I live (Western Canada) this is below our minimum wage mandated by law. But renting a single bedroom apartment is also nearing $2000/month.
  - vbezhenar 4y ago
    I own single bedroom apartments and my monthly payment is $20 for electricity, water, etc and $10 for Internet. Plus $10 at winter for heating. Renting single bedroom apartment must be something around $500 here for good apartments and down to $200 if you're not very picky (we don't really use concept of bedroom, we use total number of rooms excluding kitchen, and one-room apartments probably are most popular for renting).
wingerlang 4y ago
I did some freelance work for $30 which is matching my current salary, which is actually very high over here (Thailand, iOS developer). I never went all in on freelancing, so it's hard to push for high salaries. Most 'remote' I've found is just within-america-remotely or Europe, etc, as well.
- wsc981 4y ago
  I freelance as well from Thailand (mobile dev), currently at 65 AUD per hour. I do plan to aim for 80 - 100 USD per hour next year, I think it’s possible.
  - wingerlang 4y ago
    Right I am not saying it is impossible. I am just too comfortable and ingrained working locally for so many years that I don't really feel like jumping out and managing the taxes, visas, and so on that will come with it. I wouldn't do $30 if it was my main work, I just wanted to give one example of someone doing it and why.
    - wsc981 4y ago
      Yeah if you do work 100% legal, it could be a hassle. Sadly the current rules in Thailand regarding remote work make 100% legal working quite difficult if you're a 1-person company. But if you setup an offshore company in another country (e.g. Seychelles) you pay a small yearly fee (e.g. 1500 EUR) and would be able to keep all of your income, provided you don't send the money to Thailand in the same year that you've earned it (so you need about a year in savings to live on). In such situations I think it's not too much work involved. Regulations for digital nomads might improve soon in Thailand I believe, so working legally as a single person company in Thailand could become easier hopefully.
      - wingerlang 4y ago
        I have looked into it quite a bit, even with the company workaround I would still not be allowed to actually do the work from Thailand due to not having a work permit. I know it is not enforced and all that, it would just take a really really solid salary/rate for me to uproot my current life and go that way.
dvdkon 4y ago
Here in the Czech Republic, ~50 USD is about the top end of consulting firms' hourly rates, at least from the contracts I see (public sector). 40 USD would be very respectable for personal hourly income.
therusskiy 4y ago
I remember when I was starting out (~2 years of professional experience at the time) I was contracting as a ROR fullstack developer for a San Francisco startup for $17/h. Local salary in Russia as Java developer before that was around $2.6/h. So that I felt pretty rich doing that. I remember I used to only bill for like 70% of hours I worked because I felt bad if there was some task that I couldn't implement right away or a bug I had to figure out. These days my rate is about $60/h working for a US company with 9 years of experience.
wsc981 4y ago
When I worked remotely in Pattaya I met a Russian PHP dev who had been living in Pattaya for half a year. At the time he earned 7 USD per hour through Upwork. We connected and now we both work for an Aussie company as freelancers (me doing mobile). Now he has a much more reasonable rate at around 40 USD which is quite ok in Malaysia (where he moved to).
bhedgeoser 4y ago
People who don't have to pay for insulin with their kidney.
manuelmoreale 4y ago
Me. Someone who has 10 years of experience and I feel absolutely terrible charging companies insane amount of money doing work that I don't feel like provide that much value to society compared to other way more important jobs that are paid way less. As a result I decided to base my rates on what's the average for my particular position in my country. This way I feel at least a bit less guilty.
dustyharddrive 4y ago
I’m sub-$20. My only work post-graduation (CS) has been a contract with a non-tech org that can’t really afford it. It’s remote, and I currently live in a US state with barely any tech companies.
iquatemb 4y ago
I live in Argentina and my salary is in that range, the company I work for sell software consultancy services to another company in Europe, and I'm full time dedicated to a single project. It's a good salary here, though I think some are making more by working directly with clients abroad, but it's difficult to bring your money to the country.

Me, used to do full-time-style remote contract work for a company in Europe, and my hourly rate was $10/h. Granted it was still good money compared to where I live, but there you go. Now moved to and working in Europe as a TAC engineer for $18.5/h.

vbezhenar 4y ago

I live in KZ, I'm not sure if I'm qualified as a contractor as I mostly work for the same company, but technically I'm contractor. My current rate is around $15. I'm making like 3x of everyone around me, so not really poor.

seabrookmx 4y ago
> so not really poor I think this highlights an issue with this poll: the potentially huge disparity in cost of living. Where I live (Western Canada) this is below our minimum wage mandated by law. But renting a single bedroom apartment is also nearing $2000/month.
- vbezhenar 4y ago
  I own single bedroom apartments and my monthly payment is $20 for electricity, water, etc and $10 for Internet. Plus $10 at winter for heating. Renting single bedroom apartment must be something around $500 here for good apartments and down to $200 if you're not very picky (we don't really use concept of bedroom, we use total number of rooms excluding kitchen, and one-room apartments probably are most popular for renting).

wingerlang 4y ago

I did some freelance work for $30 which is matching my current salary, which is actually very high over here (Thailand, iOS developer). I never went all in on freelancing, so it's hard to push for high salaries. Most 'remote' I've found is just within-america-remotely or Europe, etc, as well.

wsc981 4y ago
I freelance as well from Thailand (mobile dev), currently at 65 AUD per hour. I do plan to aim for 80 - 100 USD per hour next year, I think it’s possible.
- wingerlang 4y ago
  Right I am not saying it is impossible. I am just too comfortable and ingrained working locally for so many years that I don't really feel like jumping out and managing the taxes, visas, and so on that will come with it. I wouldn't do $30 if it was my main work, I just wanted to give one example of someone doing it and why.
  - wsc981 4y ago
    Yeah if you do work 100% legal, it could be a hassle. Sadly the current rules in Thailand regarding remote work make 100% legal working quite difficult if you're a 1-person company. But if you setup an offshore company in another country (e.g. Seychelles) you pay a small yearly fee (e.g. 1500 EUR) and would be able to keep all of your income, provided you don't send the money to Thailand in the same year that you've earned it (so you need about a year in savings to live on). In such situations I think it's not too much work involved. Regulations for digital nomads might improve soon in Thailand I believe, so working legally as a single person company in Thailand could become easier hopefully.
    - wingerlang 4y ago
      I have looked into it quite a bit, even with the company workaround I would still not be allowed to actually do the work from Thailand due to not having a work permit. I know it is not enforced and all that, it would just take a really really solid salary/rate for me to uproot my current life and go that way.

dvdkon 4y ago

Here in the Czech Republic, ~50 USD is about the top end of consulting firms' hourly rates, at least from the contracts I see (public sector). 40 USD would be very respectable for personal hourly income.

therusskiy 4y ago

I remember when I was starting out (~2 years of professional experience at the time) I was contracting as a ROR fullstack developer for a San Francisco startup for $17/h. Local salary in Russia as Java developer before that was around $2.6/h. So that I felt pretty rich doing that. I remember I used to only bill for like 70% of hours I worked because I felt bad if there was some task that I couldn't implement right away or a bug I had to figure out. These days my rate is about $60/h working for a US company with 9 years of experience.

wsc981 4y ago

When I worked remotely in Pattaya I met a Russian PHP dev who had been living in Pattaya for half a year. At the time he earned 7 USD per hour through Upwork. We connected and now we both work for an Aussie company as freelancers (me doing mobile). Now he has a much more reasonable rate at around 40 USD which is quite ok in Malaysia (where he moved to).

bhedgeoser 4y ago

People who don't have to pay for insulin with their kidney.

manuelmoreale 4y ago

Me. Someone who has 10 years of experience and I feel absolutely terrible charging companies insane amount of money doing work that I don't feel like provide that much value to society compared to other way more important jobs that are paid way less. As a result I decided to base my rates on what's the average for my particular position in my country. This way I feel at least a bit less guilty.

dustyharddrive 4y ago

I’m sub-$20. My only work post-graduation (CS) has been a contract with a non-tech org that can’t really afford it. It’s remote, and I currently live in a US state with barely any tech companies.

iquatemb 4y ago

I live in Argentina and my salary is in that range, the company I work for sell software consultancy services to another company in Europe, and I'm full time dedicated to a single project. It's a good salary here, though I think some are making more by working directly with clients abroad, but it's difficult to bring your money to the country.