Don't be afraid to ask for what you're worth. On the other hand, you don't earn anything if you price yourself out of the job. For reference, the going rate i

Don't be afraid to ask for what you're worth. On the other hand, you don't earn anything if you price yourself out of the job. For reference, the going rate in Minneapolis for competent contract software engineers seems to be in the $100/hr neighborhood. If you can't come to an agreement on an hourly rate, you might try negotiating a price for the job as a whole. If you're especially productive, you might even come out better this way than if you had done an hourly arrangement.