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I work for a US company via outsourcing site, at $22/h full-time. Was one of the first developers, pushed their dead product up to the finish line almost by mys

I work for a US company via outsourcing site, at $22/h full-time. Was one of the first developers, pushed their dead product up to the finish line almost by myself, now leading a tiny team. Even though I put in a great job for 2 years now, my repeated questions for a review which would (hopefully) lead to a raise ended up in silence. Outsourcer offered to "try and squeeze" $0.50/h more, that was in January. What's even worse, I am locked in with the them so I can't bring up the financial questions to the client directly. Other than raising stakes and possibly risking my position, which wouldn't happen probably, which makes it even more awkward. In few months I'll move from Eastern Europe where I live now, to a western EU country, so taxes and cost of living will put me slightly above welfare. FML

mattm 11y ago
Like the commentator said above, get another offer. Obviously you can't get it from this outsourcing site so you'll have to find it somewhere else. What's the outsourcing site? They're probably billing you out at $100+/hr. They don't want to pay you more because they don't need to. You've stayed for 2 years at that rate. They don't need to "try and squeeze" anything from the client. They are the ones that don't want to pay more.
rhizome 11y ago
Thing is, the agency is probably billing the client at least double your rate. If they can string you along without a raise, all the more free money for them.
tonyarkles 11y ago
You've touched on something that the Op talks about a fair bit, but assumes exists without actually verifying that it does: leverage. Your situation is rough, for a few reasons. First, because you're not negotiating with the client directly, you can't really use the fact that you know their product inside and out as a selling point to justify the raise. Second, you've already "proven" to them that it's work that an outsourced contractor can pick up and work on. By no means am I suggesting that you're not uniquely qualified to be working on their product! I'm just having a hard time figuring out how to sell it, especially if your middleman has no vested interest in improving your wage. It sounds to me like your only real move would be to work around the middleman and negotiate directly with the client. That's probably going to violate contracts that both you and the client have signed. Maybe your best bet would be to hold onto the gig until you move, and then look for something in your new location that offers more opportunity for growth.
Mandatum 11y ago
Having been on the "outsourcer" side, I can tell you we're at least doubling (in most cases tripling) your rate. Line up a job in the western EU country you're moving to and say "thanks, but no thanks" to your outsourcer. We will squeeze you dry and find someone else if you demand more. If your job is sufficiently complex and the software your working on requires a lot of business knowledge, there is SOME leeway. But the most I've paid for an outsourced developer is $35/hr in eastern europe, however none of the work I did was overly complicated. Having also been on your side of the fence, it's nearly always more beneficial for you to arrange work directly with the company who's software you're working on. My outsourced rates only matched at-the-job rates on the very odd occasion when I hadn't met those I worked with/for in-person.

mattm 11y ago

Like the commentator said above, get another offer. Obviously you can't get it from this outsourcing site so you'll have to find it somewhere else. What's the outsourcing site? They're probably billing you out at $100+/hr. They don't want to pay you more because they don't need to. You've stayed for 2 years at that rate. They don't need to "try and squeeze" anything from the client. They are the ones that don't want to pay more.

rhizome 11y ago

Thing is, the agency is probably billing the client at least double your rate. If they can string you along without a raise, all the more free money for them.

tonyarkles 11y ago

You've touched on something that the Op talks about a fair bit, but assumes exists without actually verifying that it does: leverage. Your situation is rough, for a few reasons. First, because you're not negotiating with the client directly, you can't really use the fact that you know their product inside and out as a selling point to justify the raise. Second, you've already "proven" to them that it's work that an outsourced contractor can pick up and work on. By no means am I suggesting that you're not uniquely qualified to be working on their product! I'm just having a hard time figuring out how to sell it, especially if your middleman has no vested interest in improving your wage. It sounds to me like your only real move would be to work around the middleman and negotiate directly with the client. That's probably going to violate contracts that both you and the client have signed. Maybe your best bet would be to hold onto the gig until you move, and then look for something in your new location that offers more opportunity for growth.

Mandatum 11y ago

Having been on the "outsourcer" side, I can tell you we're at least doubling (in most cases tripling) your rate. Line up a job in the western EU country you're moving to and say "thanks, but no thanks" to your outsourcer. We will squeeze you dry and find someone else if you demand more. If your job is sufficiently complex and the software your working on requires a lot of business knowledge, there is SOME leeway. But the most I've paid for an outsourced developer is $35/hr in eastern europe, however none of the work I did was overly complicated. Having also been on your side of the fence, it's nearly always more beneficial for you to arrange work directly with the company who's software you're working on. My outsourced rates only matched at-the-job rates on the very odd occasion when I hadn't met those I worked with/for in-person.