Ask HN: possible to get paid $300/hour as a programmer?
11 comments
I've gotten paid much more than this (though not for sustained periods of time).
I had established clients. I knew their business. I get a call one day asking to fix something trivial. "Ok. But I have to charge you for an hour. I am happy to tell you how to fix it over the phone right now for free. It will just take a few minutes." (I think I was working on something else and didn't want to be bothered).
"No, no. Just fix it. It's fine."
/shrug/
3 minutes later I have a billable hour (which was $150 at the time) ready for invoicing. That comes to an effective rate of $3000/hr.
I had established clients. I knew their business. I get a call one day asking to fix something trivial. "Ok. But I have to charge you for an hour. I am happy to tell you how to fix it over the phone right now for free. It will just take a few minutes." (I think I was working on something else and didn't want to be bothered).
"No, no. Just fix it. It's fine."
/shrug/
3 minutes later I have a billable hour (which was $150 at the time) ready for invoicing. That comes to an effective rate of $3000/hr.
Yes a few of the node consultants I know charge around 250-350/hr. Some newly funded startups or even bigger companies who are looking to switch will pay. It's nothing to them.
Can you please elaborate "node consultants"? What's their technical skill set?
Pretty sure he's referring to Node.js. So their technical skillset would be building servers and modules with Node.js.
they're "web scale"
That's MongoDB. The bear's verdict on node was Bad Ass Rock Star Tech.
If you're IBM, that's what you bill your clients (rate card about 1/4 through):
http://www-304.ibm.com/easyaccess3/fileserve?contentid=12765...
I recall the SAP guys billing clients from $300-500/hr, and we often subcontracted experts at similarly awesome rates. Just gotta deal with enterprise software and everything that comes with it ...
I recall the SAP guys billing clients from $300-500/hr, and we often subcontracted experts at similarly awesome rates. Just gotta deal with enterprise software and everything that comes with it ...
Possible? Yes. Typical? No. You basically have to be a "big name" or otherwise have a lot of high-profile, proven solutions that you can showcase if you're charging that much.
Or, work in finance or provide DR consulting to HFT joints. You might also look into government contracts.
Or, work in finance or provide DR consulting to HFT joints. You might also look into government contracts.
> or provide DR consulting to HFT joints
Unfuck this jargon for the rest of us please.
Unfuck this jargon for the rest of us please.
"or provide Disaster Recovery consulting to High Frequency Trading joints"
The joke is that often the top executives only think of planning for disaster after it has occurred. Up until that point it is "too expensive" or "not urgent".
The joke is that often the top executives only think of planning for disaster after it has occurred. Up until that point it is "too expensive" or "not urgent".
Make fixed price bids on stuff you already know how to do or have already done.
Oracle's rate card: http://www.cio.ny.gov/Contracts/ContractDocuments/OracleCons...
Once I did it, hoping that the company hiring me thought I was nuts. Against all odds, they say yes. Just 3 hours of work, but they paid me 900 bucks. The advice here is: Be as good as you can in what you do. Work will come along. And charge'em what you please.
Sure, get on with the right client on the right niche and you can do it easily.
Examples: Enterprise Oracle DBA, SAP, SAS, Peoplesoft
(basically stuff that big clients with big pockets need)
* The catch is having the right connections to get you in.
* The catch is having the right connections to get you in.
Whilst the big consulting firms charge those sort of rates, most freelancers have difficulty getting anywhere near those levels. Really depends on your track record and connections.
Finance.
We are in the market for an HTML5 game guru for an optimization job and would happily pay $300 per hour to the right person - I've made offers of more and been turned down.
I imagine others in our position would be willing to pay the same - so I can certainly attest to the demand being there and it making sound business sense in certain situations.
I imagine others in our position would be willing to pay the same - so I can certainly attest to the demand being there and it making sound business sense in certain situations.
Is there a particular market you focus on? A particular set of clients? Do any current companies pay this much? Is there a niche skillset that is worth just totally owning?