by Alan01252 on 5/15/13, 9:09 PM with 64 comments
by tptacek on 5/15/13, 10:00 PM
The "correct" way to work out your rates is to raise them until you drop down to a target utilization rate by shedding the clients who don't value your work. It's awfully hard to do this in practice, but it gives you an idea of what you're aiming for.
As always, let me remind you: don't bill hourly. You are not a furniture mover.
by shawnee_ on 5/15/13, 11:25 PM
The best solution I've found is to require a Good Faith Deposit. ( http://www.hackeress.com/goodfaith ) For this, charge ~ what you'd charge for 1 day of work, even if the client just wants to meet "for coffee". It's really hard to draw the line where the chitchat ends and the actual work / scope-framing / brainstorming begins. How many times have interviewers brought in or set up phone interviews with people they have zero intention of hiring, just to "pick their brains"? I ended up learning the hard way that this happens way too often. By the time I figured it out, I was out a lot of wasted time. (WePay and a couple other companies did this to me after my post here on HN awhile ago).
I call it a Good Faith deposit because even though non-contractual meetings of Good Faith should be the norm, they're _not_. Getting viciously screwed over as an employee and a contractor (and even as an interviewee) more than a couple times brings this harsh reality into focus. So I made a decision going forward: the ONLY kind of clients I want to team with are those willing to respect my time and experience enough to work with me in Good Faith.
by akamaka on 5/15/13, 10:02 PM
My biggest problem so far with trying to work as a freelancer has been figuring out exactly what type of work I should be pursuing. I've got a pretty broad skill set, from back-end to front-end web programming in several languages, adequate graphic design skills, and experience with native mobile platforms. While having more skills is a good thing, I feel like it makes it more difficult to market myself successfully.
Has anyone else had this problem? Did you try to focus on one area that you liked the most? Did you pursue what seemed to be in greatest demand? Or did you find a way to successfully market yourself without limiting yourself to one type of work?
by 6twenty on 5/15/13, 11:15 PM
I also feel like being in New Zealand hampers my ability to charge a higher rate. I don't know for sure, but I suspect that companies here are used to paying lower rates simply because there's less talent here than overseas.
by tunesmith on 5/15/13, 11:59 PM
At more senior levels, it seems swapped. Contractor rates seem to have a pretty strong resistance point around $120/hr (if you go by a recent hacker new survey), I think partly because if you go above that point, that's what agencies and consultancy firms and teams tend to charge. Meanwhile, salaries for the same general technical fields seem to go higher than that pretty easily. I'm seeing 130k - 150k pretty commonly in java enterprise positions, more when you figure in bonuses with big companies.
Seems like people at around that level would be well-served to switch to daily or weekly billing, but when you're working with larger companies or vendors, that's a pretty big switch for them. I've tried that approach with a Very Large company and was shut down pretty quickly.
by bmac27 on 5/15/13, 10:06 PM
by illdave on 5/16/13, 8:11 AM
From my experience, invoices that say "Payment due within 14 days" have a greater chance of being paid quickly than invoices that said "Payment due on receipt".
Also, the general rule of thumb is - if you're not sure you're charging the right amount, you're almost certainly undercharging.
by SkyMarshal on 5/17/13, 1:23 AM
I suppose what you mean here is that supply of work is heavily outstripping demand for it, but a better way of saying that is demand for developers is heavily outstripping supply of them.
by scottshea on 5/15/13, 9:38 PM
by timjahn on 5/15/13, 10:41 PM
Your network is your greatest asset.
by justplay on 5/16/13, 9:08 AM