NYCPHP Meetup

[Sterling Hughes]

On Mon, 2003-01-20 at 12:15, Bradley Baumann wrote:
> Ed,
> 
>     I charge anywhere from 80-120+ an hour. Completely depends on the job,
> and the company.
>     Someone wanted me to do a job at 3am once, to save their company because
> their huge ecommerce site was launching the same day, and it wasn't working.
> Obviously, I'd take this into consideration, too. I charged ~250/hr.
>     Honestly, I think charging 40-50/hr isn't professional ($10/hr is almost
> childish -- Babysitters charge more.). If you're a beginner just trying to
> get some money, perhaps that fee is appropriate -- but if you're a
> professional who knows your stuff and know you can get the job done faster
> then most others, I defiantly believe that a higher price is more than
> acceptable.
> 

While I charge around the same, I don't think "unprofessional" is the
right word for charging less.  I'm as busy as I'd like to be at this
point (although I'll always consider new projects :-), so my rate works
for my experience and contacts.  But, if I needed work, given my current
experience, and someone offered me a job for $10, I'd jump.  Jobs lead
to experience and contacts, and you can always renegotiate for further
work. Professional or unprofessional, your rate is what you can get,
when the offers start pouring in, then you can charge at your liking.
:-)

With that said, I think the original poster should hold out for more. 
$20 a hour is low.  State your advantages over a programmer that charges
$20.  But if you can't get them up, then you need to decide: do you have
a better offer?  Evaluate the opportunity cost and don't let pride get
in the way.  

-Sterling


-- 
"People can have the Model T in any colour -- so long as it's black." 
    - Henry Ford