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Re^2: How much is an web-based application worth?
by Anonymous Monk on Mar 17, 2005 at 10:05 UTC
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I'm just wondering if 15 dollars is the right amount of such a task I'm about to be taking?
So, if people here would say, no $15 is too low, you should at least be getting $N/hour, for some N > 15, then what? You're happy with what you get now, will you then become unhappy? Will you ask for a raise? What if you don't get the raise? Leave, and become an unemployed programmer without much experience, and without having ever to finish a project, but with a history of walking out of a project because no longer satisfied with the agreed on pay?
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Re^2: How much is an web-based application worth?
by astroboy (Chaplain) on Mar 17, 2005 at 08:22 UTC
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I don't know what your market rates are. $15/hr is about $30k per year based on a 40hr week (this isn't exact, of course, but I basically take the hourly rate, double it, and add 3 zeros to work out an approximate yearly income). Is $30,000 a year reasonable for an intern? "Intern" isn't a job title where I come from, but from what I understand, it's a trainee postion, so it sounds like it may be an ok rate to me | [reply] |
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I'm not sure how you're doing your math, but if it's $15/hr as a contract, and not as a salary, then it's worth about $15,000 a year, not $30,000 a year.
From your hourly rate, you have to subtract all those things that an employee gets paid for them, such as office space, materials, training, downtime (sick, vacation), healthcare benefits, retirement benefits, marketing costs, administrative costs, and the booking ratio (time spent billing vs time spent on overhead or just no work).
I've been a contractor and a small business owner for almost 20 years. The formula is about right. $100/hr for billing is $100K a year, not $200K. Proven repeatedly by my direct personal experience.
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Well, I think that there's a distinction between contracting and running a small business. I've been contracting sinve 1998 until this year. Our country has free healthcare, but I do supplement it with insurance (about $100/mo). As for retirment benefits, I guess it's a cultural thing. I consider that a personal expense like food or rent, because it's rarely offered as a benefit from an employer in New Zealand. My administration costs are small, I enter my time in my accounting package each day (takes 5 minutes), and it generates my invoice automatically each month. I spend another half an hour a month entering expenses. I've never made any thing like $100/hr, but my declared income has always tended to follow my rough formula. This includes things like 4 weeks holiday per year, plus sick time.. I guess I do my training in my own time (outside of my 40 hour week) so you could argue that I work more than a standard day
However, as part of my new years' resolution, I've switched from contracting to running my own business in January - and all the additional costs like marketing, booking ratio etc have come into play. I'd make much more as a contractor, but I enjoy this more
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