Clojurians Log v2

Where do you live?

What I usually do is figure out what a ft salary+benefits is, double that, then divide it by 2000 (number or hours in a working year.) So If typical devs earn about $200k per year (this includes salary + benefits + bonus) then I divide that by 2000 = $100/hr

Although people who write checks might use different approaches....

It is generally better if you can emphasize how much you can save the customer (or generate additional income) - and if you can show them that hiring you is a way for them to save money (or generate value) ...

on the other hand companies always cut on you and you can do nothing about that unless you live in US / UK.

Do you really have to change hourly? Can you workout a scheme where you get paid per project/milestone? I think that is a much better option for both parties.

I probably couldn't @ag. The other contractors there get paid by the hour. I feel like hourly would be more consistent, which is what I want right now. That being said, I've never seen a situation where a contractor gets paid like that so idk if it would be consistent or not.

rate per hour is standard

That's what I settled on. Just noticed I ignored all that other stuff above. I live in a mid-sized city in the south (US). Standard contractor rates for other companies that do C#/js/java/vb development is between 40-50$ an hour. Negotiations have started and i believe I will end up with more than the standard rates for other dev in my city. I'm happy with it as it will be the most I've ever made as a full time employee. I just have to figure out how to get health insurance and other benefits that I used to get as a full time employee

Hmm you mean US rate for people who live in US is 40-50$? I expected it to be much higher hmm

Here I can’t help too much, because I don’t live in US

In my city. In a place like new york or California it's going to be much higher.

The rate still feels very low, you may end up having it rough after paying taxes.

So what is the rate for people living in US from your experience? I know it depends where. I hear different opinions.

Usually you'd take a full-time yearly rate and divide the number by 2080 (estimated number of work hours in a year)

That's the absolute minimum you should charge per hour.

@dannyfreeman you should be charging at least $70/h

that is what I was thinking about it, but I hear opinion rate and salary in US are not really counted at the same level

yeah, this is different story for example for me, because I live outside US.

$70/hour is an extremely high rate for my city where the average software engineer job is a lot lower than that (like 50-60k per year). I believe I'm going to get about 60/65 per hour which is a really nice compromise for me.