I know there are a fair few working software developers on this forum. I was just wondering what a fair and reasonable hourly rate was for consulting on software development.
Posted by MattP (Member # 10495) on :
Depends very much on the type of work, your skills, the client, and the market. The least I've worked for was $50/hr.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
And even a low market rate for freelance consulting on that subject of good quality would be $75 to $100 an hour.
Though that might be dropping nowadays, due to the problem of knowing quality in advance and the surfeit of those hunting work.
On that subject, if anyone needs some consulting on software development, topic modeling, machine learning, information visualization, network analysis, or a number of other things, I'm quite good .
Posted by Herblay (Member # 11834) on :
I work in defense, and any software consulting we deal with is usually free. Then again, it's usually prep work for a bid (fixed rate for larger consulting contract). The bids aren't always huge, usually at least a couple thousand, but generally project (rather than man/hour) based.
It all depends on the client and the business model you're going for.
Posted by MattP (Member # 10495) on :
On that note: Be wary of project based agreements, especially if one or both parties to the agreement are not experienced with contracted development arrangements. My experience is that in many cases expectations on one side or the other tend to be way out of line with reality. It becomes much more important to get well-defined requirements and read the fine print carefully.
I lost some money on a mobile app once because a portion of payment was contingent on publication of the app to the platform's app store and the person that hired me decided not to submit it after I delivered it to him. The app was doing poorly on other platforms so apparently he decided it was a better financial move for him to not publish it so he wouldn't have to pay me.
Posted by Tstorm (Member # 1871) on :
Your rate will also depend on your geographic area, but I assume that falls under fugu's category of 'the market'. I couldn't charge the rates fugu's talking about for some of my clients. But...I'm learning that my spare time is worth more than the market rate around here, too. Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
I've charged, on average, $50-$75.
But it's getting hard to compete with Eastern Bloc and Middle East developers that will do (arguably) the same thing for $4 an hour.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
I may have been confused; I wasn't speaking to developing software as a consultant, I was speaking to consulting on software development: that is, methodologies, best practices, overarching code testing and review for problems, system design, that sort of thing.
Posted by MrSquicky (Member # 1802) on :
I share fugu's confusion.
If we're talking about developing software, when I did that as an independent contractor, the least I would charge was $50/hr and that was my rate for non-profits. Other than that, I charged between $75-$150 an hour depending on how much time per day they wanted, the complexity of the work, and how much they annoyed me.
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