rmitz Posted February 3, 2014 Posted February 3, 2014 Oh, OK. Even so, consulting rates are usually only about 30% or so higher than salaried rates, from my understanding. So $100/hr is probably a "good" consulting rate for the majority of software engineers. I'm talking about an independent person doing consulting. If you're a part of a "brand-name" consulting shop, you can get billed at a higher rate, but you're not getting that rate into your pocket. If you're only 30% above what you'd be making at a job, you're basically making the same amount. A rule of thumb we use for benefits is add 1/3 onto base salary. Then you have to consider work pipeline, stability, etc. If you aren't at least 50-100% above what you'd make at a regular salaried job, you're not really compensating for the risks.
turar Posted February 3, 2014 Posted February 3, 2014 Right. By consulting, I more meant corp-to-corp (i.e. incorporated individual), or just individual contractor. I haven't seen rates above $100/hr for your average run-of-the-mill software dev contracts, say programming in Java. But it looks like people were talking about billing rates as part of a larger consulting shop. Then I agree, if you're working for IBM and they contract you out, they can probably easily charge $300/hr, but my point is it, it doesn't make a difference to you, since you're an employee making your fixed salary of $100K. And if you decide to go off on your own and starting independent contracting, good luck finding that $300/hr gig. So it's apples to oranges, I guess. And again, this is just my understanding, which could be wrong.
muscleman Posted February 7, 2014 Posted February 7, 2014 I must be out of sync with the latest rates then. Muscleman, where can I check up on these opportunities in Seattle or Bay Area? I have a number of friends across the West Coast in software dev, they are usually quoting much lower rates, per my post above. I only have a few data points. The rates jumped since 10 months ago. My rate includes everything, and assuming that you work for the company for 4 years. It is hard to get the data points, because all the salary websites only show stale data. The rates have jumped up a lot. 100k a year is kind of typical Microsoft pay, which is way too cheap compared to other competitors.
LC Posted February 7, 2014 Posted February 7, 2014 My gut tells me...if we're arguing over 100K salary vs 200k salary vs possibility for 6 figures....well, then there are options. and one should be doing what you enjoy doing. i'd rather work at a fund for 100k/year than make 200k doing software dev...because i hate software dev and suck at it :)
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