Ask HN: possible to get paid $300/hour as a programmer?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4075998

by zxcvvcxz • 14 years ago

25 17 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

If so, how do you do it?

Is there a particular market you focus on? A particular set of clients? Do any current companies pay this much? Is there a niche skillset that is worth just totally owning?

joezhou• 14 years ago

Yes a few of the node consultants I know charge around 250-350/hr. Some newly funded startups or even bigger companies who are looking to switch will pay. It's nothing to them.

umbs• 14 years ago

Can you please elaborate "node consultants"? What's their technical skill set?

bcardarella• 14 years ago

they're "web scale"

chc• 14 years ago

Pretty sure he's referring to Node.js. So their technical skillset would be building servers and modules with Node.js.

igorsyl• 14 years ago

Finance.

seanp2k2• 14 years ago

Possible? Yes. Typical? No. You basically have to be a "big name" or otherwise have a lot of high-profile, proven solutions that you can showcase if you're charging that much.

Or, work in finance or provide DR consulting to HFT joints. You might also look into government contracts.

heretohelp• 14 years ago

> or provide DR consulting to HFT joints

Unfuck this jargon for the rest of us please.

CyberFonic2• 14 years ago

"or provide Disaster Recovery consulting to High Frequency Trading joints"

The joke is that often the top executives only think of planning for disaster after it has occurred. Up until that point it is "too expensive" or "not urgent".

damoncali• 14 years ago

Make fixed price bids on stuff you already know how to do or have already done.

clavalle• 14 years ago

I've gotten paid much more than this (though not for sustained periods of time).

I had established clients. I knew their business. I get a call one day asking to fix something trivial. "Ok. But I have to charge you for an hour. I am happy to tell you how to fix it over the phone right now for free. It will just take a few minutes." (I think I was working on something else and didn't want to be bothered).

"No, no. Just fix it. It's fine."

/shrug/

3 minutes later I have a billable hour (which was $150 at the time) ready for invoicing. That comes to an effective rate of $3000/hr.

cdrxndr• 14 years ago

If you're IBM, that's what you bill your clients (rate card about 1/4 through): http://www-304.ibm.com/easyaccess3/fileserve?contentid=12765...

I recall the SAP guys billing clients from $300-500/hr, and we often subcontracted experts at similarly awesome rates. Just gotta deal with enterprise software and everything that comes with it ...

clueless123• 14 years ago

Sure, get on with the right client on the right niche and you can do it easily. Examples: Enterprise Oracle DBA, SAP, SAS, Peoplesoft (basically stuff that big clients with big pockets need)

* The catch is having the right connections to get you in.

wilfra• 14 years ago

We are in the market for an HTML5 game guru for an optimization job and would happily pay $300 per hour to the right person - I've made offers of more and been turned down.

I imagine others in our position would be willing to pay the same - so I can certainly attest to the demand being there and it making sound business sense in certain situations.

CyberFonic2• 14 years ago

Whilst the big consulting firms charge those sort of rates, most freelancers have difficulty getting anywhere near those levels. Really depends on your track record and connections.

tzm• 14 years ago

Oracle's rate card: http://www.cio.ny.gov/Contracts/ContractDocuments/OracleCons...

luiscachavez• 14 years ago

Once I did it, hoping that the company hiring me thought I was nuts. Against all odds, they say yes. Just 3 hours of work, but they paid me 900 bucks. The advice here is: Be as good as you can in what you do. Work will come along. And charge'em what you please.

Ask HN: possible to get paid $300/hour as a programmer?

Related Stories