[hilko]

I'm curious... at a rate of $29, do you only get HNers that work from outside Western Europe or the US? In Holland I gather the 'average' rate is 50 euro, and that's for 'simple' front-end work. RoR or Drupal work can net you more.

(Honestly curious)

[johnnyg]

In short, no, we are from all over.

Several things are going on here:

1. There are a lot of projects available nearly all the time. You could say "oh, so you work more for less and call that good" or you could say "it is a pain point of contracting to be forever negotiating a new project that will just end in days or months, to be renegotiated again. What if there was a pool of work always available and I could scoop it up as I wished and contract out for it under known terms"? Less money, but more reliable money when you are free to do the work as you can see the fire hose.

2. The pay goes up. Informally, we'll name/label "epic projects" and hand them to veteran contractors. On clean completion, I'll get a "hey, its time to talk hourly rate" email and will bump rates.

3. F U, pay me. I do, reliably. This is a big deal.

4. It is home brew code base PHP work, which does tend to be a bit cheaper than RoR or CMS work.

5. Interesting work. We've rolled our own custom warehouse software. Our own queue system. File and fax storage engine. Purchase forecasting software. On and on. Yes, there's rote work and yes things go wrong now and again but in general once you are up to speed you are going to get something cool. When you fight that dragon, you'll do so with the help of a lot of people who know more than you. So you won't be bored and you'll come out stronger.

6. Me. I'm GM but also a (middling) coder. A lot of people doing contract work HATE these things:

a. Here are project specs, they have no relation to how databases are designed or how software is built, but do your best. PS, we're not going to use a ticketing system or code versioning to reference changes, just email me.

b. Refactor? No, no money or time for that. Just get this feature in.

c. Idea? No, can't trust you. Code review before push? We don't do that, so you are dangerous.

I think (and hope) we do a better job than most here and it makes us sticky.

7. Picky. We are fairly picky when it comes to enjoying working with a fellow contractor or full time person. If they have the chops but there's not a click, we pass. Seriously. Even when there's a pressing technical need. This makes for a nice group with less of the usual software pain. People tend to take a project, then another, then kind of keep taking them as can while mixing in that $100/hr, 5 hour project when it comes along.

Works for us. Your experiences may vary. :)