Freelance

[Michael Condict]

In article <207600048 at s.cs.uiuc.edu> mccaugh at s.cs.uiuc.edu writes:
>
> First - as to salary - for a BS in CS, the lower range you mentioned ($15 to
> $20 per hr, if that) seems more realistic.
> Secondly - and more important for your own protection - is to ensure that
> you get ACCURATE specifications for a job PRIOR to programming, and I mean:
> IN WRITING. In my own experience and most of my colleagues, that has proved
> to be the main problem in getting tasks done to everyone's satisfaction.
>
>
> Scott McCaughrin
> (mccaugh at s.cs.uiuc.edu)

I don't know where you've worked as an independent, but in the metropolitan
New York City area, someone with a B.S. in C.S. would get between $30 and $35
dollars/hour under the typical assumptions that:

	(1) No consulting company is in the middle between programmer and
	    client, nor is the programmer an employee of the client
	    ("freelance" implies this, of course).

	(2) The client provides office and computer facilities to the
	    programmer.

	(3) The programmer has at least a couple years experience.

	(4) The work is full time for at least 6 months (smaller contracts
            tend to be for higher hourly rates).

	(5) The client is not a University, which pay notoriously low
            wages.

When I was a graduate student 8 years ago at Cornell, I was paid $20/hour
to do some programming for the University, which certainly indicates that the
$15 to $20 / hour figure is low.  Since then I've had several independent
contracts and contracts with consulting companies, and I can assure you that
$15 to $20 / hour is low even if you sign on as the employee of a consulting
company (assuming no benefits).  Moreover, my experience has only been with
the C.S. research and development industry.  Independent consultants working
in the financial industry can expect to make up to twice as much for doing
similar types of programming, based on the long-established principle that the
closer you get to the money, the more of it you get paid.

Michael Condict		condict at cs.vu.nl
Vrije Univerity
Amsterdam