>You have got to be kidding. I was just trying to see if one of my temp >agencies was giving me the shaft. They quoted me $35/hr.
$35 is too low for someone like you. The going rate seems to be highly dependent on geography, but I never accept a job that promises less than about $60/hr. At that, it has to be a nice, long-term contract with a lot of overtime. A lot of people get $100/hr. for heavy-duty programming--that's my beginning rate for a short-term job. Those In The Know understand that Lingo is a specialty just as much as C++, and hiring a Lingo programmer will not cost much less than any other programmer. Some people work on a sliding scale--that's what I do. I lower my rate for a long-term contract with a customer I trust. Basically, you should figure what you need to earn per year. A standard person-year is a bit over 2,000 hours. So, if you are earning $60,000, start with $30/hr. Now, figure that you won't work 2,000 hours, and you'll have a lot of non-billable time (keeping books, etc.) Plus, you have to pay your own benefits and taxes. A rule of thumb for contractors is to charge 3 times what your hourly rate would be in a salaried job--in this case, $90K. There will be feast and famine--you'll be crazy for 3 months trying to meet an impossible deadline, make money hand over fist, and then have 3 months of down time, chasing after another good contract. And, occasionally, you will land a really long-term contract--I'm just finishing up an 18-month contract at a pretty decent wage. Good luck--and welcome to the contractor's world. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
