

Tell HN: Raise your freelance rates - ryanwaggoner

I just saw this comment about top PHP and Rails devs in NYC charging $65-75 / hr:<p>http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4604780<p>Not picking on the comment author, but I know that the top devs in NYC are charging way more than that. It took me years to realize that I should be charging way more than that as well, and I still need a gentle reminder every now and then that I'm a professional, I help people make money, and I should charge accordingly.<p>I'm not selling anything here, just a friendly reminder to HN freelancers that you're probably not charging enough and you need to raise your rates. I recently found this ebook (not mine, no affiliation, no gain for me if you buy it) to be very helpful and worth every single penny that I spent on it. I made it back 100x over within a couple days.<p>http://doubleyourfreelancingrate.com<p>I know what most of you are thinking: "that's fine for those guys, but I can't raise my rates because I'm not a rockstar programmer / located in the right place / a scam artist / someone with a huge following."<p>But you probably can, and it'll probably be easier than you think. I just landed a job at $150 / hr, when I had been charging $95 / hr. And <i>literally</i> all I did was change my rate on the estimate form. The client didn't even mention it.<p>You can do this.
======
iamdave
_I'm not selling anything here, just a friendly reminder to HN freelancers
that you're probably not charging enough and you need to raise your rates._

Here's a friendly reminder of my own: be careful not to confuse anecdote with
rule of law. Dangerous things can and do happen.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
I stand by what I said: most freelancer developers are not charging what they
could be. Prompting some of them to consider that fact and research/test
accordingly is hardly dangerous.

