

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

If so, how do you do it?<p>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?
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clavalle
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.

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

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bcardarella
they're "web scale"

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frou_dh
That's MongoDB. The bear's verdict on node was Bad Ass Rock Star Tech.

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cdrxndr
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...](http://www-304.ibm.com/easyaccess3/fileserve?contentid=127659)

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 ...

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seanp2k2
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
> or provide DR consulting to HFT joints

Unfuck this jargon for the rest of us please.

~~~
CyberFonic
"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".

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

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tzm
Oracle's rate card:
[http://www.cio.ny.gov/Contracts/ContractDocuments/OracleCons...](http://www.cio.ny.gov/Contracts/ContractDocuments/OracleConsultingRateCardExhib9.pdf)

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luiscachavez
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.

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clueless123
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.

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CyberFonic
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.

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igorsyl
Finance.

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wilfra
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.

