OT: Going rate for LAMP jobs

[sammy ominsky]

On 25/10/2009, at 19:15, Geoff Shang wrote:
> I've been offered work on a (presumably) one-off project, writing  
> some PHP code to collect data from devices out in the field and  
> store it in a MySQL database, to provide information/updates (as yet  
> not fully specified) back to these devices, and web pages to allow  
> users to track the information sent in by the devices.
>
> Sounds reasonably straight-forward enough, though I've not yet asked  
> for the specifics.
>
> My question is, what is the going rate for work like this?

Depends heavily on your skill level.  Anywhere from $65 to $110 per  
hour, assuming you actually know what you're doing.  A top-level coder  
could do the same job in 1/3-1/2 the time an adequately competent one  
would, so that $110 for 10 hours comes out cheaper than $65 per for 30  
hours.

>  The person asking is in the US but obviously they're happy to go  
> off-shore for this so it's not just the US I need to worry about.

Let me share an excerpt from an email I received.  As background, my  
company was asked to re-do a project that had been outsourced to India  
by a guy in the US.  The person who brought us the job says:

******* engaged a team of programmers from India to write the code for
him - I think it was last March that they began working. The Indian
guys marketed themselves as Twitter API experts and star PHP
programmers.

******* is not technically proficient at all, and PHP to him is about
as understandable as Mongolian. But it turned out that the Indian guys
knew only a little more than *******. They wrote PHP code that would
make a soldier cry: hardly any error checking, disorganized, and (the
real problem) S-L-O-W. It took them about three times as long as they
said it would take to complete the project.

(Names changed to protect the innocent.)

In short, DO NOT undersell yourself if you're worth it.  But you do  
have to sell yourself, and explain patiently and clearly why it's  
worth it for them to spend real money for real work.

I wish you success!

--sambo