🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1855@pdxgate.UUCP>, mwizard@eecs.cs.pdx.edu (Craig Nelson) writes:
> >>In article <1845@pdxgate.UUCP> Craig Nelson writes:
> >>
> >>	OK, programmers, I need help, and I need it fast.  Win 3.0 just
> >>crashed on me about 20 minutes ago.  I have a 40 page report due in about
> >>36 hours and it's written in Word for windows.  I don't turn in that report
> >>and I'm screwed.  I don't graduate
> 
> >Sorry, but I couldn't resist flaming you!  What a totally ridiculous request
> >of a programmer.  Readers of this group couldn't care less about why your 
> >copy of windows crashes - you should not have posted such a request to this
> >group.
> 
> 	Flaming me ?  Where the hell are you from, a beached ship-wreck ?  I
> did not demand, nor even suggest a demand from any programmer on the net.  
> Either you feel compelled to suggest you don't have enough 50$/hour clients
> to put you into the home of your dreams and decided to tell grad students 
> about your abilities (or lack thereof) and the ridiculous charges you pend,
> or your out of work altogether and have nothing better to do.

OK, calm down, both of you.  Craig's original request was probably not
in the best newsgroup (comp.windows.ms.programmer is for programming
discussions of Windows, not about setup problems which his apparently
was - comp.windows.ms would be more appropriate, though I really don't
see it as the big deal that Neville apparently thought it was).

However, Craig seems to misunderstand how the business of computer
consulting works.  Many people outside the business see a rate of
$50/hour and immediately think that this is totally outrageous.  What
they don't see is that out of this, the consultant must pay taxes (if
you are employed by someone else, they pay more taxes than just those
witheld from your paycheck, and a consultant must pay those taxes in
addition to those witheld from an employee's paycheck), fringe benefits
(health insurance, for example, which is often included with employment
if you are an employee), equipment (most consultants have to have rather 
more computer equipment than a typical home computer user), technical 
literature (books and journals), professional organization dues, office
space and furniture/equipment, advertizing and promotional expenses,
and so forth.  Add onto this the fact that the typical consultant is 
rarely billing a full 2000-hour year (the approximate number of hours
worked in a year at 50 weeks of 40 hours each) because of the time
required to do promotional and "overhead" work (governmental and internal
paperwork such as billing), and you begin to see that this isn't so
unreasonable.  The rule of thumb is that a consultant actually makes
1/3 to 1/2 of the billing rate, depending on variations in the above
equation for individual circumstances - usually closer towards 1/3.
This works out to $30-$50k per year for a rate of $50/hour, well within 
the usual salary range for computer programmers in industry.

Obviously there are variations on this theme - for example, a "job
shop" such as Manpower might bill the client at $50 and pay some of
the overhead (taxes, promotional expenses, etc) out of that, paying 
the programmer at some reduced rate.

No Craig, I don't think $50/hour is ridiculous at all - in many areas
this is just about the going rate.  In some areas it may be lower and
in others higher (depending on the work situation in different cities)
and for some specialized skills the market may support a rate several
times that (but probably with fewer billable hours per year).  Once
you find yourself in the real world you will find that things work
somewhat differently from the way they look when you are in school
(one reason I don't recommend that anyone go into consulting directly
from school but get some "real world" experience first).

On the other hand, Neville's response was rather obnoxious - there
would be much more polite ways of saying the same thing, or just 
saying nothing.  It's not usually good business practice to write
or say things that might offend potential clients (whether you are
a potential client or not is beside the point;  someone who _would_
be a potential client might see the message).  Also, in many cases
it's good public relations for a consultant to answer simple questions
or problems (that might take a few minutes or so) without worrying
about a fee;  a lot of the point of the consulting game is to make
the customer happy enough to come back or to recommend you to other
customers.  Too much of a nickel-and-dime attitude may mean that you
lose the larger contracts which is where the money is.

Please let's keep the flames down to a dull roar.

						Bruce C. Wright