On Fri, 18 Apr 2003, John Hoffoss wrote:
> I know this is a pretty vague question, but is on the topic. I'm
> curious to know how to determine what your rates should be for
> contracting. I guess it depends more on the nature of the job and
> experience required to complete it, but as someone who has only done
> small jobs for acquaintances (often for no more than beer and a
> dinner) I have no idea where rates would start. Is there a website
> that provides a good scale of what to charge based on the work that
> anyone uses to pick their rates?

Note that I haven't actually done private consulting personally; but quite
a few of my friends have, so take what I say with a grain of salt.  :)

You need to make sure that your rates reflect your abilities (IE, if
you're a fairly experienced admin who can get stuff done quick, your rates
could be quite a bit higher than someone who does Linux "on the side" and
can stumble through it), and your rates also need to be low enough that
they can't go hire a consulting company for the same price.  Also depends
on the size of the company hiring you, and the length of the job. (From
what I've heard, long-term gigs usually pay better, and larger companies
usually pay better.)

For individual consultants, I usually see rates of $40-$80/hr, depending
on skill level and the type of job. This is assuming short-term contract,
of course.

Of course, if you're a Cisco guru doing complex router configurations for
a large company, $250/hr may be more like it.. :)

-- 
Nate Carlson <natecars at real-time.com>   | Phone : (952)943-8700
http://www.real-time.com                | Fax   : (952)943-8500


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