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Re:Basecamp doesn’t employ anyone in SF, but now we pay ever... by antonkm on Tuesday January 02, 2018 @06:12AM (#16051210)
How much is your/the "Bay Area Rate"? Thinking about internationalization of my consultancy and have no real insight into hourly rates for devs in the US. Don't want to leave too much money on the table because I haven't done my research.
Re:Basecamp doesn’t employ anyone in SF, but now we pay ever... by czechdeveloper on Tuesday January 02, 2018 @07:08AM (#16051413)
EDIT: This comment was incorrect and I do not wish for more down votes.

ORIGINAL: I believe it should be about 100 USD/hour for skilled consultant, but maybe someone with more experience can correct that.

Re:Basecamp doesn’t employ anyone in SF, but now we pay ever... by TomMarius on Tuesday January 02, 2018 @07:15AM (#16051435)
For employment yes, consultant or contractor (which you probably will be if you're remote) can make double or more. 100 USD/hour is Prague, Czech Republic-level rate for a skilled consultant.
Re:Basecamp doesn’t employ anyone in SF, but now we pay ever... by dte22 on Tuesday January 02, 2018 @09:24AM (#16051959)
for these rates, how long would the contract be?
Re:Basecamp doesn’t employ anyone in SF, but now we pay ever... by TomMarius on Tuesday January 02, 2018 @01:56PM (#16054314)
You mean in Prague? I don't have experience (by choice) with projects that span more than a year. I prefer to do several short term projects (~3-6 months) at a time.
Re:Basecamp doesn’t employ anyone in SF, but now we pay ever... by dte22 on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @08:43AM (#16060852)
wow that's awesome. In Canada, I haven't seen the rates that high for Canadian companies.. I guess I am not looking hard enough!
Re:Basecamp doesn’t employ anyone in SF, but now we pay ever... by czechdeveloper on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @08:58AM (#16060972)
To be honest, I have never seen rates so high in Prague either. Very good offer for me would be 42 USD/hour for longer term project, 35 being more standard (yet still good). I currently live outside of Prague (regional city) and salary of employed developer (I know, not fair comparison) here are less than 14 USD/hour. Actually when I claimed I would not work for that much, I was told everyone wished for that kind of salary.

I should really look into what is to be known to get 100 USD/hour for medium term projects in Prague. I would be able to live from 2 to 3 month project for full year.

Re:Basecamp doesn’t employ anyone in SF, but now we pay ever... by TomMarius on Thursday January 04, 2018 @03:37AM (#16068815)
Employment is a whole different world because of various compulsory benefits, compensations for time not worked, much higher taxation etc.

You have to transform yourself into a consultant, being a contractor locks you into the rates you mentioned (the ceiling is around $50 to $70; big agencies are able to sell contractors to enterprises for around $80). It's not for everyone though, the rate is higher for a reason, you have to do a lot more things yourself and many devs don't enjoy doing them. Narrowing you specialization helps very much; it's also helpful to choose only a few (around 2) verticals (e.g. logistics, material production, ...) that you work in and mention that to everyone.

Re:Basecamp doesn’t employ anyone in SF, but now we pay ever... by 31reasons on Tuesday January 02, 2018 @10:27AM (#16052345)
Depends on what contracting work you are doing. The average web/mobile dev can't charge that much anywhere in the US. Company that I work for itself (an app dev company) does not charge more than $120/hour/dev to their SF clients.