how much should i pay who?

[jayagopal]

hi everyone. i wasn't sure where to post this but... i live in india, my friend is in the U.S. right now and he's about to start raising money for a project we're working on. we need to make a budget but i really have no idea how much programmers expect to get paid. so this post has two parts:

(1) what's a normal amount to get paid for programming? how much would YOU want? do you get paid by time spent? by the tasks accomplished? by... something else i can't think of?

(2) will you help us with our program? it's a really neat project with the potential to become a really popular utility. most of the programming will be in connection with managing the flow of data over p2p networks and syncing up data between people... an example is a message board that works whether you're online or not, but gets intelligently synced up when the appropriate connections are established. there's obviously a lot more to the project, that's just one example.

my email is jayagopaldaz@gmail.com if you want to contact me directly.

thank you so much!

[utopiomania]

(1) what's a normal amount to get paid for programming?

Given they can all meet your requirements for delivering on time, this obviously depends on where a programmer is
located, so there's no normal fee as far as I know.

And, expensive quality code from, say Norway, CAN be much cheaper in the long run than dirt cheap byggy bullshit
code from Vaziristan. ,so be careful.

[Rook Zimbabwe]

All that Uto said and...

Payment is an issue... a lot of companies have big dreams and do not understand why code does not just magically write itself... I think they suspect we jut tell the computer what we want and it makes the program for us!

Always add at least 1 week to your estimates for time AT A MINIMUM!!! (depending on how fast a programmer you are!) I can completely redo my Point of Sale application in 6 days... but my wife will complain that I am ignoring her!!!

I got $45.00 to $65.00 an hour to develop depending on how difficult I thought the project would be and what resources I was given to complete the task. If I was just given a fuzzy idea picxture by a wanna-be web developer I either passsed on the idea or charged as much as I could get.

In most cases I never got paid the full amounts owed me.

It is a lot like doing Graphic Design work for a politician... you hav to try to get something paid up front as earnest money... then at leat you get something for your efforts!!!

Just talking from personal experience again!

[StPaul]

Having lived in various places, I would say a programmers pay is related to his living expenses and other factors. Working with people from other cultures brings with it problems- more problems than we have with people from our own culture. Whether it is worth hiring an overseas programmer will depend on a complex balance of his ability, cost, communication difficulties & culture differences. There is no easy answer to this question. It is true I think that anyone looking overseas is looking for a bargain, but must be willing to tolerate the difficulties that follow.
Best Wishes
StPaul

[netmaestro]

Really it all depends on the developer and the customer. I've done jobs for outfits where I just wanted to be a part of their mission and was content with the eight or so dollars I cleared per hour spent. I've done other larger jobs for major pharma and insurance corporations and was pissed off that all I cleared after expenses for each hour actually spent was seventy-five dollars. I don't think there is any real "normal rate". A developer is like any decent self-respecting wolf; he lopes around, making friends here, a small killing there, but always with a keen eye out for that gigantic slow-moving moose.

[srod]

lol, nice analogy.

[jmcbride]

I contract out. I charge $125.00 per hour.