Slashdot Mirror
Do You Make $60/hr for Programming?
azzkicker asks: "I was reading some AP articles on offshoring. It talks about the struggles of out-of-work programmers and the shifting of jobs overseas [in the US]. Part way through one article it says: 'The average programmer commands $60 an hour in the United States, six times the rate in India.' I don't disagree with the Indian rate (USD $80/day, $400/week, $20,800/year gross), but what is with the US rate (USD $480/day, $2400/week, $124,000/year gross)? I know that programmers are billed out at high rates, but most of my programmer friends in Midwest, USA (years of experience and CS degrees) don't even see $50K/year. What is the actual rate most programmers see? Do you see $60/hr? Is the US rate misleading corporations into outsourcing?" Does offshoring really save corporations that much money?
I make $54k a year, plus full benefits (All medical expenses paid for my family, vision, dental, vacation, and company paid pension). This is a good job, but a far cry from $60/hour.
until I got laid off 40 days ago. Still, add in the insurance, vacation, etc and I can easily see $60/hour.
Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
My company bills me out at ~$160/hr.
Of course, I only see ~1/5 of that as my hourly wage, they get the rest of it for overhead/insurance/profit/etc.
I'm a freelance Unix consultant, I used to consider my rates low, not any more though.
I wouldn't have a problem charging $60/hr for certain jobs depending on how quickly it needs to get done.
I've cleaned up after many an offshore programmer (but some are pretty damn good).
I've been going through resumes this week and all the programmers are billing at $66-$70/hour. The rule of thumb is you have to pay $7/hour or 10% (whichever is more) to your contracting company (MDI, Matrix, etc) for paperwork and such.
So, yes, contract programmers are making that much. Permanent employees are not.
- Vincit qui patitur.
Yup, from my president, who will talk "shoot from the hip" and hosestly with me about things, we were talking about employees, and he says that all the companies he has worked with, that HR usually estimates around wages + 25-30%. He usually estimates the cost of employees as wages + 30-35%. I think these are realistic numbers for a professional company.
YOU'RE WINNER !
Another lame blog
A number of people have pointed to the cost of non-salary benefits like health insurance. For comparison, here is what Cognizant, an off-shore IT outsourcing company lists as benefits packages for American and Indian employees. There is a notable difference.
Here's what GE Global Research offers in benefit packages to American , Indian and Chinese employees. Again, you can see that there are significant savings in benefit costs.
Three Squirrels
A year ago it was $40/hr for similar work. The year before that it was about $60/hr. Maybe their numbers are just out of date. ...still $35/hr programming beats $8/hr pouring lattes at Starbucks.
That's what I'm seeing here too... $35/hr for C++ contract work. No benefits. Who would've believed it 3 or 4 years ago?
Hey, who moved my paneer?