Personally, I think that's a bad strategy. Performing at a level sub-par to your ability isn't the right way to go, because what will be remembered is not that you accommodated for a given budget, but that you do poor work; much like retractions in a newspaper, indicating "well, I do better work, but given the crappy money I was given, I did a crappy job" won't help - all that will be remembered is the crappy job, both by the client, and by the client referrals. I agree with Mirage's comments above; know what you're about, declare your value, and let the chips fall where they may. You seek a market, but that market also seeks a known quantity. Cheetah, if you're still around, forgive me, but I find it hysterical you outed yourself in this...Frankcow merely mentioned an anonymous situation, but you gave it concrete form.
make him!!! now stop telling him to stop whining/ranting I agree on all three, especially the first. the last thing you want to do is put out bad product that potential clients might see. it's one thing to come to terms with a budget but you def. want to give your best effort.
Now why on Earth would I do that? Isn't that the purpose of a forum, blog, or any other self-publishing tool?
( people see websites on the internet with alot of impressive features, and just expect they can wave a bit of cash in front of someone to get it done, not realising the true mechnics and nature of work involved)
I worked for a marketing company that wanted a custom payroll, commission program. I had a programmer friend and got him the gig. This was an immense access db program that calculated commission for umpteen variables if you just filled out a single form and produced a myriad of reports. During development the company would think of a new "feature" they wanted that required reworking the code. My friend was making maybe 10% of what a commercial house would have charged but we all went to the same church so he took it in stride. As time went on and the costs mounted my boss bought a "Learn Access" CDRom and told me to watch it and finish the project. :O I was like "I dont think so." My friend was really happy when that job was done.
I'm currently being payed $7.00 for labor that my company then charges $100 per hour for to the customer. I am gaining experience, and training. And learning some of the do's and don'ts of the industry. In about a month, if my performance is on par with expectations, I will be taken off of probation, and go up to $10 per hour, which is on par with the 1 hour per week job I had at the university doing lower standard work about 8 years ago. But I have a steady 40 per week at this one.
While I must say, pricing is the hardist bit of coding, making sure you undercut the next coder is bloody hard. Prices always get driven down and down, which for the end users is great, but for people like me, it is a bitch! I remember when I started to code, everything on the internet cost so much so I thought I could make lots of cash, needless to say I don't have enough for my food on the amount I earn from custom code anymore. However posting a topic like this without talking to the person is somewhat evil, and even more evil is trying to show them as being a ass, remember even if a customer quotes a price that is way to low, you can put it in a way to be nice. Now I have to accept low prices, I am a newish coder, so in turn I can't show a massive portfolio. However that is not the point to this topic, so my final words are, yes prices are being driven down and we can't do anything. If we all raise our prices at once, some newbie coder will come along and charge less, people understand money not skill. If anyone wonders, normally I get paid around $6 a hour, which translates to half of the UK min wage, and I have rent to pay. But I won't lie, I enjoy it!
People lowball web developers because, not only they are billions of them but also because anybody can be "web developers" using dreamwaver and frontpage stuff...
Take a look at the product photos I take! I am the perfect example of this I can make any 3 dimensional object look as flat as a pancake. Its my special skill
Referring back to an earler post: the guy who thinks $60/hr for a quality coder is alot? I know developers who wouldn't touch a $60/hr project, it's not enough money to make it worth their while. "You get what you pay for" applies to web development too. A good programmer can often do the work much faster and save money in the long run through efficient coding. My 2 cents
My romanian developer (who I use for most things) went up from $10 to $15/hour and I think that's a lot! LOL. Having her able to work on things very quickly has spoiled me!
Well long be the day I get paid 60$ a hour, heh long live the day I get paid $20, I would be happy with $15, just above min wage, which is fine with me.
I agree. You may even find coders in India for $4-$7/hour and they are in the best computer related universities in the world...
I agree you don't have to pay $60 an hour to get good work, I think it helps to be well established with corporate clientele to get that rate.
ok, Ansel nice....so Sport Illustrated won't be calling you anytime soon for the Swim suit issue? bummer
I believe in business there should always be a code of ethics. I cant sleep at night knowing that either i ripped someone off or someone ripped me off. I like to succeed but i like to see other succeed as well. By the way the steelers will never be world champs again, and the nfl is lucky the best team in football the san diego chargers gave a game away in the playoffs lol