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Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed

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On 11-11-28 01:53 PM, Novice wrote:
> ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) wrote in news:rate-20111128181722
> @ram.dialup.fu-berlin.de:
> 
>> Novice <novice@example..com> writes:
>>> Most of my past consulting has been developing websites so
>>> I'm not sure on several details of how to present and sell
>>> myself.
>>
>>   I think it helps to be able to estimate what you can do and
>>   what you cannot do and then to communicate this honestly.
>>
> That's certainly what I want to do. Sometimes though, I get the 
> impression that consultants claim to know much more than they actually do 
> and then scramble like mad to do the actual work when they get the job. 
> Sometimes, they rise to the challenge and manage to do an acceptable job. 
> Other times, things don't turn out so well.

Some consultants - or the consulting bosses who hire them out, if they
work for a larger consultancy - do skirt the truth, or overly embellish,
or lie. It's not an ethical or productive thing to do.

It's always, IMO, abundantly clear in a contract as to what you should
be knowledgeable about, and how expert you should be on this thing or
that other thing. And you had best be, because that's the expectation of
the client.

General-purpose Java programmers - even consultants - do not tend to be
experts, and reasonable clients don't expect that. What they do expect
is journeyman competency. Effectively a client in this scenario wants a
contractor who will perform at least as well as someone he might want to
hire FT for the equivalent position. If that equivalent position is not
that of a technical architect or senior analyst, but of an intermediate
programmer, then there is not usually an expectation that the contractor
will have the skills of a senior architect (the subject of
skills-contract needs mismatch is a whole different topic).

An example of a mistake one could make is to be knowledgeable in JSF
only, say, but make out like Spring MVC or Struts 2 won't be a problem
either. In fact it almost always will be a problem, in the timeframe of
a typical contract, and you'd be dishonest in letting the client believe
that you could do a competent job of Spring MVC.

[ SNIP ]
>>
> Based on the other reply to my question, I'm thinking $40/hr is a good 
> rate to propose, although I'm inclined to mention that it is negotiable. 
> Or would that be assumed by the customer? 

In North America, for general-purpose Java work done by an
intermediate-level programmer, $40/hr is pretty good for your take-home.
I'd add $10-$20 to cover contractor overhead.

My recommendations are based entirely on your stated level of
experience, the probable nature of the work, the fact that your overhead
very likely doesn't include upkeep on a bricks-and-mortar consultancy
office, things like that.

The client will never negotiate _up_. :-)

> Also, once I quote a price like that, is it assumed that the rate covers 
> all of my expenses? For instance, if the customer requests to meet in 
> person at his office, do I simply charge that rate for the time it takes 
> me to get to his office and pay for the gas out of that? Or would he 
> expect to pay the hourly rate PLUS actual out-of-pocket gas expense (or a 
> fixed rate like 50 cents a mile?) I'm embarassed that I don't know this 
> already but I just want to be sure that I don't cause myself trouble by 
> doing things in a manner that he will consider unprofessional.
> 
Your rate covers usual travel, as a rule. We're not talking about air
travel here. If the contract *work* entails travel, that's a different
matter.

AHS
-- 
You should know the problem before you try to solve it.
Example: When my son was three he cried about a problem with his hand. I
kissed it several times and asked him about the problem. He peed on his
hand.
-- Radia Perlman, inventor of spanning tree protocol

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Thread

General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-28 15:41 +0000
  Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Jeff Higgins <jeff@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-28 11:37 -0500
    Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-28 17:04 +0000
      Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed markspace <-@.> - 2011-11-28 11:09 -0800
        Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-28 19:48 +0000
          Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed markspace <-@.> - 2011-11-28 12:14 -0800
            Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Rhino <no.offline.contact.please@example.com> - 2011-11-28 21:28 +0000
              Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed markspace <-@.> - 2011-11-28 14:14 -0800
                Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-29 05:24 +0000
                Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2011-11-29 20:44 +0000
  Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-28 17:53 +0000
    Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-28 19:52 +0000
    Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom3minus1@eastlink.ca> - 2011-11-29 07:20 -0400
      Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-29 16:06 +0000
        Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2011-11-29 12:04 -0800
          Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-30 00:12 +0000
            Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2011-11-29 22:02 -0800
              Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-30 20:28 +0000
  Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-11-28 10:03 -0800
    Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-11-28 10:44 -0800
      Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-28 20:13 +0000
        Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-11-28 12:59 -0800
      Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-11-29 14:04 -0800
        Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-11-29 15:07 -0800
    Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-28 19:56 +0000

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