Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > comp.lang.java.programmer > #10293

Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed

Show all headers | View raw

On 11/28/2011 10:41 AM, Novice wrote:
> I've got some questions about consulting as a Java developer. Thanks to a
> personal connection, a project needing a Java developer has just come to
> my attention and I can probably get this contract if I play my cards
> right.
>
> Unfortunately, as I've said elsewhere in this newsgroup, I'm a Java
> hobbyist and have done very little paid work as a Java developer so I'm
> not completely sure on how to land this project. Most of my past
> consulting has been developing websites so I'm not sure on several
> details of how to present and sell myself.
>
> The opportunity is literally sitting in my inbox as we speak in the form
> of an email from my friend's friend. He's asking me what my rate is and
> I'm not sure what to answer. I don't know what the going rate is for Java
> development in this area since there isn't a whole lot of Java
> development around here and I have no idea what rates people are asking.
> Frankly, I'm willing to do the work at almost any rate he's willing to
> offer, although, naturally, I'd rather get more than less. I'm also
> concerned that if I set my rate too low, he'll think that I'm really
> awful at what I do and look elsewhere for someone to fill the
> opportunity. Can anyone suggest a way to come up with a rate that
> encourages him to give me the job, even if we have to negotiate it down
> (or up) to something we both can live with?
>
> In a nutshell, if I tell him $10/hr, I think I'll be signalling that I'm
> so awful that that's the best I think I can get. If I tell him $100/hr, I
> think his expectations may be beyond my abilities and/or I'll be so high
> that he won't even bother to try to talk me down. I don't want to give
> him a number that is going to scare him off and convince him that this is
> not worth further discussion.
>
> A related issue is what I think of as R&D work. In the past, if I've
> gotten jobs to do something that I don't entirely know how to do, I've
> made a point of absorbing the R&D costs and not passing them to the
> customer. For example, if someone wanted me to build a website and
> include an online shopping component so that customers could buy things
> via a shopping cart and credit card, if I didn't know how to implement a
> shopping cart and set up a merchant account, I'd research that on my own
> time and not charge the customer, since he basically assumed I knew how
> to do that going in. It didn't feel right to charge him for the time it
> took me to get up to speed. I treated it as an investment in my own
> education and did the learning on my own time, charging him only to
> implement the solution, once I figured out how to do it. I'm not sure if
> that's standard practice among other consultants or something very odd,
> maybe even unprofessional. I'd really like your thoughts on how I should
> handle this. Should I assure him that the things I have to teach myself
> in order to complete this project won't show up on his bill? Or will that
> seem unprofessional? Or is he going to expect to pay me while I teach
> myself the elements of his project that I don't already know?
>
> As I said, this opportunity is sitting in my inbox and I don't want to
> keep him waiting excessively. I know that requests for urgent help are
> greatly frowned upon in newsgroups and believe me, I'm kicking myself
> that I didn't figure out this kind of stuff long ago but it just wasn't
> anything I particularly needed to know at the time. Any advice you can
> give me would be much appreciated. Sorry to put it on such an urgent
> footing; this came up very suddenly and unexpectedly.
>
<http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Certification=Sun_Certified_Java_Programmer_%28SCJP%29/Hourly_Rate>

Back to comp.lang.java.programmer | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread

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

csiph-web