[commonsense]

> Is it possible that people are doing "consulting" work for <$50/hr

Ding Ding Ding. Real consulting starts at $100/hr and has no cap on effective rate. One month of this should pay one person's bare-bones living expenses for at least one year.

"Freelancing" is the term most people think of when talking about bullshit web programming jobs that pay very little. They only take these jobs because they've failed to save up enough money to say "no" and they lack the experience to know that real money can be made consulting.

[zaidf]

WherE do you get the consulting gigs typically? Almost all leads I get(good and bad, pay wise) come in form of a project with fixed cost attached.

[pmjordan]

If the budget is bad, push for reduction of scope. If they won't budge, run.