[throwmenow_0139]

I'm 18 years old, doing full-stack web dev for ~2 years (Django, node.js, whatever.js, no wordpress stuff) and charge ~35-40 euro/hour while studying computer science. I get most of my projects through word-of-mouth and I'm currently trying to create products that allow me to build a small company - I'm partnering up with some software developers, entrepreneurs and a project manager.

It's not uncommon that web agencies in Germany only charge 70 euro/hour, so I would like to hear what's necessary to charge something like 100-150 euro/hour - seems like those rates are only possible in the US or doing specialized things like SAP consulting. It's difficult to compare those US numbers because the german system seems to be very different wrt salaries - 60-70k is considered good even for experienced developers, while it seems that those numbers are absolutely sub-par for US developers.

Would love to hear some tips on how to acquire new clients (especially in non-tech industries) and how to find interesting business problems to solve.

My strategy would be to reach out to local companies, analyze their businesses and build solutions that save them time and money (very similar to business consulting except doing software engineering) and getting inspiration for SaaS businesses. Would like to hear your opinion about this way.

[Matthias247]

For a student in germany that's a pretty good income. Think I earned less than 10€ at university back then :(

Regarding the question: 100-150€/h is not too unusual in the enterprise world. However it's more like what is paid to consulting/contracting companies than to freelancers. A lot of bigger companies that I know try to avoid freelancers nowadays and want to give contracts to bigger companies instead (e.g. for legal reasons).

My experience is also that high rates are mostly paid for some kind of generic or management consulting (not really technical) or if the contractor has a really great reputation at the company. For generic SW development your 70€ figure seems closer to the truth. For technical stuff the highest rates I have seen were for security related consulting and development.

[tluyben2]

>so I would like to hear what's necessary to charge something like 100-150 euro/hour -

Embedded, especially small footprint (32kb ram and that kind of thing) is an easy one.

Enterprise senior dev pays more than that as well if you are good. I ran gigs in Munchen for 150/hr and German friends of mine still do.

However 60k is that salary and is that gross or net? Think you are comparing apples and oranges; in the Netherlands, and Germany does not seem very different in that respect, if you get 60k salary, the company is actually paying more than 120k for you. So if you convert that to freelancing, you should be charging at least that 120k (which is less than 70/hr).

[ddorian43]

Go remote across the ocean to the promised land of USA. Things in EU suck for software-people.

Source: Have you ever read of someone making 200K+ in EU ? Me neither.

[tluyben2]

At least where I am from it is very strange for people to talk or write about what they earn. No one would tell you even if you would ask usually. Not that anyone would ask. But yes, have made that and know plenty of seniors that do. They would not boast about it though while, but that is the HN echo chamber maybe, everyone in the US spends solid amounts of time talking and worrying about it?

[ddorian43]

(it's the same in my country, about not showing wages). That just makes things worse for us software-people.

I didn't write about knowing anyone personally, just about reading on the web. Your message is the first one that I've seen.

Since you have a .nl domain, I'm a little surprised about it. (was excepting something like London/SW).

[tluyben2]

To be fair most of my paid work is DE or UK or NL enterprise. Those all pay well in my experience.

[xyzzyz]

It is not so easy to legally immigrate to the US. It is long and involved process, and then you're usually more or less stuck with the company that sponsored you, at least for a while.

[ddorian43]

I meant it for remote. Which is also hard in it's own way.