[epx]

"nearly 40% perceived themselves as performing within the top 5% of their peers.". That's exactly the problem. I've been well paid my whole life, but in comparison with other peoples' productivity, I should have been paid thrice as much. I don't complain; everybody has to eat, everybody has to take care of their families, etc. But I am damn sure all these people would not tolerate knowing even that I got as little as 30% more.

This is one reason why I don't have a typical job for almost a decade now. I get interview invitations from big SV companies, but I hardly ever get invitations from local software houses, and when it happened, it went nowhere because they wanted to pay the average ERP programmer salary, citing "internal politics".

It also happens when I do per-hour consulting work - my rate is considered high compared to what Dummy Database Consulting charges, so I have to settle for lower values, but at least the values are higher in absolute terms.

[cortesoft]

You do realize the irony in quoting the part about how so many people overvalue their performance and then following it up by talking about how you are 3x as productive as everyone else at your previous companies?

[jackgolding]

What you are saying is as a top performer it financially was and is better for you to charge based on results? (i.e. as a consultant)

[epx]

Yes.

[sdiupIGPWEfh]

Wait, what is the "average ERP programmer salary" in your area? I ask, because I've seen them billed out by consultancies at like $200 an hour. What slice of that makes it back to the devs?

[epx]

It is a bit difficult to compare directly because I am Brazilian. An ERP dev does around R$ 6k/mo (roughly US$ 24k/year, but labor costs make it cost US$ 48k/year to the employer.) A typical hourly rate is R$ 150-200 (US$ 50-66).