[sourc3]

Expected? Yes. Normal? Yes. Only thing there is out there? No.

For every $30/hr posting on the net, there is another one for $100. I also personally know of folks who are making +$150 with Django. It really depends on who you work for.

Although you will see a lot more of `build Uber for $5K` type of one off jobs, there are some reputable companies who need more capacity on new projects.

If I were you I would cast a wider net and sample the market more.

[Ididntdothis]

Who pays >150? I always hear about this but neither as freelancer or as employee who hires freelancers I have ever seen somebody making that much as freelancer. Sometimes consulting companies charge that much but the freelancers probably get paid only a fraction of that.

[sourc3]

Industries where money comes in by the bucket have no problem spending it with a shovel for specialized knowledge they don't have.

If you're a contractor, your best bet is to focus on an industry to understand the needs of that industry better. Rather being a Python developer, you can be a contractor who builds usable solutions that happen to use Python.

Industry knowledge, referrals, good prior work and marketing are important. These $150/hr jobs won't fall into your lap unless you put an effort to position your lap that way :)

[fmxexpress]

Real estate, finance, oil & gas, software development clients. I charge $160/h. 20+ years of experience.

[antjanus]

I have a buddy who charges $200/h for JavaScript work in Oil & Gas. He works on-site, wears a suit, and makes bank in a cheap city. Never has issues getting work.

[ryandvm]

Normal start-ups (i.e. not Valley Bubble) and small shops are almost never able to pay that much, but medium and large clients will easily pay that rate for established senior engineers WITH REPUTATIONS.

As much as we like to think technology is a meritocracy, at the end of the day, it always comes down to who you know. The charitable interpretation of that fact is that there aren't a lot of ways to gauge reputation, so it's mostly about who can vouch for you.

Source: I co-founded a software and design consultancy co-op (https://www.fountstudio.com/about).

[secondaryditto]

when I get my own clients directly, and I'm closer to that. When I'm subcontracted through someone else, it's typically < $100 ($70-$90). I consciously make that trade off sometimes because I'm effectively outsourcing some of the risk - negotiations, collections, etc. And it's sometimes got me in to projects on teams whereas I'd normally be an independent, and the dynamics and range of engagements I've had has been a bit wider because of it. The $120/hr+ engagements I've had tended to be shorter engagements - (< 6 months). The subcontract ones tend to be longer. While I know if I'm getting $80, the people selling me are getting $110 or more, again, I understand they're providing some service that I didn't particularly want to do (or... negotiated for a 9 month engagement, for example).

[Ididntdothis]

These numbers are more in line with what I have been and am still seeing.

[aaronm67]

Where are you?

In NYC and SF, you'd never fill your contract if you were trying to pay < 150.

[Ididntdothis]

I was freelancer in Maryland and then worked at a company in LA.

[smoe]

When I was freelancing (mostly Swiss companies) in the end 180$/hour was my starting point for negotations.

For bigger multi month projects i would come down quite a bit, but for small ones i wouldn't budge.

Its not something you can pull off when new to freelancing and more importantly don't have connections / referrals.

Its a comparable price to what small agencies charge (or charged, haven't been working/living in Switzerland in years).

[pc86]

If you have a name you can charge exorbitant rates for anything, and large companies will pay it. IAmTimCorey is somewhat of a YouTube celebrity with millions of views on pretty basic (but extremely well-made, all-around excellent) videos. His advertised consulting rate is $300/hr. To your second point, Oracle bills its consultants at $400/hr or more, and they're probably making $200-250k.

[pxue]

Most likely desperate very short term one off contracts.

Almost meaningless to talk about hourly rate without also providing the length of the contract.

[cs02rm0]

Someone paying not just for a dev but a dev with significant domain knowledge in a niche area.

[dirtnugget]

How much does somebody in this kind of field in the US pay in taxes? As for me (Germany) I have to basically give away half, such a posting would pay me basically like a very entry position after taxes.

[jxf]

In the US you would pay roughly 35% to 40% in taxes. However (in general), expenses incurred in the course of your business would not be taxable.

For example, if you earned $150,000 as a contractor, but you incurred $30,000 in expenses then you would have $120,000 in potentially taxable income.

The tax code is very, very complex, though, and there isn't a simple answer to this question. There are a vast array of factors that would shift how much you pay in tax up or down, and this complexity is heavily exploited by lots of folks.

[lotsofpulp]

I would include health insurance premiums in the US as a tax when comparing to other developed countries since they don’t have to pay those. Easily $5k/per family member per year plus $28k available in case of emergencies due to out of pocket maximums and $10k to $15k per family member per year if you’re 45+.

[duxup]

I think if you do that it becomes really hard to compare a lot of things.

So health insurance is a cost ... albeit not the same for everyone, at some companies you pay surprisingly little and that is compensation ON TOP OF your pay...

Other places not.

It's really hard to get good 1:1 comparisons.

Taxes and etc in the US are widely unevenly applied depending on the situation compared to what seem to be 'more' standardized and predictable numbers, services, in Europe.

[lotsofpulp]

This topic is concerning freelancer income, so it doesn’t involve an employer paying for a portion of an employee’s health insurance premiums.

It’s also very easy to compare even if you are an employee, as health insurance premiums are shown in box 12 code DD of an employee’s W-2. And health insurance premiums don’t vary that much between healthcare.gov and ACA complaint insurance that employers subsidize.

What is clear is that there exists a healthcare expense in life, and so if you are paying for it via taxes in one region, you would have to figure out how much it costs in the other region where it’s not included in taxes to make the comparison more accurate.

You can use this table from the state of NJ to reasonably guess how much healthcare will cost you in a moderately high CoL area in the US:

https://www.state.nj.us/dobi/division_insurance/ihcseh/ihcra...

[duxup]

Valid point, I lost track of the freelancer situation.

As for the differing costs of insurance outside of the freelancer world, I've found the costs in the US can vary wildly. Those tax boxes aren't the only way / shouldn't be the only comparison for US healthcare costs.

[vitaflo]

Keep in mind that contractors can put up to $57k per year into a retirement account and can deduct 20% of income from the QBI deduction which will drastically reduce your taxable income.

[secondaryditto]

Earned around $130k in consulting last year. After deductions/expenses, US federal taxes were around $8k. Now.. FICA was something else (which I can't remember offhand), and state tax was something like $3k. Federal/state taxes where ~$11k. health insurance - that was around $10k.

[mcv]

As a Dutch freelancer, my marginal tax rate is a bit over 50%, but I think I've got way too many tax breaks and deductibles compared to regular employees. I'm not going to complain if they decide to cat some of those back a bit (thoug I'm sure other freelancers will).