[0x5345414e]

My rate is 165 USD/hr, but I’ll drop it as low as 135 for a long contract (6 months+). I do custom software for the refrigeration industry (mostly simulations, sensor data logging, a lot of web apps, etc.). But yeah like another poster mentioned, I just raise it every time I work with a new customer.

Imo hourly rates are kind of bogus because not every hour is the same and hours can’t determine value. Generally I negotiate a weekly rate @ 35 hrs / week and try to deliver something valuable every week. The amount of hours I actually work in a week varies.

[swah]

Excellent. I do bluetooth mobile apps for the refrigeration industry, and currently thinking about leaving my job for something in USD...

I always say the number 50 USD/hour, since I feel like recruiters/platforms expect for a LATAM based dev to charge a bit less..

[anakaine]

You're underselling that hourly rate pretty hard. There's a comment above about the fully qualified labour rate. Its worth a read, and from experience you need to be placed higher with the rate than $50 USD.

[TbobbyZ]

How do I get into your work?

[halkony]

Assuming you're looking for contract work in general and not specifically refrigerators, he sets a good example for how specialization gets you consistent work.

Basically, find a niche industry (refrigerators, greenhouses, toy cars, whatever), find an audience, think about what they could use, and acquire the skills to give it to them. I used to be an actuary before I did software, I plan on going back to my old companies and contracting myself because I know they have data analytics needs I can meet.

If you want an excellent book on this topic, read "Soft Skills" by John Sonmez. Excellent book for shaping your career.

[goodpoint]

A lot of niche industries e.g. around embedded might pay less than web development, ironically.

[edge17]

Yea but the metric of success in embedded mught be more clear than web, which tends to be more customer facing.

[NO_CHANGE]

I looked up the book and the search engine suggested the search "John Sonmez scam". I guess he's not in good standing in the industry or the Web in general.

[devoutsalsa]

You have to be pretty cool.

[xwowsersx]

I see what you did there.

When my fridge stopped working, I didn’t think it was cool.

[czbond]

Mine was the compressor last week. Daggum LG

[nebula8804]

Don't be so cold...at least it wasn't a Samsung...

[lostlogin]

No, you have to be trying to be cool.

[thunkle]

Cool I've been working on an algorithm to predict when an industrial refrigerator is going bad for a few months now. I wonder if our work overlaps at all.

[timtzm]

Hey cool I'm working on power metering for industrial chillers and hope to learn how to notice this too.