[bdunn]

A rate like that has little to do with "CS complexity" and everything to do with selling a solution that makes the client better off than they were without said solution.

I'm in near-rural Virginia and my last hourly consulting rate was over $200, and I'm not anything close to being an amazing Ruby developer.

[rahimnathwani]

Did you quote that hourly rate to the client ($200/ph and I expect it will take x hours), or did you quote a total for the deliverable?

What was the source of the client? If they went looking for a 'programmer', I'm curious why they weren't (like many others) lured by others who are cheaper per hour but worse in every other respect.

[bdunn]

This is from a while ago, but checkout the script at the end of this post: http://planscope.io/blog/my-most-effective-newsletter-to-dat... This is how I landed many of our clients (I also did a lot of edu-seminars, etc.)

Whether I was billing by the hour or the week, I always estimated in a ballpark number of weeks a project would take, which translated to an estimated budget.

[mratzloff]

Great link, thanks!

I think my current job will be my last salaried position, at least for awhile. I have a broad range of technical skills and can talk to potential clients, but have always been a bit nervous about taking the plunge (Where will my next client come from? Will I just find cheapskates who want some website for $500 total? Etc.)

[robflynn]

Damn. I need to increase my rates.