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Check out Janet Ruhl's site for information about tech consultant rates: http://www.realrates.com
I didn't see any rates listed specifically for DC and tech writing, but it
should give you a good picture of what people are getting. Plus the site has
a BBS for ongoing discussions about contracts, brokers, clients, and legal
issues.
To tell you the truth, $42 seems a bit low, given your experience and the
fact that as an independent you'll be paying your own taxes and expenses. In
the Boston area, which probably has a market equivalent to DCs, you can get
this as a W-2 rate through a broker. A more reasonable rate might be $50-65.
However, if this is a startup and they are giving stock options, the hourly
rate might balance out. You're risking immediate pay for future gain.
In any event, congratulations on getting that first direct contract.
-----Original Message-----
From: kip martin [mailto:onefourfive -at- HOTMAIL -dot- COM]
Sent: Friday, May 14, 1999 7:52 PM
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject: consulting $$ question
hey all
uh oh...i'm leaving my safeperm job with a stupid, lumbering dinosaur to
consult (self employed!) with a small well-funded startup.
im senior (10+ years) w/ mostly project lead exp. in stuff like
- documenting APIs and complex software for a developer audience
- authoring w/ RoboHelp
- building/managing internal websites (w/ frontpage and raw HTML)
in addition to tech writing, ill be setting up their intranet via frontapage
and creating a doc management scheme for the entire knowledge corpus. the
project will last through summer with an option to sign on and get stock
options, etc. if i want.
questions:
im billing $42 per hour.
- how much are my skills/exp. worth to employers in the DC area?
- did i under- or overbid?
i appreciate any feedback!
k. martin
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