I have 8 years of experience in Software Development and related fields (Consulting, Web Development, Windows/Unix Software, etc...) - I have worked with more than 50 clients from about 5 nations in the past, receiving only superior feedback. I hold a customer satisfaction ratio of 9.58 out of 10 (best) at RentACoder.com.
Also, I have on-site experience in the U.S., U.K and Europe.
Additionally, I have launched a couple of products on my own which have been featured in magazines and on numerous blogs.
Currently, I am self-employed and I am planning on setting a fixed hourly rate. I was trying to figure out the best, justified rate for my situation and found that $60/hour would be ok.
Am I charging too much, too less, or how can I support my decision? (I have gotten the numbers from various salary surveys and reports and put myself into the average category).
Your help is very much appreciated!
Thank you
Is my hourly rate justified?
I am a business owner and former Fortune 500 IT Director in NYC in the US and previously in Seattle. I would pay 60 an hour for a coder on site or off site and have paid as much as 100 an hour for a highly skilled independent contracting Oracle DBA. Your rating on RentACoder.com is a good indicator of your value and the basis for what I would be willing to pay you. I have paid 150 - 175 an hour for coders through a company.
Someone else may have better advice but that was my experience.
Best of luck to you.
Reply:If people are willing to pay you $60.00 per hour, what's to justify? Aside from the fact that some people do back breaking labour for less, or risk their lives for less is not the point. You get what the market will bear, if $60/ hr makes you happy, don't fight it.
Reply:The market will decide your worth.
Reply:60 bucks an hour you should be counting your blessings every day man!!!!most people that i know are just making minimum wage and you sit pondering "oh whoa is me is 60 dollars AN HOUR TOO FREAKIN MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" ugh i am glad you have "launched a couple of products on your own" but this was a little smug. even your satisfaction ratio please bro.
oh and to Holly O saying she is a former director fortune 500 plz!!! you have been a member here since 10/13/06 and your at level 3 with 86 best answers which tells me you dont have a job or if you do it is one you dont like cause you have to answer a lot of freakin questions to get to level 3 and with only 2 months of answer time you have A LOT of free time to pose. how do you run your business if your on here allllll the time
Reply:Maybe you should find other people in you line of work willing to share with you how much they earn. You can get a feel for what is right. All i have to say is, 60 an hour? jesus christ!
Reply:i think what you charge depends on a few factors such as where you are located and on your overhead as well. But for simplicity's sake, go with what others in your industry charge. If things start to go well, then basic Econ 101 supply and demand will tell you its time to raise the prices. Good luck on your endeavors.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
My friends' pizza business. My idea?
My good friends own a pizzeria, which, unfortunately, is dying. I thought I had a good idea the other day which I presented to them. Because they told me that their main problem was not understanding why their customers would not call back, I typed a survey on my computer which I said I could print out on small cards. I listed about 10 questions which, when answered, will provided a well rounded response of the customers satisfaction level. I insisted, however, that there should be a small reward for the customer for filling it out, i.e. 10% off their next delivery.
So, the co-owners disagreed with each other about my suggestion. The lady co-owner was eager to try the idea. The brother co-owner agreed that while a survey was a good idea, no offer for incentive was necessary and he was concerned for the 10% he would lose per survey.
I completely disagree with his concern....I think that the customer reactions he will receive will be well worth it.
What do you think?
My friends' pizza business. My idea?
well you can try 5% each on the next 2 orders
and if he doesn't agree move on he doesn't knows the worth of your idea and what wonders it can do for his business
you are better off some place else
Reply:well... what chracterize the pizza....
you see in every business there is gotta be some Uniqueness.. people always trying to taste the things they know but different... UNIQUENESS.. is the main word...
also marketing promotions... HAS TO BE MASS MARKETING... JUST PRINTOUT WORKS and promote deals on minimun lost pruducts like "FREE RANCH SAUCE"
UNIQUENESS AND MARKETING is the key to every business
Reply:Alot of managers/owners think that they are losing money by giving away incentives.
they are dead wrong.
Incentives are a great way to cycle people back through your doors...it creates a sale during a time period where that sale would not have otherwise ever occurred with that customer.
If that customer comes in once every 2 months by their own choice...your incentive got them in once per month...you've now controled their buying increase. You are CREATING new revenue.
Not only that...you can pick up any basic marketing book and it will tell you that incentives for filling out surveys is an absolute must....in the marketing arena...we consider it kind of a..."duh!"
Listening to customers opinions is the number one smartest thing you can do...so these guys better dang well be prepared to "give a little" to get some vital feedback.
uhm...the alternative is....being out of business.
The thing you need to help them understand is that they are NOT IN THE PIZZA BUSINESS.
they are in the "getting and keeping customers" business.
and that is THE ONLY thing they have to figure out how to achieve....and most of that...will have absolutely nothing to do with Pizza.
good luck
Reply:tell the brother co-owner that greedy and cheap people are not the right type of people to own a business. tell him to take marketing. and some business classes and have him stop being so ignorant
Reply:how about a dollar off on the next purchase over $10
Makeup Question
So, the co-owners disagreed with each other about my suggestion. The lady co-owner was eager to try the idea. The brother co-owner agreed that while a survey was a good idea, no offer for incentive was necessary and he was concerned for the 10% he would lose per survey.
I completely disagree with his concern....I think that the customer reactions he will receive will be well worth it.
What do you think?
My friends' pizza business. My idea?
well you can try 5% each on the next 2 orders
and if he doesn't agree move on he doesn't knows the worth of your idea and what wonders it can do for his business
you are better off some place else
Reply:well... what chracterize the pizza....
you see in every business there is gotta be some Uniqueness.. people always trying to taste the things they know but different... UNIQUENESS.. is the main word...
also marketing promotions... HAS TO BE MASS MARKETING... JUST PRINTOUT WORKS and promote deals on minimun lost pruducts like "FREE RANCH SAUCE"
UNIQUENESS AND MARKETING is the key to every business
Reply:Alot of managers/owners think that they are losing money by giving away incentives.
they are dead wrong.
Incentives are a great way to cycle people back through your doors...it creates a sale during a time period where that sale would not have otherwise ever occurred with that customer.
If that customer comes in once every 2 months by their own choice...your incentive got them in once per month...you've now controled their buying increase. You are CREATING new revenue.
Not only that...you can pick up any basic marketing book and it will tell you that incentives for filling out surveys is an absolute must....in the marketing arena...we consider it kind of a..."duh!"
Listening to customers opinions is the number one smartest thing you can do...so these guys better dang well be prepared to "give a little" to get some vital feedback.
uhm...the alternative is....being out of business.
The thing you need to help them understand is that they are NOT IN THE PIZZA BUSINESS.
they are in the "getting and keeping customers" business.
and that is THE ONLY thing they have to figure out how to achieve....and most of that...will have absolutely nothing to do with Pizza.
good luck
Reply:tell the brother co-owner that greedy and cheap people are not the right type of people to own a business. tell him to take marketing. and some business classes and have him stop being so ignorant
Reply:how about a dollar off on the next purchase over $10
Makeup Question
Customer satisfaction survey in banks?
Can any one suggest me about customer satisfaction survey in indian banking?
Customer satisfaction survey in banks?
iT IS STILL LONG WAY TO GO OFCOURSE IT IS IMPROVING TO SURVIVE THE CUIT THROAT COMPETTION. IT IS THE PRIVATE BANKS THEY DO BETTER
Customer satisfaction survey in banks?
iT IS STILL LONG WAY TO GO OFCOURSE IT IS IMPROVING TO SURVIVE THE CUIT THROAT COMPETTION. IT IS THE PRIVATE BANKS THEY DO BETTER
URGENT,How to differenciate histogram,bar or pie charts and when not to use?
How do you differenciate when to draw Histogram and when to draw Bar or Pie chart. I know that histogram supposed to be quantitative and other s supposed to qualitative.
Q.Survey result data
A. Weight and exercise equip satisfaction
B.Club Satisfaction
C.Exercise program satisfaction
D.Over all club satisfaction
5=very satisfied 4=satisfied 3=Neutral 2=Dissatisfied 1=very dissatisfied
E,Yearwith club
F,Gender
G,#of visit per week
H,Age of customer
*I need to do summary and presentation of data using charts, bars....
Please help me solve this question and how to draw histogram (what input ).
URGENT,How to differenciate histogram,bar or pie charts and when not to use?
%26lt;%26gt;Multiple line bar charts are good for data comparison; they will show the results in close proximity for easier reading.
Reply:I dont care
Reply:Histograms and bar graphs are better for displaying historical data. Especially if you are trying to diplay a trend in behavior. If your data is a "snapshot" of one point in time, then a pie chart would be the way to go.
Q.Survey result data
A. Weight and exercise equip satisfaction
B.Club Satisfaction
C.Exercise program satisfaction
D.Over all club satisfaction
5=very satisfied 4=satisfied 3=Neutral 2=Dissatisfied 1=very dissatisfied
E,Yearwith club
F,Gender
G,#of visit per week
H,Age of customer
*I need to do summary and presentation of data using charts, bars....
Please help me solve this question and how to draw histogram (what input ).
URGENT,How to differenciate histogram,bar or pie charts and when not to use?
%26lt;%26gt;Multiple line bar charts are good for data comparison; they will show the results in close proximity for easier reading.
Reply:I dont care
Reply:Histograms and bar graphs are better for displaying historical data. Especially if you are trying to diplay a trend in behavior. If your data is a "snapshot" of one point in time, then a pie chart would be the way to go.
JUST FOR THE SMART PEOPLE TO ANSWER - wall street journal reported that of the 2.6 million americans surveyed?
who used windows, over 250 thousant of them were unsatisfied. however , only 30 mac users of the 5760 surveyed mac users, were unhappy, which computer platform has a better customer satisfaction rate? expain your answer please.
JUST FOR THE SMART PEOPLE TO ANSWER - wall street journal reported that of the 2.6 million americans surveyed?
The Windows dissatisfaction rate is 250,000 / 2,600,000 = 25 / 260 = 9.6%. So the satisfaction rate is 90.4%
The Mac dissatisfaction rate is 30 / 5760 = 0.5%. So the satisfaction rate for Mac is 99.5%.
However, the huge difference in samples between these two answers leads me to suspect that these are very different surveys, so you should take great care in comparing their answers.
Reply:The Mac O.S. is a lot smoother running and has fewer issues with viruses and spyware because their userbase is so much smaller nobody bothers to focus on it. It also has fewer security holes, and is usually more cutting Edge.
WIndows is basically bloatware. Microsoft steals all of it's best ideas from other companies, reverse engineers them, and then reprograms them for their own O.S. the result is often disastrous with huge security holes and bugs that take months if not years to fix.
Reply:Customer satisfaction rate should not be based on such data. If 2.6 million americans were surveyed for windows, then it should be the same for MAC users.
Reply:You would have to assume that those that weren't unsatisfied were satisfied. Some of them may have never been satisfied or unsatisfied, but rather completely apathetic. Some May be more satisfied of using PC if their choice is PC or Mac; vice-versa. Your question is logically invalid because you can't measure based on those statistics.
JUST FOR THE SMART PEOPLE TO ANSWER - wall street journal reported that of the 2.6 million americans surveyed?
The Windows dissatisfaction rate is 250,000 / 2,600,000 = 25 / 260 = 9.6%. So the satisfaction rate is 90.4%
The Mac dissatisfaction rate is 30 / 5760 = 0.5%. So the satisfaction rate for Mac is 99.5%.
However, the huge difference in samples between these two answers leads me to suspect that these are very different surveys, so you should take great care in comparing their answers.
Reply:The Mac O.S. is a lot smoother running and has fewer issues with viruses and spyware because their userbase is so much smaller nobody bothers to focus on it. It also has fewer security holes, and is usually more cutting Edge.
WIndows is basically bloatware. Microsoft steals all of it's best ideas from other companies, reverse engineers them, and then reprograms them for their own O.S. the result is often disastrous with huge security holes and bugs that take months if not years to fix.
Reply:Customer satisfaction rate should not be based on such data. If 2.6 million americans were surveyed for windows, then it should be the same for MAC users.
Reply:You would have to assume that those that weren't unsatisfied were satisfied. Some of them may have never been satisfied or unsatisfied, but rather completely apathetic. Some May be more satisfied of using PC if their choice is PC or Mac; vice-versa. Your question is logically invalid because you can't measure based on those statistics.
Probability - Need Help?
A hair salon did a survey of 360 customers regarding satisfaction with service and type of customer. A walk-in customer is on who has seen no ads and not been referred. The other customers either saw a TV ad or were referred to the salon (but not both). The results are as follows:
Walk IN TV AD Referred Total
Not Satisfied 21 9 5 35
Neutral 18 25 37 80
Satisfied 36 43 59 138
Very Satisfied 28 31 48 107
Total 103 108 149 360
W= Walk-In \ TV= Saw TV ad \ R=Referred \NS= Not Satisfied \V = Very Satisfied
a. P(NS)
b. P(NS and W)
c. Given that R happened, find P(NS)
d. Given that NS happened, find P(R)
e. P(V)
f. P(V or TV)
g. P(not V)
h. Are events N and R exclusive
Probability - Need Help?
a) 35 people weren't satisfied out of a total of 360 people, so = 35/360
b) P(NS) = 35/360 (previous answer); P(W) = 103/360 to find P(NW and W) you multiply the two probabilities together. so
P(NS %26amp; W) = 103/360 * 35/360
= 103*35 / 360 * 360
= 3605 / 129600 and then simplify
c) "given that R happened", means you only count the probability of the event for people who are R. so instead of 360, you use the number of people who are R, or 149. so P(NS) is then = to 5/149
d) same principle as question c). so P(R) given N = 5/35
e) this is like question a). so answer = 107/360
f) to find this type of probability (the OR type that is) you add up the possibility of each event happening. so P(V) = 107/360 and P(TV) = 103/360 add these two together
P(V or TV) = 103/360 + 107/360
= (103 + 107) / 360
= 210 / 360
g) this means P of NS or N or S, so you add these together.
P(not V) = 35/360 + 80/360 + 138/360
= (35 + 80 + 138) / 360
= 253/360
h) mutualy exclusive means that if one event happens, then the other event cannot happen. since 37 people were both N and R, these event are NOT mutually exclusive
hope this helps you understand probability!!
deodorizers
Walk IN TV AD Referred Total
Not Satisfied 21 9 5 35
Neutral 18 25 37 80
Satisfied 36 43 59 138
Very Satisfied 28 31 48 107
Total 103 108 149 360
W= Walk-In \ TV= Saw TV ad \ R=Referred \NS= Not Satisfied \V = Very Satisfied
a. P(NS)
b. P(NS and W)
c. Given that R happened, find P(NS)
d. Given that NS happened, find P(R)
e. P(V)
f. P(V or TV)
g. P(not V)
h. Are events N and R exclusive
Probability - Need Help?
a) 35 people weren't satisfied out of a total of 360 people, so = 35/360
b) P(NS) = 35/360 (previous answer); P(W) = 103/360 to find P(NW and W) you multiply the two probabilities together. so
P(NS %26amp; W) = 103/360 * 35/360
= 103*35 / 360 * 360
= 3605 / 129600 and then simplify
c) "given that R happened", means you only count the probability of the event for people who are R. so instead of 360, you use the number of people who are R, or 149. so P(NS) is then = to 5/149
d) same principle as question c). so P(R) given N = 5/35
e) this is like question a). so answer = 107/360
f) to find this type of probability (the OR type that is) you add up the possibility of each event happening. so P(V) = 107/360 and P(TV) = 103/360 add these two together
P(V or TV) = 103/360 + 107/360
= (103 + 107) / 360
= 210 / 360
g) this means P of NS or N or S, so you add these together.
P(not V) = 35/360 + 80/360 + 138/360
= (35 + 80 + 138) / 360
= 253/360
h) mutualy exclusive means that if one event happens, then the other event cannot happen. since 37 people were both N and R, these event are NOT mutually exclusive
hope this helps you understand probability!!
deodorizers
Why does Yahoo refuse to answer questions with anything but canned responses?
Okay. I realise that Yahoo has a LOT of customers and probably receives a LOT of questions, but why do they not even READ the details of submitted support questions?
Several times, I have sent them questions with very specific details, including things I had already tried. Instead of helping me with the actual problem, they sent back a canned response suggesting I try a number of the things I had already TOLD them I had done. So, I replied and mentioned that, and the sent back another canned response suggesting I try a number of OTHER things I had already told them I had done. After that, they just sent me a link to a satisfaction survey and never have resolved the problems.
Even people whom I know with PAID Yahoo accounts receive this same [insert your favourite scatological adjective here] treatment.
:-(
Why does Yahoo refuse to answer questions with anything but canned responses?
I don't know why they do this and I share your annoyance with it.
Don't know what can be done to change it either.
Reply:same thing for me
24 hours 48 hours response never happens
or is links of self support
i also have tried them
my questions did not apply
i guess they are very busy
i would wait to get the solution
1 customer at a time i think would be best
waiting is better than no help at all
i try to ask here for answers
sometimes anther user knows the answer
but reposting same question over and over is a violation
so wait for days to repost
let first question remain open for atleast 3 days
Reply:dont know
Reply:They just are to busy or have no clue how to help you. I think no clue comes very close to the right answer.
Several times, I have sent them questions with very specific details, including things I had already tried. Instead of helping me with the actual problem, they sent back a canned response suggesting I try a number of the things I had already TOLD them I had done. So, I replied and mentioned that, and the sent back another canned response suggesting I try a number of OTHER things I had already told them I had done. After that, they just sent me a link to a satisfaction survey and never have resolved the problems.
Even people whom I know with PAID Yahoo accounts receive this same [insert your favourite scatological adjective here] treatment.
:-(
Why does Yahoo refuse to answer questions with anything but canned responses?
I don't know why they do this and I share your annoyance with it.
Don't know what can be done to change it either.
Reply:same thing for me
24 hours 48 hours response never happens
or is links of self support
i also have tried them
my questions did not apply
i guess they are very busy
i would wait to get the solution
1 customer at a time i think would be best
waiting is better than no help at all
i try to ask here for answers
sometimes anther user knows the answer
but reposting same question over and over is a violation
so wait for days to repost
let first question remain open for atleast 3 days
Reply:dont know
Reply:They just are to busy or have no clue how to help you. I think no clue comes very close to the right answer.
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