[ale] Current contract market rates for LAMP programmers

[John Wells]

Very well put.  Even for a Brit.  ;-)

John

George Carless said:
> Hello all,
>
> First, a quick introduction:  I'm George, I'm English, and I work in
> Atlanta as a webmaster doing PHP development on Linux.  I run Linux at
> home on my router, as well as inside my MAME arcade machine.  I like
> beer, music and literature.
>
> As far as development rates go -- I would say "it depends".  There're
> many so-called LAMP developers out there, many of whom simply don't know
> what they're doing.  Accordingly, I'd say that there was something of a
> glut of such developers -- certainly, finding work wasn't too easy for
> me, though no doubt my difficulties were exacerbated by the fact that I
> need a visa to work here.
>
> However, in my experience a *good* developer who has a decent
> understanding of database theory, who can document and communicate well,
> and who has a broad understanding of technology -- and, most
> importantly, who can _think well_ -- can earn a reasonable wage.  I
> don't claim to be the most fantastic of coders (my tentative grapplings
> with OOP, as a traditionally procedural developer, put any such thoughts
> to rest), but I've worked in the UK for 25 pounds (roughly $40) per
> hour, and have known of developers in the US making comparable wages.
> Of course, the job market isn't too hot any more, and I would suggest at
> least considering full-time employment rather than contracting: to my
> mind, it's a more sensible option in this day and age.
>
> Incidentally, though, I've long thought that the disparity between
> salaries of tech developers and those of mailmen (and their like) was..
> somewhat silly.  Programming -- especially web programming -- just
> *isn't all that difficult*, when it comes down to it, and is made still
> more easy by the wealth of source code (of admittedly varying quality)
> that's out there.  If mailmen are indeed making comparable salaries, I
> say all power to them -- it's naive and somewhat arrogant to think that
> 'web jockies' are doing anything all that special or that they somehow
> deserve to be making a lot more money.
>
> Finally, don't give up hope.  There *are* good employers out there who
> will pay a decent salary.. and ultimately, remember that how good you
> are is less important, in the early stages, than how good you can make
> yourself look -- by a strong resume, an impressive client list, and
> clear communication with the potential employer.  We developers are in a
> rather uniquely fortunate position of being able to craft impressive
> statistics from next to nothing: work done for friends can easily be
> represented as large projects for clients; time spent setting up Linux
> boxen for home use can easily become 'experience in configuration and
> administration of web, email and firewall servers'.  Having said that,
> though (my, this email just keeps getting longer): taking on a job for
> $10 or $15/hr might just be worthwhile, since it can provide new
> experience and open up new doors -- and opportunities for positive
> word-of-mouth and references that can prove invaluable in securing new
> assignments and moving up the wage ladder..
>
> Regards,
> --George
>
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