Ask HN: How much do React Native developers cost? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How much do React Native developers cost?

36 pointsdmitryame39 comments

I need to build an in-house development team for a product which was originally built in ReactNative by a consultants firm. Can anyone share their experiences, how much a ReactNative developer can cost on average?

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I'm a React and React Native consultant in Indianapolis. $100k for mid-level is about right, but the cities you listed (New York, Boston, San Diego) push that number to $125k+. I have some availability if you're interested in a contractor, and if you don't want a contractor I'd be happy to help with any advice I can (email is in my profile).

Depends on where you are and what level of technical management skills you have.

Quotes in this thread will come from places that push out apps based on templates and without any sort of long term maintenance plan (thats why they seem cheap). They will cost you more time and money over the short and long run.

What are your technical management skills? People forget that cheap developers tend to need to be managed a lot due to language barriers, time zone differences, and other factors. When you hire a more expensive developer you are also hiring someone who can manage the project (to a greater degree). Freeing you from many headaches and time sinks.

Cost will be around 2500 to 4000 a week depending on their amount of experience. More expensive hires are available but they have more demand and do get to pick who they work with.

Have you ever built a software product?

If not, you should go with more experienced people that can manage themselves.

It depends but I usually charge no less than 50$/ hour. That's if you want someone who fully understands GraphQL, Redux, Sagas, Thunks, Generators, Offline Persistence, etc

You should charge more

Fyi you're charging a lot less than I used to when doing contract work that predominantly involved wordpress template brochure websites.

I'll second this. I routinely counsel clients to plan on spending 75/hr for a junior to mid level developer if they want someone competent, 100-110/hr for someone senior level, and 125-150/hr if they're trying to roll multiple skill sets into a single contractor or firm.

The biggest mistake you can make as a contractor is underpricing yourself. Not only does it hurt the market but you can find yourself in situations where you can't work enough hours to cover taxes, downtime, benefits like health insurance, much less a vacation. Then you start making mistakes like overbooking yourself to make up the difference and do a crappy job with all of your projects.

Sure, but that depends on location. $50/h is a really good price for many countries. Obviously, USA is not one of them. ;)

When I was consulting we charged 125 an hour for any small jobs, like less than two work weeks. The problem with small jobs is that the overhead from meetings, paperwork, phone calls, design, server setup, etc is routinely more than the time it takes to actually write the software.

wow that is incredibly cheap! I think you could double that and then some.

$50 seems extremely low if you're in the US. Even $100 is low imo for any native development.

https://angel.co/salaries is pretty useful to answer those questions

85-110k depending on location and experience

This number sounds about right.

With the exception of one or two outlying areas in the US, this is probably about spot on.

It is not that they cost much more then regular js devs, it is that their skills fluctuate and it is hard to figure out who has them.

In a way, that is a problem with whole js ecosystem, but here is especially pronounced.

Hi I am currently living in Argentina, willing to do a remote job if you need. I would expect something around 5.5k a month email me if you would be interested. (jcdotinha14 at gmail dot com) I wouldn't mind working for free for the first two weeks to show you my skills.

To give you an example, at JSapp.me we can develop a react native MVP app (includes real time social, geoloc, messaging, push notif) for $5000 within 3 weeks.

Thank you for the offer, but we are already past that stage, we have the MVP that was built, and need to turn it into a real product with the in-house devs.

I opened your page (JSapp.me) and as I scroll down it starts jumping up and down by ~200px uncontrollably. MacOS Beta, Chrome, here

If you're open to remote staffers, you can get this done for $30-$50/hr. PM me if you want referrals.

On average in what city? Do you want to oay average? How will you test their skills?

City wise, we have 3 options. Boston, New York or San Diego.

I guess the best test of their skills would be a referenceable experience. A github portfolio or something.

Those three locations will increase the cost by a fair amount. Id try hiring a remote developer located in the US. Less expensive because they tend to live i areas withower costs of living.

BTW, react native is something rather new. You wont find anyone outside of the core group of react native developers who really knows it. You will probably have to include some time for training.

I would suggest something similar. Looking for remote developers if possible those are 3 of the highest salaries markets.

In terms of skill set. If you hire React developers they should do fairly well in terms of development.

Unless of course your app will need a lot of customizing then you may need someone who can understand and develop in objective-c/swift and/or Java.

Id say there is a higb likelyhood they will need someone witg react and native expeirence.

Come out to the Boston react native Meetup and talk to folks; it's a great community!

Here's a pointer to salaries from 465 developers who tell us they use React.js, by city (but you can break it down in lots of other ways): http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Skill=React.js/Salary#by...

Disclaimer: I work at PayScale

Looking for this role. Let me know.

What location are you in?

React Native let's you build faster but it doesn't mean you should pay people less. You'll just get shitty developers in the end. What it really means is you can have a smaller team so you save on costs that way. IMO it is better to have 2 great developers that work really well together than 10 crappy ones.

Thats not implied in the OPs post.

It is implied in some people's minds as they read it as I've just written this. It wasn't implied in yours so we have evidence the interpretation is subjective.

Thats called projecting. Seems you are used to dealing with cheapskates. That sucks.

Thanks for the education.

You should have attached your post to one of the ones that you felt implied this.

I'll be more careful next time around. I remember when ASP.NET came out and there was an impression that you could pay people less in the business world because it was easier. React Native is definitely easier. Possibly I'm biased and maybe that is a more rare viewpoint, hence less well received. Not trying to be sarcastic in any way. Thanks.

But you are not wrong. A technology that is perceived as easier will tend to be low balled. What we should be careful with is letting that affect our judgement towards pricing a project. We should not let cheapskates bias us towards lower prices. Always aim to charge more because you can provide a better service that way.

That has been my experience as well.

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