Ask HN: Current Rates for Software Development | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Current Rates for Software Development

19 pointscatinblack18 comments

I'm wondering what the situation is with software development in your countries. In Poland, the prices for software house services are growing year by year, but they are still very favorable (on average about 60 EURO). Still, I don't have any current data on how it looks in other European countries or the States. What are the current rates for software house services in your countries?

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In 2021 I was working for a relatively small engineering services company in the US Midwest. Rates billed to customers for hardware & software engineers were between $150 - $200/hour depending on experience. Most projects were in the $60k - $250k range.

If you ever need employment or salary about anything in the United States, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has you covered. For your question, I would start here:

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/...

Thank you!

I see that data is from 2020. I wonder how it has changed in 2021, I hope they publish soon

The BLS publishes data that's often about 12-18 months behind the current year. They can't publish much more frequently as the year has to end before they can collect useful stats. That said, you can see trends by going to the Job Outlook section.

Under More Info, there are also links to O*NET which has its own summary information that's often updated much sooner. For example, the page for Software Developers notes that it was last updated in 2021 in the upper right corner:

https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/15-1252.00

BLS data is not super useful for Software because bonuses and stock aren't included in their salary data.

Those kinds of things can be explained by any company that offers them. They're not guaranteed. Other benefits fall into a similar category where one company's coverage of health, dental, retirement, etc, will differ from another's. But I would not take any of those as meaning that the salary data for software development isn't useful.

> coverage of health, dental, etc

That's not at all the same. I'm not talking about "a few RSUs" or a "small signing bonus". At all of the largest software employers, salary is at best half of total comp.

This year, my salary is less than 1/4th of my total comp. The other parts of my compensation are a cash bonus and RSUs, both guaranteed in my employment contract, both paid out+earned on the roughly the same schedule as my salary.

And the stock is literally better than cash given the inflation rate.

> retirement

This is actually instructive on how salary data can be wildly misleading.

There are tons of careers where salaries have modestly increased (or decreased on real terms) but where total comp as PLUMMETED as pensions were replaced with 401Ks.

I don't think you're representative of the common case

I'd argue that they are if they live on either coast. If you live in a big coastal city and aren't getting stock and great benefits, then you either are working for a teensy company, a gaming company, or are getting taken to the cleaner's.

I'm not saying that no stock or great benefits aren't the common case. Rather, it's the GP saying that his salary is less than 1/4 of his total comp, which does not sound typical

That category is unfortunately a bit too wide. Splitting SWE and QA would be useful.

With the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics section (OEWS), you're in luck:

https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes150000.htm

For freelance / C2C, remote

5-7 years of exp - $75+ an hour

I've been slowly going up from that, currently at $135 an hour. Wanting to hit $150 next.

Midwest. Was hiring entry-level consultants from a reputable company for about $100/hr. Never saw rates for the lower-tier shops but I’d guess it’s about $70-80/hr for low quality engineer. This is how much we were paying companies, heard their engineers cut was about 25-50% of that.

https://www.levels.fyi/ Is my go to source for this as there is a great ability to prune data by region and experience level.

US, NYC. Most contracts for seniors I see is between $175-$250 depending on specialization.

Thank you all for your help!

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