[geeks] Any jobs?

[Shannon Hendrix]

On Apr 24, 2009, at 00:35 , Aaron Finley wrote:

> On 4/23/09, Shannon Hendrix <shannon at widomaker.com> wrote:
>> Even in good times, if I want to earn the same as a $70K/year W2
>> employee, I probably need to charge at least $100K/year to cover the
>> difference in my own costs.  This difference has increased, and  
>> client
>> are not paying as much of it as they did.
>>
>> The end result is I make less money now, quite a bit less if you
>> account for the massive expansion in fiat currency and direct  
>> taxation.
>>
>> I'm also trying to work out ways around all this, even if it means
>> ultimately getting of this rat race and jumping into another.
>
> With respect, it should be obvious to you that you need to identify a
> new skillset or offset of your existing skillset with a higher rate.
> It is expected that rates and perks go down over time for same skill.

With respect, that is quite off.

This has nothing to do with particular skills for one thing, as  
contract rates are falling across the board, for pretty much all skill  
levels and without much regard for how "new" the skills are.

The fact that the trend is going against demand is a big part of why  
it is hard to combat.

Besides, all things being equal, pay generally increases with time as  
your experience increases, and remains so unless the skill is not  
needed, and that has certainly been true for me.  I make quite a bit  
more than others doing the same job but with less time on the job and  
less training.

I've also noticed that people who went after the money for the "latest  
and greatest" skills sets have been hurt worse than those of us with  
more traditional education and more bedrock skills sets.

Most of all, people who are able to learn are having the easiest time.

Skill and training is a good thing to look at, yes, but I'm talking  
about factors outside of that since they are much harder to do  
anything about.




-- 
"Where some they sell their dreams for small desires."