Re: Doing more for less

Execellent point. Unfortunately if we want to be paid more as a
reflection of the quality work we do, we have to put ourselves in a
position to clearly demonstrate that. Having your own consulting firm is
one way to do that because you can establish with your own client base
your value and price your services accordingly.

The problem is that that's a lot of effort and most people aren't able
to launch an independent career.

In my career as a consultant some places have definitely recognized good
work while others were clueless. I guess we just have to try and be
discriminating about the places we're applying to and shoot for the ones
that recognize quality.

-krk

Kolby R Kappes, PMP
[email protected]
614-226-5727
Synet Systems
www.synetsystems.com
"We Make the Web Work!"



-----Original Message-----
From: Unmoderated DOTNET job forum
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John Andre
Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2003 4:21 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [DOTNET-JOBS] Doing more for less


Your points are good ones. In capitalism it all boils down to "At what
rate are the parties willing to participate in the transaction?"  Of
course companies want lower rates (especially with the magnifying glass
over each line in the budget). Of course developers want higher rates
(when you get used to the gravy pouring in, you don't want it to stop).

The problem I think every top-tier developer would agree with is that
companies (often recruiters in their stead) often focus too much (IMO)
on rate and too little on quality. If there was an easy way to measure
the quality of a developer (like x parts per billion or rate of purity
that we would use in chemical sciences) then this would not be nearly as
frustrating for all parties involved.  Sure there are tests, sure there
are certifications, sure there is formal education. But none of these
translate into quality measurements. And if you cannot measure quality,
why pay more for one person over the next? Obviously, the answer is
because even though we cannot clearly put a number on the quality of a
developer, we know that there is a difference in quality and better
quality is worth more.

So, if we as top-tier developers want rates to increase what can we do
about it?

-----Original Message-----
From: Unmoderated DOTNET job forum
[mailto:[email protected]]
On Behalf Of Abhijit Gore
Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2003 8:18 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [DOTNET-JOBS] Doing more for less [ was Lead CF / ASP
Developer, New York City ]


Several recruiters in east coast seem to be smoking something or maybe
its everyone :) Yesterday, a recruiter contacted me for a position
requiring atleast 8 yrs exp, hands-on J2EE and .NET experience with
atleast 4 years financial exp in Fixed income and Securities. Guess what
the rate was? ridiculous $31/hr. I have seen rates as high as $60/hr for
same experience.

What's driving the rates lower????

I have heard some interesting discussions on this list. I have seen
various reasons from recruiters to guest workers to offshore sites. But
they are not the ones who write the check or generate the demand. The
real driver of southward trend seems to be intense Wall Street /
Shareholder pressure to show profitability. Do you really think that
Wall-Street cares how a company gets its work done as long as its
producing profits? In the current economy where you have to 'do more for
less', all IT Mgrs are pushed to lower their budgets and accomplish
more. As a result, cost acquires precedence over quality or patriotism.

just my $0.02

Abhijit

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