Reply to: What counts as a good (daily) rate these days?

[cojak]

Suggestions?

30% than 2007...

[ChimpMaster]

I am on £700 / day.
I have a Master in Financial Engineering.
And work on implementing pricing models in Interest Rate derivatives.

So you signed-up and dug out a 10 month old thread just to tell us that?

Anyway I've only got a BSc but my rate is higher than yours. So there

[moromou]

I've heard about these rates, £500 £600 even £700 + per day. Can people honestly earn this amount?

For the past 10 years I have had to constantly re train, pass exams and gain the qualifications just to get the £250 £300 per day Infrastructure jobs, if I'm lucky

Someone enlighten me please what roles command such rates?

I am on £700 / day.
I have a Master in Financial Engineering.
And work on implementing pricing models in Interest Rate derivatives.

[utrinqueparatus]

Put it this way the rate the clientco are paying is as certain as if i saw it with my own eyes... (shhh i did )

Yeah tell me about it, It will definitely be an increase my rate or I walk moment

[RichardCranium]

I just took a 3rd line role for 170 a day and now found out the agent is taking 295 a day... The Bloody Cheek!!!!!!

Agent gets £125 = 73.5% markup = 42.4% margin

That's outrageous on your rate.

Are you 100% sure the figure you've been given isn't from a permie trying to wind you up? (I might have done so when I was permie.)

Is the VAT included on one, but not the other? (Although that would still make it 33.8% markup)

You definitely need to be looking at a big rate increase on renewal.

[BlightyBoy]

My rate is over Euros 500 p/d and given the current exchange rate, that's probably over 500 quid.

Mind you, I'm not in the UK so that probably doesn't help.

[SuperZ]

C/C++ with embedded, linux, unix and windows, and over 20 years
2008: £320 per day
2009: £240 per day
but its better than £0 per day

and yes I've had a permie job paying more than this

£240, that`s less than my newbie contractor rate back in July 2003 as a teaboy......

[utrinqueparatus]

I just took a 3rd line role for 170 a day and now found out the agent is taking 295 a day... The Bloody Cheek!!!!!!

[FarmerPalmer]

C/C++ with embedded, linux, unix and windows, and over 20 years
2008: £320 per day
2009: £240 per day
but its better than £0 per day

and yes I've had a permie job paying more than this

[lukemg]

Think it comes down to the usual, namely that there are a vast range of different jobs, skillsets and experience on here. Supply and demand determines the rate, with some margins round the edges (there are always the tales of a contractor earning tons for doing v.little). In short, you generally get around what you are worth in your field/location/prevailing business conditions.
After 5-months getting splinters, I am working in a non-IT, interim management role, north-west, 500/day (by far the highest ever rate). This is with P+L responsibility (around £5m) and 50+ staff. I am a long way from my support background (although not very long in time !).
In short, this is a fluke that I will try to replicate when this ends but don't really expect to, so I am making hay and stashing candy. Point is - do your best to position yourself through training, targetted CV, maintaining contacts, networking and when you get a glimpse of an opportunity, push damn hard to get it !

[nomadd]

You must be in a very niche market then. And I'd be surprised even more if the client is prepared to pay you 10% more than you asked for. That might be their upper limit but in reality, I expect they'll offer you at least 10% less than you've asked for.

Let's rewind, as you seem to have got yourself confused.

You are claiming that rates quoted on Jobserve are "star-star-star for star's sake." I claim that's nonsense. Now, if you let your cv go forward for a role at a rate that is less than even the Jobserve quoted rate, then you must take some pretty low rate offers.

The rate I was quoted was by the agent and *agreed before the cv was submitted* As I said, it was 10% more than the typical rate I see on Jobserve at present. I also make it clear to agents that no "post interview negotiation on rate" will take place; that's a firm policy I've maintained for the 20 years I've been contracting. Yes, I've had quite a few "try it on", hence why I always make things clear beforehand.

I'll let you know how things turn out.

Cheers,

Nomadd

[BolshieBastard]

Yes, because I've been using Jobserve for the last 10 years or so and have pretty much stuck to the rates quoted on there. Never had a problem.

I have an interview for a role on Monday. I'd based my "rate aspirations" on current Jobserve figures. As it turns out, the client is prepared to pay 10% more. Go figure (for star-star-star-star-star's sake. )

Nomadd

You must be in a very niche market then. And I'd be surprised even more if the client is prepared to pay you 10% more than you asked for. That might be their upper limit but in reality, I expect they'll offer you at least 10% less than you've asked for.

[nomadd]

And you believe those jobswerve quoted rates? ****'s sake.

Yes, because I've been using Jobserve for the last 10 years or so and have pretty much stuck to the rates quoted on there. Never had a problem.

I have an interview for a role on Monday. I'd based my "rate aspirations" on current Jobserve figures. As it turns out, the client is prepared to pay 10% more. Go figure (for star-star-star-star-star's sake. )

Nomadd

[tim123]

...because he might just get that £30k salary. Plus paid holidays, pension, some free retraining, chance of career progression, etc., etc. And not have all the normal contractor hassles. I wouldn't contract for £200 a day - just not worth it for the heartache involved. But hey, that's just me. Each to his own, I guess.

Nomadd

The demand for my skills has disappeared down the toilet (or offshore).

The rate that I can command is now about 50% more than I could have got 15 years ago. What I do did not recover from the 2000-2 downturn. In 2008 I was still being offered exactly the same money as in 2000. In 2009, if I get a sniff of a job, it is at 70% of what I could get in 2000. Most of my friends have seen the same thing.

I don't want to be a contractor at 250 pd, but what choice do I have (I do actually like the day job). (I rounded down slightly, normal rate would be 36-38ph for 37 hours per week, with minimal opportunity for overtime and zero chance of working at home).

tim

[tim123]

Jeezus - learn some different skills man


Nomadd

I'm sure that you realise just learning "skills" doesn't work, you have to have specific industry experience as well.

I'm stuck in a rut that I've been the last 10 years trying, without success, to get out of.

When "times were good" I was hitting £1k+ per day, as were many of my fellow contractors. Best I ever achieved was £1.2k. If you weren't even hitting £500 in the "good old days", then you might have been better off going permie.

Nomadd

A "good" permi rate for what I do is 35-40K. The last client that offered to make me a perm wanted to pay 32!

I'd willingly swap if it got me into a new sector, but no-one would believe that an ex-contractor will work for 40K
tim