Diary of a Programmer [12]

Pay per hour is making me work slower

You know what, Diary? I’ve had enough of it already!

Almost half my professional life, I’ve been telling and repeating to my prospects and clients. I do not do pay-per-hour. Pay-per-hour is an injustice to me, and to you too. They are NOT understanding!

I’ve tried to explain and illustrate in all manners possible so that they can understand. You do not judge a person’s work by how many hours he take. Period!

For the umpteenth time, I repeat to you, diary. I just need to let it out, yet again, yes.

If you need a light bulb fixed, and you call an electrician, do you pay him by the hour or by the job? Between 2 electricians who took 15 minutes and 3 hours respectively, who do you think deserves to be actually paid more favorably?

Will the pay-per-hour proponents say the one who took 3 hours deserved to be paid more, assuming both gave equal results and quality? Surely no one in the right mind will say so. Though we won’t say “pay the faster guy more”, at least we all will collectively agree that paying the slower guy more just doesn’t make sense.

So, how in any sense do many clients still think that developers and programmers are to be paid by the hour?