Diary of a Programmer [8]
There is no market rate in software development
Yesterday a client called me. He was discussing about a web app, a management dashboard system, where he can add his Products and track the Stocks, incoming and outgoing.
After all the Features were discussed, we reached the end of the discussion where typically we talk about the cost and timeline.
I quoted him $x. He was taken aback a bit.
“For stock management systems, isn’t the market rate $y”, he asked.
That got me thinking, and wondering where he got that from. This is my let-out about this topic. There is no such thing as a market-rate for software development. Let me start from the way-bottom.
To develop such a system, there is a very cheap way to go about it. Hire a student. Students come cheap. They don’t have bills to pay. Almost anything you pay them is luxury money to them. And they’ll come to whatever place you call for a meeting.
How do I know? Well, I was there before. I started my business while I was a student. I fondly remember the times when I charged $10 per page for “web design” (as they called it then). This was the 90s though.
So, hiring students is the cheapest option, and they charge the lowest. Next, you can hire…
