• UNKNOWN (unregistered)

    Sounds unbelievable! I thought the rate was 30$/day but 30$ for all? that's not enough to buy you dinner for the energy you spent!

  • JoeW (unregistered)

    What were the circumstances that lead Sean to accept $30 for what would be, at the very least, a few days work?

  • TheCPUWizard (unregistered)

    As long as there are people who only charge those rates, there will be companies who choose those people...

    I did get a chuckle, because I remember when $25/hr. for a PAIR of consultants made me and my business partner VERY happy..... Of course, I was making $3/hr as a Software Technician in my "day job" at the time.....

  • AstorLights (google)

    I did similar work back in the days. For example a client with ski resort needs to upload few pictures, update prices and locations for the new season and the whole thing is just editing few pages, expected work 1 hour, 30$, "deadline" end of the january....

  • Ron Fox (google)

    Sean is TRWTF.

  • COB (unregistered)

    Those insane job postings are only there to justify outsourcing the development work.

  • (nodebb)

    "And they wonder why they can't fill the job."

    Or (worse), they can, and then wonder why they've got exactly what they've paid for.

  • Carl Witthoft (google)

    "Sean was not in a position to increase the cost of the job to cover the extra work, and could not do anything about it at that time" <-- Sounds like several interesting hidden WTFs right there. Or was Sean trying to date the CEO's daughter?

  • (nodebb)

    30 dollars...

    Minimum... 50 or 60 dollars an hour. Minimum 1 hour work (you got a 15 minute job, you get an hour... just like a mechanic).

    Also... 30 dollars? OK, they change the requirements, they don't like what you've done. It's 30 bones... screw them. I'd eat the loss rather than take on that stress over a measily 30 bones. If I NEEDED that 30 bucks to survive... I've got bigger concerns than wasting all that time and effort to get said 30 bones. Hell... I'd walk down my street and mow a lawn or 2 for 30 bones before I'd go and do all that!

  • Developer Dude (unregistered)

    When your boss asks "how hard can it be?" - that is when you know you are screwed; you have a boss who doesn't have a clue how hard the task is, because he/she thinks it is easy.

  • (nodebb) in reply to lordofduct

    Chances are he was doing it for the "exposure" and/or networking.

    Exposure and networking are great benefits, and should factor in choosing a gig, but should NEVER be considered a replacement for fair payment.

  • (nodebb) in reply to The_Quiet_One

    I would agree with you... but it's 30 dollars.

    If you're networking for exposure, you don't want to garner the reputation of "will do 300 dollars worth of work for 30".

    I mean, what word would this client offer to their contacts who might be in need of a developer. "Oh, you need a web guy? We hired this guy the other week... he did all our stuff for 30 bucks!" Now you have another client expecting to get away with underpaying you.

    Networking isn't just about meeting people... it's about forming a respectable reputation.

  • Herby (unregistered)

    These days, $30 (the WFT was dated in 2016) is what you get for flipping burgers for 2-3 hours. Maybe there are other "benefits" in the job, but at that price you might as well give it away (maybe it was a charity?).

    An old boss of mine said that the proper MINIMUM DAILY rate you quote should be about 1% of what you expect for an annual salary. Especially if you have to pay all the taxes and benefits. We should ALL learn from this WTF, and understand the basic economics of supply and demand. If you set the price TOO LOW, the demand will overpower you!!

  • OldDev (unregistered)

    Sounds like working for a church.

  • Olivier (unregistered) in reply to Herby

    I concur on the 1%, whenever I am outsourced (luckily that's not often) my salary is computed on twice the daily wage, that is about 1% or yearly salary.

  • (nodebb)

    If you offer me $30 for a one-off job, it's going to get done when I have nothing better to do and don't feel like playing games. And that's only if I really want to help you out.

    Now, back when I was a student, I'd have been more willing to spend a few hours working on something for $30. Maybe even a day or so. But weeks? Heck no. Even 20 years ago I could make that much from a couple of hours of tutoring.

  • gnasher729 (unregistered)

    I suppose anyone asking for $30 for a multiple day job gets paid exactly what they deserve.

  • The Original Fritz (unregistered)

    Why bother even reading the entire thing when it's revealed very early on that the protagonist is just a literal imbecile with severe emotional problems on top of that? I hope the story ended with him being put in an asylum but I guess I'll never know vOv

  • The Original Fritz (unregistered)

    Oh yeah, I forgot: bring back Mandatory Fun day.

  • James (unregistered)

    This conference presentation explains precisely why even small consultants need a lawyer and an accountant. They are worth every penny. You always always have a contract with the client. You never use a blanket contract supplied by client. If you are in a meeting and the client brings a lawyer and you do not have your own representation, you cancel the meeting and reschedule to include your attorney. This is how contracting is supposed to work. All other outside contracting work requires a contract, why would IT or design work be any different? Do not allow yourself to be steam rolled and taken advantage of by the client.

    Mike Monteiro: F You, Pay Me presentation [NSFW - language] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVkLVRt6c1U Irregardless of the F word, this is an amazing presentation for small consulting design/tech startups.

  • Frank (unregistered)

    The real wtf is that somebody thinks, that this is a wtf.

    Customer is asking for a lot of work for 30 dollars? Fine, tell them you work for that amount of money if they show you, how you can pay your rent from these 30 dollars.

    Must've been student or so who's just working for entertainement and has parents to give him a roof and food and everything else.

    The interview should've stopped at "and we pay you 30 dollars" - "Well, that's fair, 30 bucks per hour!" - "No, it's the total amount" - "Well good look finding an idiot doing it for 30 bucks and good luck with what he produces".

  • Paul Neumann (unregistered)

    @James, fantastic reference.

    Seriously, I hope Sean crashed, burned and spends the remainder of his career answering phone calls in level 1 support for Tampax! People who allow others to take advantage of them like this do a disservice to EVERYONE else in the industry.

  • TheSeanInThisWTF (unregistered)

    Yes, I took the $30 work because I thought it was just work that would just take a couple of hours of work and something I could do when I have nothing else to do. But as the story goes, it was not what I had expected. And yes, I am a student.

    "Sean was not in a position to increase the cost of the job to cover the extra work, and could not do anything about it at that time" Now, it would be rude if I asked them to increase my pay. It's hard to describe but it's more of a culture thing. But if I did not know the client personally, I would have asked for a raise.

    "What he gave them was a website that looked done but actually had a lot of visual bugs. What they asked him to do was to modify their website by just adding a couple of pages, a theme, and add the necessary information, and that's what he gave them." Basically, my gesture for GO F*CK YOURSELF kind of thing. $30 for a cool looking site with an interactive map? Heck no! Screw you client! Screw you!

  • AstorLights (google) in reply to TheSeanInThisWTF

    Man, you've learned your lesson. One doesn't simply ask $30 for a couple of hours of work.

  • The Original Fritz (unregistered) in reply to TheSeanInThisWTF

    No it would not have been rude to ask for more money for more work.

  • If ain't broke? (unregistered) in reply to UNKNOWN

    That is less than the minimum wage in the State of Mississippi.

  • (nodebb) in reply to TheSeanInThisWTF

    [Now, it would be rude if I asked them to increase my pay. It's hard to describe but it's more of a culture thing. But if I did not know the client personally, I would have asked for a raise.] When the job's context change, it's different job. It's only normal to renegotiate the charge required.

    When you go to fill your car, ask the attendent to fill half of your tank and later say "sorry, I actually want to fill it full", they don't charge you for half tank of gas only for the full tank of gas, right?

  • Erlando (unregistered)

    As a consultant $30 gets you just about 18 minutes of my time.

    This sounds like quite a bit more than 18 minutes.

  • WebGuy (unregistered) in reply to The_Quiet_One

    I've heard it said, "Exposure doesn't pay the bills." That's 100% true.

    What will? Being paid while doing quality work. Because word of mouth advertising and such.

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