Do my homework, LJ!

[rivka]

I'm Googling around trying to find an answer to this question, but it occurred to me that some of my friends probably have the information at their fingertips.

What's a fair hourly rate to pay a database engineer to write a script that pulls information from an already-established database? He estimates that the task will be "easy" and will take a few hours' work, less than a day.

Comments

[txobserver.livejournal.com]

Also, the rate would be likely to vary for very short jobs (like this) versus hiring someone for an extended engagement. Obviously if you are giving someone 12 weeks of work, $50/hr is more realistic, because they haven't had to spend 5 hours to get a 2 hour piece of work. If you have a lot of work like this example, you might consider a retainer arrangement guaranteeing a day or two a month, and suggest a lower rate for that.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

It's helpful to get this rundown of facts to consider, thanks.

I am hiring the guy who, I think, put the database together and maintained it for a while. The clinic had him on retainer, and since then they've had to cut back and only use him for super-essential things, among which my project doesn't qualify. So he's already familiar with the system and the people involved, and isn't having to bid on the project or anything. Nonetheless, point taken that consultants have to pay all their own overhead.