Adobe Flex Hourly Billing Rates (via HotGigs)
The Adobe Flex job market has been doing very well over the past 10 months or so. See the chart below for some aggregated calculations from hotgigs.com for hourly Flex rates. I am not sure where they are getting these numbers but this does seem to be inline with what’s going on in the industry. They don’t have anything for AIR and I do wonder what that would be. Any thoughts on the matter? Do you think these figures are accurate?
I’ve also been having some discussions on twitter regarding fixed bid vs. hourly billing. Any thoughts on that?
Source: HotGigs.com
“They don’t have anything for AIR and I do wonder what that would be.”
Are you seriously suggesting that a Flex programmer and an AIR programmer are 2 different things?
Those numbers are certainly in the same ballpark that I’ve seen. In San Francisco, I imagine the numbers are even higher due to the higher cost of living, plus the added value of SF being the center of the Flex world.
Hey Harry,
I think Flex Developers are great candidates for AIR development. However you don’t have to know Flex to develop AIR apps, right? So I don’t think a “Flex Developer” and an “AIR Developer” have to be the same thing. For example you could develop AIR apps with Flash or HTML/JS/Dreamweaver.
Also AIR is somewhat of an extension to Flex (sort of), so should there be some additional compensation for that knowledge/specialization?
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for the location specific input.
Seem accurate; I charge more and I know many others who do too. I agree, too, with the area. I live in an extremely affordable area compared to the rest of the US (assuming those numbers are US specific).
Fixed bid == run. Granted, you can do parts of a project fixed bid since there are a lot of pieces of software that you can deliver pretty quick, and on budget. Some, you cannot so a hybrid approach is best. Most people who are worth working with on fixed bid can be talked into this once they feel good knowing that some parts will not go over budget.
Are you kidding me. This is half of what I charge. Of course, if you are just looking for a person to build pretty apps with little functionality, this is probably about the norm. If you are looking for the coder with experience creating multi-teer web applications who has experience with the database and server side programming, then you are looking at 110-150. I average more than 125 hr. and would not take less unless the customer is giving me over 60 hours a month.
Sorry to burst your bubble guys!
I agree with the above — I definitely bill at a higher rate than shown in the chart, and I hear of folks that bill considerably higher than I do. Of course, people in the high end of the market are probably not using hotgigs.com.
Hey Sean,
First thought that came to my mind was 70 an hour in Richmond, Va is not the same as 70 an hour in S.F. or Boston or even D.C. Another factor is charging what the market will bear. I know that the company I work for charges my *billable* rate at 125 an hour. That (unfortunately) is not what I get but it’s a rate that falls in line with what our clients expect to pay.
I also think that there are a lot of Flex/Flash/Air/RIA devs out there that have clients in other cities. I know of one dev that works locally but all his clients are in places like New York and San Fran so he can charge a lot more and it’s in line with what they expect to pay.
What is nice to see is the pay scale continuing to rise across the board for Flex work.
Sean,
I wonder if a bunch of Flexers jumped on HotGigs.com recently, because now they’re posting rates between $75 - 125 with an average of $100. Noticed this after cruising some sites apparently specially designed for outsource, for more like $16 per hour. Uha…right.
[...] currently hourly rates for Flex Developers. When he posted it originally, the rates were between $60-80 in just a matter of a few days however, the rates went through the [...]
I would agree with the consensus that, for an experienced developer, even the high end of this chart is too low.
Depends how you’re contracting yourself out. If I was a registered business, then yes, I’d charge over $100 per hour as I’m taking overheads off that. If I was doing freelance, especially if it’s an after hours addition to my fulltime job, then $60-$80 would be my fee.
Agencies would charge about $150 per hour, but they usually put a few people on a project and it’s (usually) done quicker. So as a sole trader I believe it’s best to charge 1/2 - 3/4 of agency fee’s to stand a chance of getting a job instead of an agency.
[...] currently hourly rates for Flex Developers. When he posted it originally, the rates were between $60-80 in just a matter of a few days however, the rates went through the [...]
Not only is an AIR developer different than a Flex Developer, I think there are at least 3 classes of Flex developers.
1. MXML Drag, drop and wire (uses components)
2. AS3 programmers (recent Java, OOP converts) ( and who may shun drag and drop)
3. AS3 component makers that understand-the-MXML-world-and-enable type (1)
3.5 Those with good Web Services/PHP/RAILS/CF/DB skills
4. Those who know FLASH (layers timeline tween video ) and can build and import assets into FLex
there; with combinations we’re over 10…….
‘I can do AIR’ probably means a couple orthogonal and geometric skills
As a new Flex developer (longtime Java) where are you guys finding the Flex gigs at?
Hey Sean,
First time on your blog and found it great. have added you on Gtalk,,hope to see you sometimes.
Thanks,
Adi
Hello,
We are currently looking for a candidate with Adobe Flex,Oracle and VB.Net experience for a contract position in Atlanta.Please let us know if you know someone who has all those combinations !
Thanks
Sean