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by digitweak

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I've been in the computer graphics industry here in Southern California since 1993. Before that I was a freelance finish carpenter, working on homes for the rich.
Started as an 3D Technical Artist, for a video game company and fours later, the job evolved into tech support, webmaster, network admin, tape librarys, all data managment, phone systems, renderfarm and video edit-bay support, and application support for the entire company. For this company, I purchase ALL components,to build and setup all desktops, servers.(110 desktops, 8 servers) The job has many different hats to wear and it keeps me busy.
As time has past, I have seen a paycut of 25% for the last year. And had to layoff my assistant because of cutbacks. = Less money and more work.
In fact now a journeyman in the trades can earn more money for the hours spend on the job, then the IT guy.. After 10 years, I believe I have decided to go back into trades. I can always find work, and at lowest wage
with a license.. the pay (80-130k) is almost twice what a support guy earns
If I stay, it would be as an hourly contractor
2 days a week, with a trainee on site. My question is what would be a fare rate to bill out for this support?

4 replies

by dabouras

you really want to continue having them abuse you? lose your benefits and do double work? then charge them a much as possible. I think you will find they will pay much more than you ever dreamed. A typical IT person provides great value to a company daily that is taken for granted.

one advantage is you would get paid hourly so they will better use your time as there is no advantage to them making you work extra hours, + if you do, you get paid! tada! But remember, you are losing benefits (insurance which is a real biggie, PTO time, 401K participation/retirement another real biggie, yes we all do get older) so make sure those are covered in the billing rate.

personally I dont think your company is worth working for, its a bad investment of your time.

If they could they would have you work 24 hours a day 7 days a week till you dropped dead then "hire" someone else. You have no other choice but watch out for your self.

by dc_guy

Typically, a self-employed contractor must charge exactly double the daily rate of an employee. This is because of everything the contractor must cover out of his own pocket: vacation; sick leave; medical, disability, and life insurance; training cost, travel expenses, and lost wages; SEP IRA. And the biggest of all: bench time.

So determine what a fair wage would be for a salaried employee with your level of competence to do this job, and double it.

If you're billing by the hour instead of the day, you should jack it up higher. You can have bench time during any given day.

I expect you'll calculate a figure in the 60-80 dollar range.

by digitweak

They took away the 401k matching a year ago, dropped my wage down 25%, and then made me pay for my familys health insurance ($650 outa my pocket , monthly).. These cutbacks were in no way because of my performance, but because of other company finance problems.
What I would like to do is 2 consecutive days onsite and 8 hours remote(tape backups and other logs to watch thruout the week). I'm thinking a company should pay $50-$75 p/hr, with a 2 hour minimum And maybe more for off hour visits.

by youraveragemanager

Speaking from experience, your efforts alone will not save the company. You are correct in having a backup plan, just make sure that you are working (have job commitments) in the trades when you make your present employer the offer. Do not be surprised if they refuse your offer.

Be aware that from a business perspective you are from that point forward an outsider. If it were your business you would take action to reduce the risks, so what actions would you take? I suspect that at minimum, as an owner I would have a plan-b in place as soon as possible for such an event. You know the environment, and I do not.

As the IT Manager you are in a unique position to find out what the costs are, just interview the (outsourcing) infrastructure support service providers in your area. Know that they will approach the owners (if they can) at some point after your contact. The small providers specifically target the companies with one to four person IT departments. Perhaps you have a better way to glean this information from them.

What the owners do not realize is that they will have great difficulty getting any traction on anything that can move the company forward from your exit point forward. When you leave, you might be surprised at how quickly the general morale of the employees will decline. Sounds like you had an opportunity to exercise your creativity in the past.

Good luck in the trades, I could be heading that way soon too.

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