Re: The Economics of Incompetence

Hi Steve:

I think you will find that overall that doesn't apply. If money alone is
the measure then the $85/hr guy is lame in comparison to the guy who charges
$125 who could (by extension) write the report in 5 minutes.

Faster, cheaper and other things can be measured but "better" is subjective.
I always ask people during these conversations what kind of car they
drive... well wouldn't a top-of-the line Mercedes, BMW or Porsche be better?
Don't they accelerate faster, stop in shorter distance and ride more
comfortably than the car you currently drive? They are simply put, better.

But seriously if the $15/hr guy is not worth the money how does an $85/hr
guy get the experience? Did he at no point charge less when he knew less?
He was (according to the computation) a waste of money when he was a novice
so the company should have replaced him right?

There is no simple formula...


"Steve Covert" <scovert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uVKGdrFLHHA.2140@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Bob,

I believe the old saying applies: "you get what you pay for."
And, hiring managers, (who have never coded), need to understand that the
skill to author quality software takes years of experience to master.

Unless, of course, the developer has read "Learn Visual Basic in 21 Days."

Regards,
Steve Covert


"Bob Johnson" <A@xxxxx> wrote in message
news:OdBZiM9KHHA.5016@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hourly Rates:
Senior Programmer - $85.00/Hr.
Junior Programmer - $15.00/Hr.
Incompetent Programmer - $15.00/Hr.

The Project:
Create a simple report.

Initial Cost of Project:
Senior programmer takes 10 minutes to complete the report. Cost to the
business: $14.00
Junior programmer takes 2 hours to complete the report. Cost to the
business: $30.00
Incompetent Programmer takes 2 days (16 hours). Cost to the business:
$240.00

Lifetime Cost of the Project:
Consider the "final product" delivered by each of these programmers. The
solutions delivered by the incompetent or junior programmers are more
likely to suffer performance problems and have "bugs." The solution
delivered by the senior programmer is likely to "just work." There are
huge long-term cost differences between software that is buggy as
compared to software that just works.

Rhetorical Question: Who is the most expensive programmer on the team?

I"m just looking for some additional perspective on this question after
years of consulting - and observing that businesses so frequently care
only about the hourly rate... and end up paying so much more in the long
run... through living with their bad systems and, if bad enough,
eventually hiring someone to come in and fix things. There's so much bad
software out there - I'm guessing that it's the myopic managers
considering only hourly rates.

Thoughts? Opinions? Perspective?

Thanks.





.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Why do some guys always have to be so HOSTILE?
    ... cost of programming. ... money on location if the code was more interesting, ... collectors is nonsensical unless the average pinball programmer is independently ... paid for those months no matter what. ...
    (rec.games.pinball)
  • Re: Management Application Estimate (created specifically for company needs)
    ... Duane Arnold ha scritto: ... you) are in business stuff for more time than me. ... I am pretty sure they know how much it would really cost if they went to ... contacting firm or a independent .NET programmer that had any experience. ...
    (comp.programming)
  • Re: 12 LED resistance circuit help
    ... I'd go with jumpers on a micro. ... >>How come the full cost of a programmer and the micro's entire ... > "BTW, I feel that a microcontroller would be a simpler, cheaper, more ...
    (sci.electronics.basics)
  • Re: delphi coders paid less?
    ... Remember, if you're looking for "remote work", ... WERE a purely economic decision, ... clueless clowns, go like moths to the lowest cost, stupidly thinking that cost ... If you pay 60$/hr for a great programmer, you are most likely going to save ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)
  • Re: 12 LED resistance circuit help
    ... >I'd go with jumpers on a micro. ... >>>How come the full cost of a programmer and the micro's entire ... >>>dev tools were free from Microchip. ...
    (sci.electronics.basics)
Quantcast