Date:         Sat, 28 Apr 2001 01:06:18 -0700
Reply-To:     kmself@IX.NETCOM.COM
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "Karsten M. Self" <kmself@IX.NETCOM.COM>
Subject:      Re: Slightly Off-Topic -- Consulting vs. Full-Time Wages
In-Reply-To:  <OOrG6.11979$l5.497803@typhoon.nyc.rr.com>; from
              muon33@NYC.RR.COM on Sat, Apr 28, 2001 at 04:38:06AM +0000
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on Sat, Apr 28, 2001 at 04:38:06AM +0000, Michael Stuart (muon33@NYC.RR.COM) wrote:
> I'm being asked by my closing dot-com employer to stay a little beyond my
> official termination date (at which point my benefits will cease), to do
> some clean up SAS programming and analysis.
> 
> Is there a reasonable/standard factor that I should apply to my base hourly
> salary to arrive at a fair amount of pay for this short-term gig?

The economist's answer is "what the market will bear".  Finding out what
the local going rate is would be a good idea.

Most contract houses charge 30-40% overhead on contractors.  Most
independents take a portion, but not all of this -- a portion, because
you're getting more than you'd get through a shop, not all, because you
and the client ar both getting a better deal.

If you're 1099, your base consulting fee includes employers' component
of payroll deductions (e.g.:  SSN), an accounting for vacation, health
care, other benefits, and a risk premium.

All this considered, a common rule of thumb is to take your annual
salary in thousands, double this in dollars, and call it your hourly.
If you were making $100k/yr, your hourly equivalent is $100k/hr.  This
is rough and skips a lot of details, but is commonly used.

Note also that rates tend to be higher for short-term contracts than
long-term ones.

If you're thinking of entering the contract SAS market, I'd strongly
suggest:

  - You get in touch with your local SAS user group.

  - Check out Charles Patridge's SCONSIG website
    (http://www.sconsig.com/, IIRC).

  - As a general consulting reference:  Janet Ruhl, _The Computer
    Consultant's Guide, 2nd Ed_ ISBN 0-471-17649-4, is strongly
    recommended.  There is a companion website,
    http://www.realrates.com/ .  I'm pulling the conversion factor from
    the chapter on billing of this book.

Note also, depending on where you are, that the consulting market may be
tightening somewhat.  SAS appeas to be riding out fairly well -- it
wasn't incredibly popular in the dot-com set, and its use in the biotech
sector is somewhat in an upswing.  Still, the general market is very
different from a year ago.

Cheers.

-- 
Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com>    http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
 What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand?       There is no K5 cabal
  http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/         http://www.kuro5hin.org

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