Comments on: How much do iPhone developers cost (contract)?

By: Steven Davis

Steven Davis — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:48:15 +0000

It is the same in the US as Canada… the glory of the 1099 Consultant. People need to watch this, legally, in that a consultant is supposed to be self-directing – you don’t tell them “how” to do their job, just what you need done.

It will be interesting to see if this continues to be tolerated for the same reason that things have been changed in the UK as you noted, Adam.

By: adam

adam — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 02:09:52 +0000

They used to be zero at-source tax on con tractors, but that led to things that Gordon brown felt were tax looophooes, and less controversially led to people opting out of the legal benefits ofemployees in return for higher wage packets. Most of that has now been made illegal, so the tax differences are now much smaller than they were – although sill significant for some.

By: Mark Bernard

Mark Bernard — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:16:45 +0000

In Canada there are different rules for contractors versus employees. For employees the employer is required to do various tax/benefit things like the UK, but for contractors there is no requirement. A contractor is paid whatever his/her full rate.(2-3x employee rate similar to UK), but there are no deductions taken from the contractors pay. The contractor is required to submit all taxes/required benefits themselves.

Are contractors treated like employees in this reqspect in the UK?

By: MrCranky

MrCranky — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 11:05:43 +0000

While I’d agree on your logic on calculating additional costs that contractors occur, I’d disagree on your daily rate numbers and the notion that you can judge quality on daily rate.

By your scale, we’d be pitched at the low quality end, and to toot our own trumpet, we’re definitely not that bad. Admittedly we’re not iPhone developers (yet), but we do cover most of the other gamedev platforms. I’ve worked with people who charged more than we do, and they definitely weren’t as good. The daily rate contractors charge is more closely related to what they’ve managed to get previously than it is their salary.

I’ve found that the clients have a limited budget for contractors – while they will more readily renew your contract if you’re good, their budget doesn’t stretch based on quality, and nor does the rate they’re prepared to pay.

As a senior engineer in a large/successful company, you might get closer to £40K-£50K. But if you expect to double that as a contractor, then I think you’re out of touch with the market. And that’s the regular gamedev market, not just the iPhone market which is almost by definition less lucrative.

Maybe I’m undercharging for our services, but the majority of clients in the games industry balk at contractor rates calculated by your formulae. I’d suggest that £200/day is a reasonable minimum, but I’d be surprised to find a client that would stretch to £400/day, even for a senior engineer with years of experience. Maybe a big client with deep pockets, but your average developer with tight margins isn’t going to touch a contractor at £400/day. But only a naive client expects to get a contractor in at anything less than 50% over what an equivalent employee would cost. I’ve found those too – and respectfully decline working with them.

So to answer your question – I calculate my rate based on what the market will bear, not from a formula based on my costs. Over the years that has allowed me to pay myself an equivalent salary to the one I used to get as an employee, but not much more.