Hiring / Outsourcing some design help? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: jnz
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2015, 06:05:48 pm
content: I have a project coming up that's ARM and upto 40Amp load switching. I've got the ARM stuff handled but there are some unknowns with the analog stuff.When you guys hire out, or apply to contract jobs like this... well...1. What's a fair hourly rate for just picking someone's brain? I'm going to do all the layout, sourcing, assembly, software, etc myself... But I'd like to get some one's opinion on things like component selection, high vs low side driving, current sense, emi, and things. It's not really advanced stuff nor is it hands-on at all for the contract engineer. What do you guys think a fair wage for that is? Probably 2-6 hours worth of work.2. Where would you guys list a job like that? I'd be more than happy to even talk to someone here, but I'm not sure posting a job offer is kosher here, nor could I really be sure I was getting someone who knew their stuff right away, and I was even roughly compatible to work with.3. NDAs are easy, but is there anything else I should look at in those terms? It's pretty standard that I file and ask for NDAs from people I work with. And nothing here is secret squirrel at all.Any thoughts?

author: poorchava
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2015, 06:14:26 pm
content: I do such things routinely. I can't tell you exact hourly rates, and because I price stuff differently for different clients, and I work for the same handful of clients almost all of the time.I usually don't sign a contract for minor stuff, and for the purpose of taxes I file the earnings as 'income from other sources' (you can do that here in Poland, to dunno how about other countries).NDA is a normal thing, but often times I don't bother with it either if me and the client know and trust each other to a point.Sent from my HTC One M8s using Tapatalk

author: funkathustra
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2015, 07:26:18 pm
content: $150 - $250/hr is pretty typical, but can go up to thousands of dollars per hour for high-end consulting. I bill out at $175/hr for "contract work" (stuff like you're talking about), but for longer-term projects, I'll bill out significantly less (usually in the form of a flat salary).It's expensive because there's a lot of overhead associated with starting a new project.The actual work involved affects what some people charge, but I typically keep a flat rate for everything, since I don't see any difference, really. If you're picking my brain for an hour on the phone, or if I'm laying out a board for an hour, it's still an hour worth of my time/experience.

author: Spikee
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2015, 08:02:28 am
content: Wow that is quite a high rateFrom my experience and work it is more like ~35$/hr for a engineer with 3-5 years experience in various topics and 60-80$/hr if you need a senior or someone who is experienced in a specific topic (for example antenna design).I do all my contracting on upwork (formally know as Odesk). If you are willing to take some chance than <20$/hr are possible for seniors from china / russia / poland.NDA's are pretty much always used.

author: AndyC_772
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2015, 08:26:57 am
content: Quote from: jnz on August 05, 2015, 06:05:48 pmThere's even a dedicated forum for it... go right ahead and post a request there unless you've done so alreadyIt would be helpful to set your country flag, to help find someone reasonably local to you.If you get a response from a forum member, then you can at least search back through what they've posted, to get an idea of whether or not they sound like they know what they're talking about. It's not a perfect system, but probably better than if you were to post on a job site and get applicants 'blind'.I agree with funkathustra, that an hour of someone's time is an hour of their time, regardless of whether they're on the phone, replying to an email, or writing some critical bit of code.I don't generally charge different rates for different jobs (unless something is needed at short notice), but for a one-off meeting, I'd charge for travelling time and expenses as well as the number of hours we're actually sitting in a room discussing your project.

author: charlespax
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2015, 10:45:12 am
content: When I find a contractor who is a good match for my company I generally just pay whatever hourly rate they ask for. However, we always agree to review their work at either ten hours or when they invoice gets to some threshold (~$400). This give me the opportunity to check their work and determine if the relationship is a good value. If the value is there, we go for another chunk of work. This goes on and gets adjusted based on your trust level.I also like to give a potential contractor a small discrete project that has clearly defined goals and will not change as the project goes on. Something like designing a breakout board or a small USB device. This is just to see how well we work together and how well then can integrate with my workflow.The two most difficult aspects of engineering are determining the right problems to solve and finding the right people to solve them with. You are likely to spend a bit of money looking for the right people for you.