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Comment by andyjsong | Hacker News Reader

Serious question: Where do you find companies that pay $29k a month? I'm trying to start a mobile dev shop with a YC alum and we haven't seen budgets anywhere near this.

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It's actually fairly common. Large clients will pay high prices for great work. Sometimes it's hard to imagine as a developer paying that much for something you can clearly make yourself. Good developers are hard to come by. Great developers that actually deliver product on time and under budget are unicorns that are worth the money.

I know a company that's building a mobile app and they're paying $150/hour (one developer plus project management) to a dev shop. At 8 hours a day and 20 days a month that's $24K/month. Put in an extra hour a day and you're there. Of course, the trick is finding clients willing to pay full rate, but if you're good they're out there.

> (one developer plus project management)

It's just 2 people, I'm guessing the dev gets around $120/hr and the PM $30/hr? A Dev and Project Manager? Can you PM me their portfolio/website please?

Project management isn't a full-time thing. A good PM should be able to manage a fair number of developers at the same time... you certainly don't need a full time PM per developer. Unfortunately I'm unable to share their info.

We're a mobile dev house (iOS and Android), and we charge around $60-$80 / hour. www.polymorph.co.za . Sounds like we should get some US clients if $150 / hour is realistic.

An experienced mobile developer working as an employee at a dev shop in the US should be able to make that kind of hourly wage. Considering the fully loaded cost of employing someone is between 150% to 200% of the salary (equipment, office, infrastructure, training, benefits, etc.), you're effectively working for as little as $30/hour.

can you share any apps you have on the market?

Sure. Most of our work is actually for corporate clients, so not commercial apps found on the market under our name, but a few examples of commercial apps are:

iOS: Construct-O-Set : http://itunes.apple.com/za/app/construct-o-set/id373042556?m... Wining and Dining SA : http://itunes.apple.com/za/app/wining-dining-south-africa/id... 22Tracks (Netherlands & Belgium only) : http://itunes.apple.com/nl/app/22tracks/id397202887?mt=8

Android: ExpenZa (only available in South Africa at the moment): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=coza.appositio... 22Tracks (Netherlands & Belgium only) : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fonkmobile...

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