It's been a long, hard slog...but I'm going to leave Toronto

[MikeH]

No Cuba Gooding Jr impression?

[rah]

More like "what part of gobs of money did you not understand"

Many years ago when I left a place, I signed a professional agreement to answer any questions. It was a hefty hourly charge but I had it written in that any phone call less than hour counted as an hour. For the first couple of months I was getting 5 or 6 phone calls that lasted a couple of minutes each so I was racking up 5-6 hours of charges a day. It was sweet.

[Asher]

They just declared war.

$50/hr! Ri-****ing-diculous.

I'm about to send a very passive aggressive Dilbert-style email.

[Asher]

Is anyone familiar with how "bank of hours" contracts work? Specifically they are looking for a bank of hours contract for "up to but not exceeding" X hours at Y per hour from Date1 to Date2.

I'm wondering if this means I get paid for X hours * Y per hour no matter how much I actually work (up to X hours), or if I still bill per hour.

[rah]

I've seen it both ways but most often you get paid for the actual hours. The contract should specify which. And if it's not specified in the contract, ask and make sure the definition is appended to the agreement.
And if you're unhappy with the rate, just decline. They'll get the hint.

[Asher]

I've seen it both ways but most often you get paid for the actual hours. The contract should specify which. And if it's not specified in the contract, ask and make sure the definition is appended to the agreement.
And if you're unhappy with the rate, just decline. They'll get the hint.

I'll be declining it for sure.

I'm actually insulted by it. They know I'll be working evenings and weekends on top of moving across the country and starting a new full time job, and THAT is what they offer? Awful.

[rah]

Don't be insulted, sometimes people are just clueless. Wait to see how they react when you decline. That will be the true indication. Don't act negatively until then.

[Asher]

I had a meeting with the director where I explained, very politely, why I have to decline. She seemed very understanding is going to the CTO to see if they can work something out.

I did let her know it'd need to be "significantly" more, and closer to the standard vendor rate than anything else (which is far, far higher than 50/hr).

[rah]

Actually I'm shocked they offered less than 100. At your expertise level I would have expected 125.

[Asher]

See. They were being insulting. They should know better.

[rah]

In all fairness, during the tough economy, the rates dropped by over 33%, and have just started returning to previous levels. Some companies haven't adjusted back to the previous levels. They seem to after searching and not getting the talent when offering the reduced rates.

[-Jrabbit]

Interesting. My rates have gone up since the crash. Significantly.

I geared my whole business to becoming an outsource. People were getting laid off left and right, but the work still needed to be done. I'm there for you, babe!

I'm sure it's just supply/demand, but still... interesting.

[Asher]

Updates:

1) I've been told that on monday, the company I've been interviewing with (I had 2 more interviews last week, including a 4 hour tech interview over the phone. Ugh.) will be sending me an offer on monday. The Canada day long weekend (everyone took thurs/fri off) delayed things.
2) My current employer came back with a much more reasonable contract after I made the ultimatum of the market rate, or nothing at all. I have the rate I want now, but there's fine print to the contract I need added to ensure they don't **** me around (eg, I will do absolutely nothing during regular business hours for them, due to my new job).

Also, tuesday is my last day at the company.

Wednesday is my brother's bachelor party.

Thursday my SO flies in for the weekend.

Friday is my brother's wedding rehersal.

Saturday is his wedding.

Sunday is a recovery day.

Then I pack.

[Asher]

Today is my last day

And to celebrate, I got the job offer for the position I've been interviewing over the past several weeks. Was worried I'd need to take a pay cut to work in the Calgary market (which is smaller for my kind of thing), but that was definitely not the case.

My job offer to interview ratio continues to be ridiculous.

[rah]

Congrats. Glad the ole company finally came through with a reasonable rate.