How much should I pay to retain a developer for emergency maintenance work?

Calvin Lee Judicial Intern at U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York

August 1st, 2015

Now that our freelancer has finished developing my startup's app (same basic functions as a mobile wallet), we're looking to retain a developer to perform basic bug fixes, emergency maintenance, and make minor adjustments based on customer requests during our beta launch. I'm hoping those in the know can give me estimates for many hours of work this will entail and what an appropriate salary is.

Logan Kleier

August 1st, 2015

It depends on the skill set.

However, the general contractor range for full stack developers is anywhere between $80 and $150 an hour. I'd encourage you to get very clear in the contract what your SLA expectation are though. For example, do you expect that them to respond with 2 hours of a request for assistance? Does this apply 24X7? What exactly are they responsible for? The full stack? Only the database? Only the front-end?

Logan

Lee Guertin Editorial Research Manager, Online Analytics

August 1st, 2015

A lot depends on the amount of work scoped, the state of the code (and type), and the projected frequency of issues, fixes and releases. Well-documented code using common language and techniques will take less time and therefore cost less to maintain, support, and develop additional features to. If your customers are enterprise level there is also higher risk involved. Anything finance related has security and privacy issues and that experience and background accountability is also something to consider. Hiring the cheapest isn't always the bargain one thinks it is with such apps. Hope this helps! Sent from my iPhone

John Spitters Stories from authentic experiences give way to extraordinary dimension & consequence.

August 21st, 2015

Logan calls attention to basic considerations you need to understand and manage. That said, we've found it productive when it comes to this sort of work to enlist interns who are fluent and experienced in the type of software and tools we're employing to support our landing page and MVP. The work that you've described as part of your requirements would not seem to require a 24/7 commitment and may possibly be best handled via a P/T role. Nonetheless, you should manage this type of relationship based on Logan's recommendations; it's prudent and it's smart. All the best to you, JS

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