App costs and salary rates

FewFew

Going for a job at the moment where they want me to develop a number of apps. The role isn't as an app developer, but it'll feature as part of the job and I'll be the lead developer (yeah, I'm also somewhat wondering how there's going to be enough hours in the day.)

So, wondering what people have found salary rates to be in Ireland for app developers. Have been looking online and it all seems to be around the $100k mark, which seems a bit optimistic.

Also, approximately how much would it cost to get an app made, along the lines of the Irish Times iphone app. So grabbing and styling info from a content database.
I know it's a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" type question, but just trying to get a feel for the going rates on commercial apps these days. Seems there's a huge gap, where people say they can do an app for a grand, and then add a few zeros at the other end of the scale, all for pretty similar stuff.

Edit: Actually, this post ( http://www.formotus.com/14018/blog-mobility/figuring-the-costs-of-custom-mobile-business-app-development ) seems pretty informative, but I'm wondering how that compares to the reality of the industry in Ireland.

ChRoMe

FewFew wrote: »

Going for a job at the moment where they want me to develop a number of apps. The role isn't as an app developer, but it'll feature as part of the job and I'll be the lead developer (yeah, I'm also somewhat wondering how there's going to be enough hours in the day.)

So, wondering what people have found salary rates to be in Ireland for app developers. Have been looking online and it all seems to be around the $100k mark, which seems a bit optimistic.

Also, approximately how much would it cost to get an app made, along the lines of the Irish Times iphone app. So grabbing and styling info from a content database.
I know it's a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" type question, but just trying to get a feel for the going rates on commercial apps these days. Seems there's a huge gap, where people say they can do an app for a grand, and then add a few zeros at the other end of the scale, all for pretty similar stuff.

Edit: Actually, this post ( http://www.formotus.com/14018/blog-mobility/figuring-the-costs-of-custom-mobile-business-app-development ) seems pretty informative, but I'm wondering how that compares to the reality of the industry in Ireland.

I'd charge somwhere around the 20k-50k mark for the Irish Times app.

The Corinthian

FewFew wrote: »

So, wondering what people have found salary rates to be in Ireland for app developers. Have been looking online and it all seems to be around the $100k mark, which seems a bit optimistic.

I would look for an Irish salary survey online; even if there's no specific entry for mobile app developer, you can probably guestimate is based upon a comparable role, such as a C# or Java developer.

I know it's a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" type question, but just trying to get a feel for the going rates on commercial apps these days.

Bespoke development will always be a bit of a "how long is a piece of string", because every bespoke development will be a different length of string. What it comes down to is how long will it reasonable take to develop the app (and this may also include requirements gathering, app research and design or testing, on top of actual coding) and what hourly rate, taking into account your costs, is viable.

The only pointer I'd add to the above is that where it comes to bespoke development, the actual development - the coding - will often make up only a fraction of all your time.

Seems there's a huge gap, where people say they can do an app for a grand, and then add a few zeros at the other end of the scale, all for pretty similar stuff.

There's always been a huge gap; even back in the 1990's, during the dotcom, on one side you had firms like Web Factory and Labyrinth who wouldn't get out of bed for a site worth less than 100k and, on the other, Ryanair proudly (and falsely) claiming that they got their Web site done by a couple of students for peanuts.

The developers and firms that will work for peanuts tend to fall into two categories; fire-sales and bottom-feeders.

The fire-sales are generally firms that can't get enough work in, so lower their rates to unsustainable levels desperate for any cash flow. If the client is lucky enough, they'll not go under before the project is delivered. Even so, I wouldn't invest much hope in a long lasting SLA thereafter.

Bottom-feeders are either students, moonlighters or black-market developers who don't worry about things like rates being commercially viable or paying tax. Most often they also lack the skills and/or experience to do the job, and more professional consultants get many of their clients from those who have been burnt by engaging bottom-feeders and ending up with a pigs ear - there's a well-established tradition of spending pounds to save pennies in Irish business.

So I wouldn't worry about them too much and would ignore their quote range. I believe the IT market is buoyant enough in Ireland to limit the number of fire-sales at present and most clients will end up going to a professional anyway once their experiment with a bottom-feeder has soured.

FewFew

Cool, good to know. Wasn't sure if the lower costs places were just really efficient or just abnormalities used by people trying bring down prices.
Will probably go the qualifications route as a measure. Was tricky because it's a role from one industry embedded in a company focused on another industry, but hey, if they want shiny apps they'll need to take on board the average costs involved.