You have absolutely no idea of what you are talking about...
For one, your analogy of a contractor to build a house at 10% discount is flawed for the simple reason that a contractor can't reuse his work, but a programmer can.
When I write code, I make sure that it is designed in a way that it will be reused in a form of a library/module. If a client requires similar work, it may only take 15% of the effort to reproduce a similar result at 1/10 the time. Well guess what! When you've been in the business for 5, 10 or 15 years I can assure you that you barely code anything, but reuse a lot of your existing work.
For example, for over 5 years I had been building financial application frameworks. When a client got a quote from me for an application, I told them $X,000 and 6 months. This client's other quotes for the same project was in the order of 100 times more expensive and nobody could do it in less than a year. And yet my competitors were quoting on the basis of a full R&D team to their disposal... I was by myself! Why was I so cheap? Has nothing to do with quality. I ended up delivering in 5 months and under budget. Clients were so happy and impressed I have been doing business with them ever since.
Second, "Cheap programmers are cheap for a reason. They typically have little or no professional (i.e. for money) experience." Wrong (see above again for answer)! You think that because some dude who charges above market for a project that automatically makes him good? You've got a few things to learn.
Think about it! If I know what I like and know what I want to do. That allows me to selectively reject most contracts regardless of the money and do it well, fast and efficiently? In a year I can do many, many more smaller, less paying projects.
But if you have that one guy who takes on ANY project just because it pays well (which is most cases). What kind of professionalism do you think he'll put into this 'annoying' project.
Your statement on 'you get what you pay for' is complete CRAP!
So your saying that Linus Torvalds, one of the most respected software programmer in the world is cheap quality just because 80% of his work is done for FREE!! Or what about the 2 million or so open source programmers (like myself) who contribute hundreds of lines of code each day for FREE! Makes no sense!
Jeach!
Quote from Raul641:
Why do people always want discount programming? Do people not view it as "real" work because it's "just typing"? Programming is extremely complicated and error-prone. It's a skill and an art that takes many years of hard work to get halfway good at. There aren't all that many people who can do it well, and the vast majority of them already have jobs.
ESPECIALLY if you are staking large sums of money on the result of the programming (as is the case with a market indicator), why on earth would you want to cut corners?
Very few people would make the same kind of absurd demands in any other field that programmers routinely get. "I want a competent contractor to build me a house, and I'm willing to pay 10% of market rates for the work, at most." This is all the more puzzling on a finance-oriented board, where people (supposedly) understand market dynamics.
Would you open a restaurant and then buy the cheapest meat available to serve to your customers? Open a coffee shop and serve store-brand Folger's Crystals? Hire the cheapest lawyer you can find to go to court for you? Or would you look into the candidate's reputation and previous jobs, and check out their references? Someone who is good and has the track record to prove it has no shortage of work offers.
Why do people assume programming is any different? (Maybe because everyone has a 12 year old nephew or cousin who is a "good with computers," so they assume it must not be a big deal if a 12 year old can be "good with computers"...)
Cheap programmers are cheap for a reason. They typically have little or no professional (i.e. for money) experience. When they get such experience, they stop being cheap. There is high demand for good programmers who produce proven results. Good programmers command high hourly prices because that is what the market will bear for good programming.
If nobody was willing to pay $100-200 an hour for a top programmer, the top programmers wouldn't charge that much. You get what you pay for. Caveat emptor.
