Do you think it's fair to have different rates based on where the freelancer is located?

Farhad Nawab
7 replies
For example, does a person living in New York deserve more pay than another freelancer with the same skills or experience but living in a cheaper place? Your feedback will help me to build upestimate.com

Replies

Dzmitry Tsemirau
In my opinion, no, rates should depend solely on the quality and quantity of work.
Huynh Trinh
Let imagine you have the idea of building a international corp which have the same salary for same position. Then it may have the situation: your corp cannot hire any New York developer but from other places. It is because you offer a salary which is much higher comparing to non-New York area but still much lower than NY city. Beside your corp core values, the marketplace decide the value. Same situation for your question.
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Huynh Trinh
@faizanhere People say that the world is flat. People also say that everything should be fair. But how to define if a thing is fair or unfair? I am not a guy coming from such place as NY. I think it is fair for people like NYer to get higher because they got a good education, skills, attitudes, etc… as well as they have some talent to survive in a very high compete environment as NY. They paid more to get better skills and experience, so they should get more. Some genius do not need to learn hard nor pay more money to get better skills, but these guys also sell their genius to the job to get income. Pay more, get more. To me, that is fair. Of course, if the people come from other lower standard place, just like me, but they can show off their talent which is better than other people, they also should get higher. This is fair.
Muhammad Faizan
@trinhdhuynh Yeah, I think this is valid for the companies that are physically present in a country, they will have to follow the minimum wage or market value of a certain skill, But if we talk about a digital world where a client requires a developer/designer/marketer or other online job, then the client should not care where the freelancer is based on, The countries are now giving visas specific to freelancers or digital nomads. Because if you are working online it doesn't matter in which country you are in.
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Farhad Nawab
@trinhdhuynh You've got a point about how companies pay their people. But when we talk about freelancers, it's a bit different. At UpEstimate.com, the goal is pretty straightforward. We want to give freelancers and clients real, honest estimates for their projects. It's not about where the freelancer lives or the cost of living there. It's all about the skills, the complexity of the project, and the hard work that goes into it. This way, every freelancer gets a fair chance to earn what they truly deserve based on their abilities and the work they do. And for clients, they can trust they're getting a fair price for the project they need done. It’s all about keeping things clear and fair for everyone involved.
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Huynh Trinh
@farhadnawab Yes, I totally agree that everything should base on the skills. And the reason we pay, for example NY developer, with higher not simplely because they are NYer. The true reason behind is that they originally come from there meaning they may come with the assumption that they got a good education, skills, attitudes, etc… as well as they have some talent to survive in a very high compete environment as NY. Of course, this assumption need to be verified carefully via some deep interview and checking. So the location tells more insights than just a location.