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Question About The Cost of Coding

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 8:25 pm
by Ace Rimmer
I realize this isn't the Defcon subforum but I know lots of you understanding coding or know people that do, so I'm asking my question here...

I still really want to have a finished Defcon AceBot, but don't have the time to attempt to learn Lua well enough to complete it. So, does anybody know how much it might cost to have somebody code a Defcon Bot for me (not just any bot, but one that would perform they way I'd want it to)? C++ is what Defcon is written in.

Any helpful information would be appreciated.

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 8:38 pm
by Xocrates
Depends on the scope/difficulty of the project and on who you get. Frankly had I already taken an AI course (not due to happen for another year) and I might volunteer for cheap just for the practice, but a professional might easily run you into the 3 or 4 digits assuming a "short" project.

I can probably inquire my brother (who owns a small software company) for realistic numbers if you wish though.

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 8:41 pm
by Ace Rimmer
Sure, any information would be helpful. It it's too cost-prohibitive, then oh well. Otherwise, it doesn't have to be a professional, just someone that can provide a relatively bug free, functioning Defcon AceBot.

Edit: I bet Chris could do it in about five minutes in his sleep, but that's asking way too much. :P

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:51 pm
by Xocrates
Right, according to my brother, a freelance coder that doesn't suck will take about 2000€ (~2700$) a month (before taxes) which translates to about 11€(~15$) an hour, but this is in Portugal which may be cheap compared with the US.

For the entire work that's hard to say since neither does my brother know the game or what the bot is supposed to do. More info may get you more detail, though.

So, you're looking at triple digits for a single day of work which would almost assuredly be insufficient by a large margin.

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:55 pm
by Ace Rimmer
:cry: I might could do one day's work at that rate, but that'd be the limit.

Volunteer, for cheap, eh?

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:57 pm
by Xocrates
Maybe in about a year :P

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 10:00 pm
by Ace Rimmer
:P

Anybody willing (or know anybody) that'd be willing to offer their services, perhaps as a side/night project for a [small] bit of cash?

Also, the coder doesn't have to not suck, just provide a useable Bot that doesn't suck. :P

Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 12:39 am
by Forever Young
bert is not willing? :P maybe he is too expensive? :lol:

Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 6:22 am
by Ace Rimmer
No he doesn't have time (asked long ago... :wink:)

Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2013 9:51 am
by Foxsake
about £50 an hour is normal for competent programmer. For a small project the cost per hour is likely to be higher, and for C++ higher still. (More like £80 per hour)

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2013 1:34 am
by Blackbeard

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2013 1:46 am
by Ace Rimmer
If that's true, the company should not have fired him, but got him to show them exactly how he did it, who he outsourced his work to, and then made him lead of the new outsource team (firing others doing what he did), saving tons of money.

:P

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2013 1:59 am
by Blackbeard
The irony is most of his colleagues probably had the same daily routine without having to give away a fifth of their salary :lol: .

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2013 2:11 am
by Laika
Probably that's what company has done, apart from firing. Interesting that a team of chinese programmers worked for what is 1/5th of one US programmer salary.


Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2013 2:45 am
by Blackbeard
Laika_rus wrote:Probably that's what company has done, apart from firing. Interesting that a team of chinese programmers worked for what is 1/5th of one US programmer salary.



Hehe, and the world's poorest man passes the work on to western charity volunteers who do it all for free :lol: