Re: Engineers Pay

["John R. Strohm" <strohm@airmail.net>]

"Dennis Lee Bieber" <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message
news:hub1g-vu3.ln1@beastie.ix.netcom.com...
> Kevin Cline fed this fish to the penguins on Monday 20 January 2003
> 11:12 pm:
>
> > and administrative personell.  USD $250K or $USD 1000 per day
> > is about what the company would charge for the engineer's time.
> >
>         If I recall from attendance at the financial portion of a few
design
> reviews, a number in the range of US$130 per hour was quoted for the
> individuals directly involved (coders, testers, engineers -- but not
> general management) in the project. Of that amount, less than US$50
> went to my salary ($45/hour); the rest was used to pay for my cubicle,
> supplies (printer supplies), and clerical labor (travel office,
> secretarial support).

Assuming for the sake of argument that this was a defense contractor, you
also need to bear in mind that the government audits those numbers.  There
is a certain profit margin built in, and the government allows for that,
but, if the margin is excessive, they can (and do) renegotiate it down.

Summary: those numbers, for salary, cubicle, supplies, and support, have to
be strongly based in reality.

What THAT means is that you, the engineer, really do cost the company about
that much.  The company makes it back by selling your labor, with the other
charges rolled in, and a little left over for profit.