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sap_hybris_commerce:hourly_rates_and_project_portals_advice_for_freelance_sap_commerce_cloud_developers_germany_austria_schwitzerland [2023/11/01 15:04] – spelling mistakes Antonio Robirosasap_hybris_commerce:hourly_rates_and_project_portals_advice_for_freelance_sap_commerce_cloud_developers_germany_austria_schwitzerland [2024/04/11 21:26] (current) – [Taxation when working from other EU country] Antonio Robirosa
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 In each country of the EU there are different hourly rates for SAP Commerce Cloud developers. To get a fair hourly rate for Germany, Switzerland and Austria you can follow these steps: In each country of the EU there are different hourly rates for SAP Commerce Cloud developers. To get a fair hourly rate for Germany, Switzerland and Austria you can follow these steps:
   - Find with the [[https://www.gulp.de/freelancing/stundensatzkalkulator|GULP Studensatz Kalkulator]] what is the average initial rate in the profiles of the developers registered on GULP. You can see there some examples of the profiles including the age of the developer which can help you guess what should be the fair hourly rate   - Find with the [[https://www.gulp.de/freelancing/stundensatzkalkulator|GULP Studensatz Kalkulator]] what is the average initial rate in the profiles of the developers registered on GULP. You can see there some examples of the profiles including the age of the developer which can help you guess what should be the fair hourly rate
-  - Now decide what is your **target remote rate** and your **no-go minimum rate**. This last rate is the minimum rate that you will accept. For example, I don't accept any rate near the average rate of a java developer because I have 12+ years of experience with SAP Hybris and they are worth 10-20% more than a Java generalist+  - Now decide what is your **target remote rate** and your **no-go minimum rate**. This last rate is the minimum rate that you will accept. For example, I don't accept any rate near the average rate of a java developer because I have 12+ years of experience with SAP Commerce Cloud and they are worth 10-20% more than a Java generalist
   - Add 3% because German companies are used to pay you 45 days after the invoice day. If they pay sooner, they usually ask you for a 3% discount for early payment. In Austria and Switzerland I haven't given this discount   - Add 3% because German companies are used to pay you 45 days after the invoice day. If they pay sooner, they usually ask you for a 3% discount for early payment. In Austria and Switzerland I haven't given this discount
   - Add EUR 5 to your target remote rate because during your first call with a recruiter they will ask you for a discount   - Add EUR 5 to your target remote rate because during your first call with a recruiter they will ask you for a discount
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 This is an important topic and sometimes, the double taxation is so high, that it is not worth to work in some countries. For example, now that I am located in Bulgaria, I have to charge 50% more for Swiss projects than a German developer. Due to this, I recommend the head hunters to find candidates living in Germany.  This is an important topic and sometimes, the double taxation is so high, that it is not worth to work in some countries. For example, now that I am located in Bulgaria, I have to charge 50% more for Swiss projects than a German developer. Due to this, I recommend the head hunters to find candidates living in Germany. 
 +
 +===== When to name your country of residence and your passports? =====
 +
 +**I don't name my country of residency and my second and third nationalities on my resume**. If the recruiter asks for them during a call, I answer calmly where I live and what is my main citizenship because if he/she already called me, he/she already believes that I am a good match for the project. If nobody answer, they will learn about it when we sign the contract.
 +
 +In **Latin America** and in **Europe** there is discrimination based on your country of origin. A lot of decision makers and recruiters use nationalities to classify people. Although the work of a programmer depends on his/her communication and technical skills, and not on his/her location on this planet, they will pay you less because your living costs are low or discard your resume based on your passport. Let's hope one day we all learn that the concept of nation is a **recent social concept without any value in our interconnected world**.
 + 
 ===== Where to promote your profile and project experience? ===== ===== Where to promote your profile and project experience? =====
  
 In Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH) there are websites in German language which are popular for project posting and networking. These are the ones which I used successfully to find projects: In Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH) there are websites in German language which are popular for project posting and networking. These are the ones which I used successfully to find projects:
  
-  - [[https://www.xing.com/|Xing]] is the German version of Linkedin. Although it is not very useful to find projects, it might help you a lot to find recruiters and sometimes end-customers+  - [[https://www.xing.com/|Xing]] is the German version of Linkedin. Although it is not very useful to find projects, it might help you a lot to find recruiters and sometimes end customers
   - [[https://www.gulp.de|GULP]] is one of the biggest recruiting companies for freelancers in DACH. They are professional: They only send you an email with projects which match your skills and they generate the invoices for you when you are in a project   - [[https://www.gulp.de|GULP]] is one of the biggest recruiting companies for freelancers in DACH. They are professional: They only send you an email with projects which match your skills and they generate the invoices for you when you are in a project
 +  - [[https://www.freelancermap.com/|Freelancermap]] is the biggest portal for freelancers which I know of in Europe. Not only they have projects in Germany but all around the world like in the Netherlands, Belgium and Argentina  
   - [[https://www.hays.de/|Hays Professional Solutions GmbH]] is also a big recruiting company for IT. I haven't worked with them in any project, so I don't know how good are their internal processes   - [[https://www.hays.de/|Hays Professional Solutions GmbH]] is also a big recruiting company for IT. I haven't worked with them in any project, so I don't know how good are their internal processes
-  - [[https://www.freelance.de/|freelance.de]] is the biggest project portal for freelancers which I know of in Germany. All projects seem to be posted by recruiters, this means that you will find them in the websites of GULP, Solcom and other recruiters. If you sign up here this will give you a lot of visibility as a freelancer in Germany and with the saved searches you can monitor **how many SAP Hybris projects are posted in DACH every month**+  - [[https://www.freelance.de/|freelance.de]] is the biggest project portal for freelancers which I know of in Germany. All projects seem to be posted by recruiters, this means that you will find them in the websites of GULP, Solcom and other recruiters. If you sign up here this will give you a lot of visibility as a freelancer in Germany and with the saved searches you can monitor **how many SAP Commerce Cloud projects are posted in DACH every month**
   - [[https://www.solcom.de/|Solcom GmbH]] seems to be a big recruiter after Hays and GULP. They are professional: They only send you an email with projects which match your skills but I don't have any experience working with them   - [[https://www.solcom.de/|Solcom GmbH]] seems to be a big recruiter after Hays and GULP. They are professional: They only send you an email with projects which match your skills but I don't have any experience working with them
   - [[https://next-ventures.com/|Next Ventures]] is a recruiter company which has exclusive access to some corporations using SAP Commerce Cloud, so it is a good idea to send them your CV. Their professionalism is OK. It is always better to ask for the full description of the project to be sure that your skills match   - [[https://next-ventures.com/|Next Ventures]] is a recruiter company which has exclusive access to some corporations using SAP Commerce Cloud, so it is a good idea to send them your CV. Their professionalism is OK. It is always better to ask for the full description of the project to be sure that your skills match
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 </WRAP> </WRAP>
  
-This is the first obstacle to work without recruiters. The second is the need to have many acquaintances which are SAP Hybris developers or are managers of the IT department, in big DACH corporations. For 3 months I used Xing to find and contact IT managers using SAP Commerce Cloud and less than 7% accepted my contact request. And only twice in 12 years, I got technical interviews through Xing.+This is the first obstacle to work without recruiters. The second is the need to have many acquaintances which are SAP Commerce Cloud developers or are managers of the IT department, in big DACH corporations. For 3 months I used Xing to find and contact IT managers using SAP Commerce Cloud and less than 7% accepted my contact request. And only twice in 12 years, I got technical interviews through Xing.
  
 This means, that recruiters are essential to find a project in DACH. They know what companies are using SAP products and are willing to sign a work contract with you as a freelancer. Their services are expensive, 13%+ of the hourly rate paid by the customer, you have to book your hours twice and they are a third party in any extension of the contract but the best that you can do is to help them do their job: This means, that recruiters are essential to find a project in DACH. They know what companies are using SAP products and are willing to sign a work contract with you as a freelancer. Their services are expensive, 13%+ of the hourly rate paid by the customer, you have to book your hours twice and they are a third party in any extension of the contract but the best that you can do is to help them do their job:
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    * Always check that your **skills match** what the customer is looking for. If the project listing is unclear, ask for additional details before having a phone call with the recruiter    * Always check that your **skills match** what the customer is looking for. If the project listing is unclear, ask for additional details before having a phone call with the recruiter
    * If the recruiter asks for **referrals** and contact information of your former bosses, ignore the project. In Germany it is unusual to ask for those referrals. They are used by some recruiters in UK to find companies using SAP products and they will bother your former manager with calls. **Those recruiters don't have projects for you**    * If the recruiter asks for **referrals** and contact information of your former bosses, ignore the project. In Germany it is unusual to ask for those referrals. They are used by some recruiters in UK to find companies using SAP products and they will bother your former manager with calls. **Those recruiters don't have projects for you**
-   * To avoid sending your CV twice to the same project, ask in what **city** the customer is located. This gives you a hint to recognize if you already applied for that project or what company is looking for SAP Hybris developers. You may already know people working there+   * To avoid sending your CV twice to the same project, ask in what **city** the customer is located. This gives you a hint to recognize if you already applied for that project or what company is looking for SAP Commerce Cloud developers. You may already know people working there
    * During the first call, give a remote hourly rate but ask what is the **budget of the customer**. If it is 20% lower than the average found in GULP Studensatz Kalculator, the project is probably **understaffed** and there won't be enough developers to successfully finish it; or there is a **second recruiter** between you and the customer    * During the first call, give a remote hourly rate but ask what is the **budget of the customer**. If it is 20% lower than the average found in GULP Studensatz Kalculator, the project is probably **understaffed** and there won't be enough developers to successfully finish it; or there is a **second recruiter** between you and the customer
 +   * Always keep in mind the **value that you give your potential customer** when negotiating your hourly rate. If a company sees this as a cost, they won't value you as an expert, they might not value integration tests, many testing environments, having an integration environment with the same data as production.
    * Ask when exactly you have to work onsite. Don't leave this question to a further negotiation. It is better to know customer's wish from the beginning and after they know that you work reliably from home, they will prefer that you stay at home.    * Ask when exactly you have to work onsite. Don't leave this question to a further negotiation. It is better to know customer's wish from the beginning and after they know that you work reliably from home, they will prefer that you stay at home.
    * Don't have any "introductory" phone call if there isn't any concrete project. It seems that recruiters need to show that they are talking to candidates even when there aren't any projects. FIXME I may be mistaken    * Don't have any "introductory" phone call if there isn't any concrete project. It seems that recruiters need to show that they are talking to candidates even when there aren't any projects. FIXME I may be mistaken
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 Help him! Ask him about his pain points in the project and **give him advice for free.** Help him! Ask him about his pain points in the project and **give him advice for free.**
  
-With this attitude you are going to get a deep insight of the problems tackled by the projects, what developers complain about and what is the added value of the final product. It is also more interesting than just answering technical questions about Java, Spring and SAP Hybris. The prospective customer will get something from the time spent on the interview and a deeper impression of your IT and soft skills.+With this attitude you are going to get a deep insight of the problems tackled by the projects, what developers complain about and what is the added value of the final product. It is also more interesting than just answering technical questions about Java, Spring and SAP Commerce Cloud. The prospective customer will get something from the time spent on the interview and a deeper impression of your IT and soft skills.
  
 If you see something that you don't like and won't be interested in the project, be honest and inform the prospective customer during the interview or soon after it. He doesn't want to lose time with you. Sometimes what the customer wants to do with SAP Commerce Cloud is a bad idea and won't work. If you see something that you don't like and won't be interested in the project, be honest and inform the prospective customer during the interview or soon after it. He doesn't want to lose time with you. Sometimes what the customer wants to do with SAP Commerce Cloud is a bad idea and won't work.
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 Usually they want to confirm that you are paying taxes as a freelancer or as a company. They will confirm all the legal information required to be their provider. Usually they want to confirm that you are paying taxes as a freelancer or as a company. They will confirm all the legal information required to be their provider.
  
-**And they would like to have a discount. =)** Usually EUR 1-3 less per hour are enough to make them happy. It seems that they have to show that they negotiated with you and their were successful. +**And they would like to have a discount. =)** Usually EUR 1-3 less per hour are enough to make them happy. It seems that they have to show that they negotiated with you and they were successful. 
-===== When to invest on hardware? =====+===== When to invest in hardware? =====
  
-**As an external employee, the customer expects you to have greater results than permanent employees, not only because you are an expert, but because you have faster hardware.** When Tomcat takes 5 minutes to start or you see that you spend a lot of time running "ant clean all", it is time to buy new hardware and to move to Linux which is 30% faster than Microsoft Windows on IO. +**As an external employee, the customer expects you to have better results than permanent employees, not only because you are an expert, but because you have faster hardware.** When Tomcat takes 5 minutes to start or you see that you spend a lot of time running "ant clean all", it is time to buy new hardware and to move to Linux which is 30% faster than Microsoft Windows on IO. 
  
 My current laptop has: My current laptop has:
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 <WRAP center round tip 100%> <WRAP center round tip 100%>
-To prevent loosing money if the hardware breaks, I recommend to buy a twin laptop and mirror the hard disks every three months and have weekly offline backups. If case you have a hardware failure, you can start using the second laptop in less than one hour.+To prevent losing money if the hardware breaks, I recommend to buy a twin laptop and mirror the hard disks every three months and have weekly offline backups. If case you have a hardware failure, you can start using the second laptop in less than one hour.
 </WRAP> </WRAP>
 ===== Final words ===== ===== Final words =====
  
 If you find any mistake, you disagree with me in any point or have new advice, please send me an email. Thanks a lot! If you find any mistake, you disagree with me in any point or have new advice, please send me an email. Thanks a lot!