I can't educate my guesses that much. Like you, I'm not in a position where betting 30K on some dude I read about makes any sense. However, some people are in that position. Big companies regularly pay consulting companies like McKinsey hundreds of thousands and even millions for projects. The pay hundreds of dollars an hour for IBM coders. People who pay these prices may well be better served with a 30G project from Obie and a 14G website from Electric Pulp than with whatever IBM and McKinsey charge.
NB: I don't know the numbers. However, I recall the ballpark as being around 300 dollars an hour for a software engineer, and 400K for a study on the return on investment of a marketing campaign for a retailer. The first number is according to Joel Spolsky, and the second is according to Steve Levitt. I'm aware I'm risking arguments from authority here, too.
NB: I don't know the numbers. However, I recall the ballpark as being around 300 dollars an hour for a software engineer, and 400K for a study on the return on investment of a marketing campaign for a retailer. The first number is according to Joel Spolsky, and the second is according to Steve Levitt. I'm aware I'm risking arguments from authority here, too.