Refactor Your Career

I raised my rate 467% in three years

Hey there! I'm Elliot Bonneville, a contracting web developer living in Rhode Island and working remotely. I love coding, and I don’t plan on ever stopping.

At one point, though, I wasn’t so sure of that. After four years without any significant raises, I needed to make more money.

I knew that something had to change. I tried launching a startup, running a digital marketing business, and even technical writing.

It wasn’t long before I found out that all of those other jobs made me miserable, and all I wanted to do was code (sound familiar?). I hated spending every day drowning in meetings and dragging JIRA tickets around, cold calling lawyers, or trying to teach people over Zoom.

So I went back to programming.

But when I learned my wife and I were expecting, I realized I had to figure out a way to make more money while continuing to do what I loved. I knew it was possible, because other people did it – but what I didn’t know was .

It took a lot of frustration, anxiety, and coming within 24 hours of missing our rent payment, but after some truly desperate times...

I doubled my rate.

And then I doubled it again. And then I raised it some more, just for good measure.

It turns out, getting more money for the work you love to do isn’t all that hard – you just have to know how. But...

The devil’s in the details.

If I told you all you had to do in order to double your rate was:

• Change jobs frequently (without being seen as a job hopper)
• Be willing to walk away from offers
• Have a specialty
• Know your true worth
• Be confident on the phone
• Negotiate aggressively

...would you believe me? Well, it’s all pretty reasonable stuff. But just from that list, can you actually go raise your rates? I couldn’t. A lot of people talk about these things online, but what they were saying wasn’t enough.

And that’s why I wrote this artisanal hand-typed book. It’s the guide I somebody had handed me six years ago. I share everything I learned along the way, like how to talk to recruiters, whether it’s better to bill as a corporation or as an individual, and how to negotiate aggressively and with confidence.

Fair warning, the advice in this book isn’t for everybody. The person I was six years ago may not be the person you are today.

This book is for you if you...

• Have at least two or three years of programming experience
• Love software development, but see work as a means to an end
• Would like to stay at an individual contributor level
• Are actively looking for ways to make more money
• Are willing to go outside of your comfort zone and learn hard new things

It's not for you if you...

• Are a brand new software developer or haven't found your first role yet
• Value what you're doing and/or who you're doing it with more than the money
• Are comfortable with your current income or are not motivated by money
• Aren’t willing to consider contracting as an alternative to full-time employment

Okay. Still with me?

Here’s the deal: every developer has two jobs: writing code, and finding people to pay them to write code. Most developers know about the first job, but far fewer developers realize .

What does that second job look like? Well, as the old sales adage goes: good marketing and a bad product beat a great product with bad marketing.

Learn to market and sell yourself, and you will make more money.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Why I wrote this book and who I am
• Who this book is for and who this book is not for
• What this book is about

• Chapter 1: I 5x’d My Rate In Three Years
• My story in brief
• $30/hr: inbound via Stack Overflow
• $30/hr to $35/hr: referral
• $95/hr: inbound via Stack Overflow
• $60/hr: social networking
• $110/hr: I post my resume online
• $120/hr: recruiter
• $140/hr: recruiter

• Chapter 2: Quit Your Job
• All raises are relative to your starting salary
• After a certain point, your company can’t afford you any more
• For every company that will pay you 200%, there also exists a company that will pay you 400%
• It’s very difficult to be paid your true value
• Don’t be a job hopper, be a contractor

• Chapter 3: Talk With Recruiters
• Recruiters are an important resource
• Recruiters look for the highest return-on-investment candidates
• Only talk to high-level recruiters
• Confidence is a proxy for value
• Become confident on the phone
• Read sales books and learn sales

• Chapter 4: Learn To Negotiate
• Recruiters agencies profit when you lower your rate
• Charging more makes you worth more
• Be prepared to bargain
• Compromise on other things besides rate
• Play multiple offers against each other
• Offers are limited-time-only
• Don’t ghost recruiters

• Chapter 5: Optimize Your Online Presence To Generate Leads
• Optimize your resume
• Instant resume disqualifiers
• Optimize your LinkedIn profile
• Have a lot of connections
• Set your location to a major tech hub
• Make your profile page stand out
• Get recommendations from people you’ve worked with in the past
• Resources for further reading on LinkedIn optimization

• Chapter 6: Don’t Work With Startups or Household Names
• Don’t work with startups
• Taking equity is becoming a micro venture capitalist
• Empirically, equity is not as valuable as it seems
• Startup benefits are the cheese in the mousetrap
• Don’t work with household names
• The Goldilocks Zone is big companies that aren’t FAANGs
• Talent begets talent; therefore, go where talent is not
• Smaller companies are more able to negotiate
• Live in a low cost-of-living area, work in a high cost-of-living area

• Chapter 7: Start Your Own Contracting Company
• Billing corp-to-corp results in higher earnings
• Set up your business correctly
• Read low-risk contracts yourself
• Contracts are negotiable
• Payment terms
• Termination clause
• Non-solicitation clause
• Non-compete clause
• Non-disclosure agreement
• Never give notice before you sign the paperwork

• Chapter 8: Build Your Network
• Do astonishingly good work
• Build relationships with colleagues and bosses
• Stay front-of-mind with contacts as time goes by
• Your network has a half-life
• Look for mentors

• Chapter 9: Improve Your Mindset – Yes, You Can Charge More
• Employers want business value, not engineers
• Many limits are self-imposed
• Be wary of plateauing and local maxima
• Confidence and skill do not increase together

• Chapter 10: Don’t Be A Commodity
• Find a niche
• Dig yourself moats
• Build credibility

• Conclusion
• Ask yourself if you really believe you can raise your rates
• Decide on your career story
• Update your resume and your LinkedIn
• Start talking with recruiters as soon as possible
• Negotiate well
• Do astonishingly good work
• Network and build credibility
• Let me know

Refund Policy

I have a no-questions-asked refund policy. If you decide this book wasn't what you were expecting or you're not 100% satisfied with what you find, just shoot me an email and I'll send you a full refund.

Can't Afford It?

If you can't afford this book or you're out of a job because of COVID or related problems, just shoot me an email and we'll work something out.