Hourly billing burnt me out. I started on Upwork with the spying software installed. I was desperate for money at that time. But my own methodology when working is to think about the problem, only typing code when I have a good hint about a solution. So for a day of work, I may spend one hour typing code, three hours reading code and the rest of the time thinking hard. But the activity monitor inside the software only picked up the time when you're actively using the computer so, I was always distracted in my thinking with the reminder that I have to use the mouse for the timer to resume.
Now I'm paid a fixed price each month (fairly high for where I'm living). So, wages are not something I think about. But when I try to negotiate other project, I either go fixed, or billed by the day at the smallest. My usual hours for work range from 10am to 5pm, so I bill this amount if the client really wants hourly invoicing.
Any good alternatives if you're desperate for money, and also a bit rusty (on real, complex codebases etc, not just leetcode/euler etc) due to being out of work for a while (and old)? Asking for a friend...
The thought of a screen monitor checking keystrokes sounds completely distopian to me, and also just not a useful a measure of value.
I didn't get to choose. I felt desperate at the time and took flat rates for jobs that seemed fair, only to find that the requirements kept shifting. The client would refuse to pay unless I did more work. It ended up being like $5/hr in the end. Like I said I felt desperate and needed rent money. It sucked.
Another time I'd put all this work into bidding for a job only to find out they didn't really have any money for the project and were just using the conversation to get feedback on their idea.
It varied. I got my first programming job on Upwork (React Native), and it was around $3/hr. At the time, it felt magical earning something from the internet, and I was in college at the time. $3 was the amount I spent a day. It went sideways due to various things. Then I did a couple of tasks for a fixed priced and then went on to a React job for $18/hr. Most of my jobs have been around $20/hr, which is wonderful where I live. I tried raising, but good luck with that when it shows you're not in a developed country. But the major burden was the tracking. After, there were the shifty clients, the client that won't communicate with you, and the ones that consider you as a serf.
Now I've got the work experience and the savings to be really picky about work. So, I can take my sweet time to consider posting, if I ever go back to Upwork.
Now I'm paid a fixed price each month (fairly high for where I'm living). So, wages are not something I think about. But when I try to negotiate other project, I either go fixed, or billed by the day at the smallest. My usual hours for work range from 10am to 5pm, so I bill this amount if the client really wants hourly invoicing.