Hi Ken,

I have a really unusual agreement under my current contract. I show $35.00/hour on my invoices to my client, but I give them 4 hours per day free (1 hour free for every hour billable) with a gentlemen's agreement (not in writing) that when the software we develop goes to market I get royalties or percentage of gross or net (loosely defined?!?! not in writing?!?! don't expect to ever see it?!?!). But that's why I say in actuality when I do the math when I work 8 hours I only make $140 which is $17.50 per hour even though we agreed to $35.00/hour. I have that unusual agreement because the contract programmer I work with, who is also responsible for the NT network administration and other administrative functions, gets $50.00/hour, but he works under the same type of arrangement (1 donated hour for every 1 billable hour, so in actuality he makes $25.00/hour for 8 hours).

On the gentlemen's agreement, I think it will be years before our software goes to market and I can't wait that long and there is no guarantee I will ever see it so I would be better off finding a true $50.00 - $75.00/hour position ASAP. And I do have a Computer Science degree to go along with years of programming, system administration, systems analysis and design. So I am my own worst enemy keeping the job I presently have. I will say it was good experience since I had no prior VFP knowledge or experience and they allowed me to learn it by doing it so it was sort of like paid training, albeit an extended training period of time. And as the other programmer stated, "No pressure, no deadlines, the easiest job you'll ever have." That's debateable!

Thanks again for your inputs. You've all changed my thinking about where I am and where I should go. I think it's time for a change. But before I give up my current contract I will make sure I have something already lined up. And I need to brush up on my OOP and framework and RI since we are halfway between a FP2.6 and VFP 6.0 environment.