As part of the NEH grant proposal I would like to budget the hiring of a full time on-site server admin/PHP software coder (his/her time would be split between babysitting the servers, installing/troubleshooting servers, recommending new server purchases, and improving parts of MediaWiki that no volunteer wants to touch much - esp in the area of performance bottlenecks).

But since even thinking about setting up benefit packages gives me a major headache, I would like to first see us hire a person on a limited term but renewable contract. For example, I'm currently under such contract doing GIS work for 30 dollars an hour. I'm an independent contractor and thus am responsible for my own benefit package (or lack thereof), business license, insurance, and taxes. The local government I work for is therefore not responsible for any overhead other than the small amount of work that my contract manager has to put into processing my invoices.

So my question is: What is the going hourly rate for a server admin with Brion-level knowledge under such a contract?

I will also be researching how much a small office near the colo would cost. A full time secretary/receptionist could be hired through a temp agency. It will probably be some time before we could have real employees.

I also plan to budget $2000 for relocation costs in case anybody is interested (perhaps a bit more for international relocation). :)

Important note: So far all of the above is contingent on getting the grant. The deadline for submitting that grant is also fast approaching.

Daniel Mayer, Wikimedia CFO

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