Subject: 7TH RAY LABS LTD - amending our contract, readjusting rate
From: Michal Siemaszko <[email-masked]>
To: Derek Palma <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 03 Oct 2016 01:12:06 +0200

Derek,

It will be close to year and a half since we work together.

When I was starting, in April 2015, close to none of the tech stack
used in Vnomic app I had any experience with - I learned a lot, gained
a lot of experience, and I know there's still a lot to learn/parts of
Vnomic app and tech stack which are not known to me / I have no
experience with.

Most tasks / projects assigned to me I completed successfully - very
recently you mentioned, and it's a fact, that on F5 project most issues
which even F5 didn't know how to tackle were resolved thanks to me / my
effort; there's been many other projects like this and will be if we
continue to work together. Projects which I am not able to complete -
yet - or take longer to complete, stem from fact I have no experience -
yet - with all of the tech stack and/or existing code. My dedication,
working after hours / weekends if necessary, should be clearly visible
after these almost 18 months.

Because within the next 2-3 months I will be moving out of Poland
completely - I have few remaining things to take care of while I'm still
there, which I should be able to complete within a month or so - and, if
all these projects you mentioned pending are still in the pipeline (Fog
Director, Hadoop automation, etc.) and Vnomic would like to continue
working with me, I would like to take this time to ask for
amending/renegotiating the contract we have.

*1*. Our contract is an independent contractor agreement, yet invoices
are being issued by LTD company where I'm a shareholder and director.
If, as an IT contractor providing services via my LTD company, I wanted
to get mortgage, or if there was any control from UK authorities, this
contract is in fact not a proper contract; _it must be a B2B contract,
where my LTD company is the service provider, in addition to (adjusted)
rate and notice period being specified in the contract._

*2*. Since, unlike an employe, all of the cost for you is what you pay
me monthly and I have to offset it against taxes & other expenses
(taxes, accountancy, social security equivalent, retirement fund,
vacation time, etc.) in addition to risk I take because of the very
short notice period (currently two weeks) - and the baseline rate in
such case is well over the 24 USD / hour (which current rate comes down
to), even for remote contracts, in fact 3 or 4 times that amount
considering I have well over 10 years of experience in IT - plus, I will
be living in a country which has higher living expenses - _I would like
to ask for re-adjustment of this rate_. I propose the following 3
options - rates given are per hour, calculated based on 160 hours
monthly, but amount / rate in contract would remain per month, as so
far; often it's more than that, but I do not charge Vnomic for over-
time, as you know:

 *a*) 25 GBP / hour (4000 GBP / month @ 160 hours monthly; approx.
 5165 USD / month at current exchange rate, which is ~ 32 USD / hour)
 - 24 month contract (extended automatically after that period, if we
 both agree to that) with 3 month notice period - lower risk for me,
 lower rate

 *b*) 32,5 GBP / hour (5200 GBP / month; approx. 6710 USD / month at
 current exchange rate, which is ~ 42 USD / hour) - 12 month rolling
 contract (extended automatically after that 1 year, if we both agree to
 that) with 6 weeks notice period - medium risk for me, medium rate

 *c*) 40 GBP / hour (6400 GBP / month; approx. 8260 USD / month at
 current exchange rate, which is ~ 52 USD / hour) - like currently, i.e.
 month-to-month (open-ended) rolling contract with 2 week notice period
 - high risk for me, higher rate

Kindly please let me know which of these options fits Vnomic best or
perhaps Vnomic can suggest an alternative.

Considering our business relationship of these past 18 months and the
amount of work that's always there @ Vnomic, the time it takes to get to
know the tech stack, I hope we can come to a mutually satisfying
agreement.

Regards,
--
  Michal H. Siemaszko
  7th Ray Labs LTD
  Company no.: 9174013
  Mobile: +48 723 039 978
  Email: [email-masked]
  Skype: mhs7thraylabs
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/mhsiemaszko