Operations & Compensation

Timesheet expectations

Submit timesheets every day, or at minimum every two days, in the timesheets system. To get access, send an SSH public key to alfredo@fzf.dev.

After the key has been added to the system, contractor developers can create timesheets with:

ssh contractors.fzf.dev -p 23234

The command opens a TUI with projects on the left, hours on the right, total logged time and recognized value on the bottom right, and usage instructions in the footer.

Once a month ends in UTC-6, contractors cannot register new hours for that month.

Record real hours

Timesheets are not only an input to payroll. They are operating data. We use recorded hours to compare estimates with reality, understand project costs, set sustainable prices, decide which work we can responsibly accept, and plan what should happen next.

Honest timekeeping is a direct expression of our core value Fair. Being fair means neither the client nor the company pays for invented work, and the team can trust the information used to make decisions.

If we cannot trust the hours you report or the work those hours represent, we are left with two bad options: stop hiring contractors who operate that way, or require people to install activity-tracking tools so their work can be verified. We do not advocate for invasive monitoring. It reflects a breakdown of trust and creates a worse environment for everyone. We want to work with professionals whose word and records are reliable; that freedom depends on honesty.

Record the hours you actually worked. Do not inflate them, round them up to increase payment, move time between projects to improve appearances, or manipulate an entry in any other way. False data compounds: it hides whether an estimate was wrong, a project was underpriced, or a workflow needs to improve. Once the data cannot be trusted, it becomes extremely difficult to understand the economics of the work or make sound decisions from it.

We would rather pay you a higher hourly rate for honest hours than pay a lower rate multiplied by bloated hours—even if the final invoice would cost us the same. The totals may match, but the information does not. A truthful rate and truthful hours show us where the business actually stands; distorted hours make the same economics unreadable.

Clear economics allow us to price work responsibly, keep the business healthy, and create more opportunities for dependable developers. Honest time records therefore protect the client, the company, your teammates, and your own access to future work. If an entry is wrong, correct it promptly and raise any uncertainty instead of guessing in your favor.

Payment terms

Hourly rate is negotiated per project. Initial payment timing may be NET30 based on country and rate. With continued collaboration, terms may improve to NET15. Long-term default cadence is every 2 weeks.

Rate and value alignment

Your rate is a promise. It tells us what you believe your time, judgment, and output are worth. We take that promise seriously, and we hold it up against what we actually see: the speed at which you move, the quality of what you ship, and the clarity of your communication.

If you are slow, unskilled, or difficult to work with, and you are asking for a high rate, we cannot make that work. It is not personal. Business has a simple constraint: the value delivered must justify the cost. When it does not, the math breaks, and we cannot pretend otherwise.

We will tell you if the gap is too wide. We do not disappear or slowly cut hours. We will be direct: your rate is not aligned with the value we are receiving.

At that point, you have a choice. You can lower your rate. That is acceptable, and we will respect the honesty. Lowering your rate is the easiest short-term solution. The other path—leveling up speed, quality, and communication—takes more time and dedication. We would rather help you take that path. We want your rate to be justified by your output, not by wishful thinking. We would rather invest in making you expensive and worth it than accept a lower rate that hides the real problem.

We would rather have an expensive engineer who is worth every dollar than a cheap engineer who is worth every dollar. The difference is everything.