I have been programming an Elan systems for the last couple of weeks (Z system with an SC-4 serial controller, 880 video switchers, 4 Vias, cameras, all the bells and whistles). It took me a solid three days to understand the "nuances" of Elan programming (i.e. the serial commands for video switching if you have an SC-4, switching between video and graphics modes, camera sequences, etc.) I was a computer programmer for years with a degree in engineering, so I would consider my learning curve to be shorter than a beginner. My point is this, once learned the systems are relatively straight forward. I would charge $20-30 an hour as a beginner, and $40-50 an hour as an expert. Hope this helps.