Preserved Topic: Without disclosing numbers

Without disclosing numbers.......how succesful are some of you in the digital realm......i dont mean specifics.

How plentyful are the top digital jobs and do most have to relocate??..........how about home based studios........can a small home studio survive today .??

I think that info would help the young artist who might be looking for direction
Im not a 1% in the digital realm so im not a good indicator of how healthy this sector is.

I know with just web design and internet logos ect.......i can make some decent money and feel great doing it..but.....what areas are hot right now

Someone mentioned animated digital movies..(anyone 1% here)....would have been my field of choice 30 years ago.

Are we happy with what where doing???

I work for a manufacturer in an inhouse art department. I design everything from letterhead to packaging to store displays to magazine ads. I was hired one month out of community college. I am in the south and cost of living here isn't tooooo bad compared to some places.

I'm not allowed to discuss what I make with coworkers, however, I have no problem with telling you what I make. I feel I'm fairly paid, and I'd like to know how it compares to other places.

I'm relatively happy with what I'm doing, like I said, I feel I am fairly paid. I like the programs I use. I don't neccessarily always like the design work, but everything balances out.


[This message has been edited by Jeni (edited 06-28-2001).]

I've done pretty well for myself.

Currently I'm the Lead Engineer of our Interactive TV stuff, before that I worked my way up from Production Assistant to Senior Production Engineer in 11 months. Then I was in charge of all the frontend site coding including all the relevant data-mining.

Luckily I got my last raise right before the crash so I make a pretty good chunk of change compared to someone who was looking to get into the field now.

Unfortunately I live (and was born and raised here so I never had to relocate) in the Silicon Valley where the cost of living is astronomical (I got lucky and got a 1 bedroom apt for $1100 a month in an "okay" neighborhood) so the salary doesn't strech that far.

Anyway like I said I'm actually in charge of engineering our ITV initiatives (I work for a cable channel/website called TechTV).

I think anyone looking for some thing new and hot this is a good field to look into. For those who aren't too familiar with it, interactive TV are things like Ultimate TV where you can interact with your TV programming. Things like if you see a dominoes pizza ad, you can order on right through your TV, see some game you like and get real-time player stats etc. It's much bigger right now in Europe but it will become more prevalent here in the next 5 years. All the major players are developing for this. Microsoft TV is big, ATT Digital is involved. Other Companies are Worldgate, Liberate, OpenTV, and Wink (there are lots of these companies.

Walking the Earth like Kane

[This message has been edited by bitdamaged (edited 06-28-2001).]

Interesting..........i am heavily invested in that sector.
I invested in iatv 3 years ago around a buck...and then lbrt at 20 before they hit 200...sold at iatv at $40 and lbrt at $120and essentualy capped my retirement.

I did re-invest at 5 and 15 again waiting for the next tech growth..........

Could i email you privatly on some sector questions??

Congrads on entering that field..........it is exciting for digital artist as well as coders

I work for a midwest USA small-medium sized software development company (about 500 employees).
I mostly produce on-line and CD-ROM training materials for our software packages. I am the only one in the company who does such a thing.
I make a 'decent' living. Midwest cost of living isn't too high. It's just my wife and I, so no kids or anything like that. I know I am payed 'below average' for this region...but I don't have a lot of experiance yet.
I'll just say that we're not living in a 5 bedroom house on 10 acres...but we also have enough left at the end of the month to put a little into our savings account.
The thing that makes up for the pay is the benefits. Health, dental, vision, life insurance are all virtually free (something around $16/month for all of those...company pays for the rest.) 401K that is healthly matched AND a pension plan to go along with that. Also our company pays for schooling (about $400/credit hr.) and offers interest free loans up to $3000 for personal computer purchases...there are lots more little things...too many to mention.
I do alright.

mobrul

Doc, feel free I'll try to answer where I can. address is in my profile


Walking the Earth like Kane

Hey, bit, any chance getting me a date with Victoria Recano?

How about Stacee Barcelata?

Ooohhhh....Victoria.....hubba hubba.....

Mobrul-sounds like a sweet company. My company could learn a thing or two from them. 3 count them. 3 sick days a year. No dental. Once a year they take us to a ball game and we have a christmas party. I'm grateful for what I do get, but some of the stuff seems substandard. Then again, it's a private company.

the australian web/gfx sector is fucking shocking at the moment.its imposiable to get a job weather you have experiance or not...its who you know .. not what you know....bah .. i'm not bitter >_<;; not at all... grr...

i gotta say there are a hell of alot of lotus note dev jobs at the moment .....

threep nods at maruman's post:
"yep, i have to admit that my contacts got me this design/coding job, but my scholarship got me my contacts, so i still reckon i've earnt it.
and yes, i work for a company that uses lotus notes, and they love devs... tons of jobs out there for them by the look of it."

"yep, i have to admit that my contacts got me this design/coding job, but my scholarship got me my contacts, so i still reckon i've earnt it.

"earnt"

threepoints

Hang in there Maruman, I know where your at. Canberra can't be any better then Brisbane at the moment.

But seriously, have you signed up to all the employment web sites. These help, but I'd also recomend browsing through the different catagories about once a day anyways. The other thing you have to remember about web designer jobs is that 'heaps' of people usualy apply, even if their not good enough. So, having an ego can sometimes help.

A trick that worked wonders for me:

I wanted to find a better way to show my skills other than just attaching my resume to an email. Now A portfolio web site is a must, but making an ultra sleek 'Resume' webpage and then getting it converted into a PDF document will work better ( this is where your friend working the the Griffith Uni IT services comes in handy thay always have a copy of acrobat.. hehe). Don't use many images, keep it very printer friendly and small. Attach that to your emails and your sure to get a reply. But, don't let this superseed your on-line portfolio, both are a must in my book

The real reason being the end of financial year. Now, if I was an accountant I'd be making a packet 'bout this time of year.

As for how successful I've been. Well, I've worked in about 5 different Design houses/ISP's as your run-o-the-mill web monkey contractor. All up, about 3 years in the industry so far.

I see myself as a rich man, I have a great house (bit noisy sometimes but it;s hell fun) execelent relationship, fun job (it pays the bills..) nice computer and I've almost finished off another Art Diary

Do I have money? Hell, NO! If I wanted money then I would have finished my Engineering Cadetship and I'd be earning 50k + by now. So, I'm poor but that's only one negative against all the rest.

So yes, I'd say I'm sucessful in the Digital world. But that's only because I'm here for the fun, not the money.

everybody needs a swamp bear

Well... I am not the design industry but I would like to do something maybe on the side on my free time. I used to draw a lot when I was younger and I like computers so I think it's a good way to combine those two. I am 25 years old, I work for global consulting company (hint: founded by Ross Pero) with 140000 workers. I work on a one of the contracts they have. Doing networking stuff, installing, configuring etc. I love what I do and pay is pretty good ( little over to the half of 6 digit mark) They offer us lots of benefits like dental, health 401K and all that good stuff. They even pay if you want to quit smoking or commit suiside!! ( I need to look into that smoking part) They also pay up to $35000 lifetime for Undergraduate and up to $50000 lifetime for Graduate degree. We need to read bunch of books and go to training which is mendatory for every consultant in the company.

Considering where I live ( Cleveland, Ohio) I think my compensation is pretty good. Cost of living is pretty cheap here compering to other states IMHO.

You can get a nice (and I mean nice) 2 bedroom apt with attached garage fireplace for around 800-900 a month in a very nice area. High speed internet (DSL) is widely available which I love.

Here is my story.

Well, I feel I must comment on this particular thread, as I commented on another one that had a very similar feel to it.

I'm a graphic designer first, so I'll focus mostly on that. While I can (as of quite recently) write PHP and integrate with a database, code in ColdFusion or automate things in CGI/Perl, I am a designer at the heart.

I'm also 21, which is an important thing to note in this, because some of my comments are going to referential to the society in which I life, and have lived, for many years.

My friends, aging from 18 to 53, all have pegged me as, and I quote, "the most successful person (they) know." I am on salary in a $4 million/year profit (not income) company. I am the Art Director, which means nothing graphical leaves the shop unless it has my keystrokes on it or my signature at the bottom. I get vacation days (3 weeks a year) and almost 15 days of company holidays each year.

So I'd have to say that I'm pretty content with my position in life. And that's without mentioning that I make twice as much as my father.

What are my duties? I design layouts for webpages, advertisements for magazines, I write copy for marketing slicks, and I design architecture of highly complex web-based applications. I'm a busy, busy man. I also do photography when is needed, and create certificates of appreciation for developers when a project is finished and launched (one of my particular favorite activities, because it allows me to, quite personally, thank developers for their help). I am, basically, of management-level without the title--I don't want it at 21; people wouldn't respect it.

Money? Well, suffice to say, I'm quite pleased. I have a good deal of excess income each month, enough so that my friends that are going to college don't have to worry about money for coffee and smokes when they're home. Most of the time, they dont' have to worry about getting short-term jobs...or relying on their parents.

Tack on that I do three to five side projects every couple of months, and you can get a pretty clear picture of how I am doing in the digital realm. It's burgeoning here in the midwest like no one would believe.

Twitch i like your attitude and your not that far removed from my 21 year ol experience........i made 28g in 76 as a base salery painting murals on the side of vans by 79 i was almost 40g...........talk about white collar numbers at that time....i was a dope smokin hippie who could airbrush......right place right time......hahaha...sure threw a curve in the have to go to collage trip....i didnt even finish high school.

Your in a great spot.........a bit of caution........i know the spirit you have when you say my friends need not worry.hehehe.

yep spent a lot in that area, after all who at 21 can ring up those kind of numbers.........well some of us did and we whernt afraid to show it.

Now i know why you have that edge to your post...........i like confident cocky attitudes..we all have them why be afraid of it or of someone elses.............most of my friends are over confident and cocky......nice emotion if you use that attitude towards others for good.....................................invest my friend you will see retirement early..it only takes 20 years of investing today to retire with over a mil in the bank.......Cyber

twitch could i as how you got there.... no i dont want a secret fomula..i'm just interested in how you got where you are .. did you do a degree? how many jobs did you have before? ...

Twitch you should start another thread and run with this post........i think it would help greatly those who would like to know how one makes a career move or builds habits that lead to success. Im sure there are others that could be examples of success to those who havnt quite put all the pieces together...............

Heres some simple advice that helps success

Rid yourself of bad habits that steal from your life and replace them with habits that promote prosperity in your life.
That way your life is always trying to excell even in the sub-liminal.................goood stuff.

Thought id mention that..............

And people invest.


I took 100.oo from every job and bought stock.............in 20 years youll be thanking that habit. Specialy today with the on-line trading.

Some interesting depth to the forum locals................

While I lived in Silicon Implant Valley, I did pretty well, putting up sites for small businesses. Then I moved to Oregon where many haven't heard of computers.

Well...let's see, where to start...As of a year ago I was working as a web designer with a farily successful consulting firm (now not so successful) and pretty comfortable financially, left to start my own company rather than take a senior designer promotio. That had it's up and it's downs, and now (at age 27) I'm freelancing and doing pretty well at it at the moment. I'm also very selectively looking for a full-time gig, there's a few potential candidates but we'll see what happens. I'm really looking to do some design work a bit outside of the "web" arena and that's looking quite promising at the moment...

Chris

[This message has been edited by Fig (edited 07-03-2001).]

I've been into the web privatley and at work since -96, first in a 3,5 years project at the swedish railroads where we converted all company instructions, handbooks and whatnot to digital, and then built an intranet around this to replace the 130.000 original pages and lose the printing of appr 30.000.000 copies per year related to this.

After managing the intranet and the conversion from lotus notes platform to M$ (not my choice) I left the job in feb -00 and started as Tecnical Project leader/webdeveloper at a mediumsized (appr 50 ppl) newly started webcompany. This went bankrupt after a crashed fusion in feb -01.

Now I work as Tecnical Project leader/webdeveloper at Integris.se together with a HCI/webdesigner and a senior programmer from my old company.

The salary has gone up from 18k to 28k per month in a year (that's skr, appr 10.5 of those gets you a $1) + 5 weeks vacation so I'm not complaining ;-)

But the business is tough over here too, between jan -00 and nov -00 over 200 IT-companies in sweden went under...
Dan