Topic: Pay scale

How do YOU gauge (gage?) what you should be asking for, yearly, from a prospective employer, with regard to web design? I'm asking $40,000. Is that too much based on my resume? Or am I selling myself short? Can a person make that much working... cough... part time? Ahem. Last question (I swear... HA!). Do any of you find it easier to work for an employer, or to do freelance work?





[This message has been edited by Red Ninja (edited 11-15-2001).]

I'm gonna move this down to Outpatient Counseling where it belongs. That should help you get some replies


~Computers don't hack people, people hack people.~

first thing I would want to see as a prospective employer is your online portfolio including refernces or links to websites that you have completed.

$40K is a fairly susbstantial salary imho, so I would expect you would have a considerable work history in the field, or at the very least a porfolio that demonstrates your skills that would back up your resume..

thats my 2 cents

I'll pretty much agree with VP, your resume doesn't tell me much about what you can do. I've got no idea what your graphic skills are, how clean your code is, etc. just from that. A solid portfolio is pretty much a requirement. With your experience 40k may be a bit much to ask in the current economy, don't quite know how you'd manage making that part-time.

As far as freelance, it's more fun and more enjoyable IMO but also more stressful and more work to actually find the work. My full-time job was actually "easier" as in it required less effort, now I have to do sales, marketing, design, etc.

Chris


KAIROSinteractive

"Job Qualification Requirements completed for HTML 4.0"

um... where'd you get that?

Navy correspondence courses? and, if so, do the army and navy share correspondence courses?

tskull@hotmail.com">
"You don't have to be crazy to work here, but it helps." --Anonymous
ICQ: 67751342

Petskull: I'm not sure how it works exactly, but our JQR's, since there weren't any navywide, were written here. They then had to be sent to CINCPACFLT and approved. Which they were. I assume you must have been in the army? If you're still there, I can send a copy. But I have to ask, would that be confusing terminology?

As for the resume, I just went to see a career counselor, corrections to follow. Man, I've been out of the loop too long. Alright, portfolio. I have this. It's not my best, but the rest of what I've done is not allowed to be taken. You see, once you put a disk into a secret computer, you can't stick it into an unclassified computer, or else you get in big trouble. The only reason I have this one is because I worked on it at home first, and inserted the other information later.

So... should I just make up some new ones? I have a couple of freelance jobs that I'm working on, now. Mebbe just throw those in the online portfolio, but I KNOW they aren't going to demonstrate my full capacity. So, real websites; not as good, or fake ones that bear it all? As for references, I have those. Is that an adequate substitute?

Thanks in advance for your help.

1) Examples of your work
Might want to try by creating a website based around the idea of selling yourself.
2) I don't understand the terminology you are using.
Try to bring this to a lower level of language, I have never been in the navy, nor any military branch of anything, so I have no idea what you are talking about.

3) How much do you think you are worth?

I am a college student and I like to charge $50 per hour for my web design/developement work. When one does the math, leaves me 100,000 a year salary at a 40 hour work week and 2 weeks a year vacation. However, I don't work even close to that amount of hours (at web design). Note: I live in the NYC area.

Next you have to determine what your job is going to be. If you are simply going to be doing data entry then between $15 and $20 per hour is all that can be expected. If you are doing basic html then I would say $20-$25 per hour is expected. For simple graphics and html figures move up to $25-$35 per hour. Full layout and coding up again $35 - $40. Excellent graphic design skills (Doc charges $250 per hour). Back end coding or applications programming $50 - $150 per hour.

These prices might seem a bit hight to many. However, if you are good at what you do you can charge this.

I charge these rates as a freelance. It averages out to about $50 per hour. So that is how I estimate it.

The rates are down a bit right now. But I still don't know of many intro level computer jobs that are going for less than $40,000 a year. I have heard rumors of say $27,000 a year, but, not sure if they really exist.

It is really up to you. You need to get as much as you can out of them. Let them say the price first.

My father always told me "The one who mentions price first loses". You shoot them too high a number they laugh at you as security escourts you out. You go to low, and well, you went to low.

It is a hard choice. If you supply more information, we might be able to supply you with a better quote.

Well, if you're going for a design job then yeah, you need something else. Definitely include the freelance jobs you're doing, but most importantly create a portfolio site that DOES show what you can do. You've got no limits when you're the client, so have fun with it. Do something you find interesting in a style you like, and use whatever technologies you feel will highlight your abilities and what you want to do the best. Hope that helps.

Chris


KAIROSinteractive