Web Designer / Developer -- What is the average hourly / annual pay? Hi there, I currently have a job as a JR WEB DEVELOPER at a company where I live. I was started off making $13.00 / hour and at my 3 month review (which was excellent) I asked for a $3.00 pay raise. I was refused the raise. I just want to know what is the annual or hourly pay rate that is the norm either in the United States or CANADA. I am in Canada. I have been looking on salary.com and I am highly underpaid. However who knows if that is right or not. Here are my skills: Design Guru -- Photoshop CS, Illustrator, etc. HTML / CSS Some PHP (not a whole lot) Building Attractive Interactive Websites from scratch, Design to Coding to Finish. Over 4 Years Experience Attractive Portfolio Excellent Communication and Customer Service Skills I just finished a website in which everyone (including the boss) gave me extreme praise for the design + functionality and cleanliness. I know for a fact that I am more a designer than I am a coder but I can do both (CSS / XHTML + Design). Are these skills good enough to go up in pay? Also my communication skills are excellent, they told me better than anyone in the office at my review. I have excellent customer service skills as well and know how to take a project and lead it to the end. I am also very organized. Any advice / facts would be great!
ALSO: I would like to hear any advice from other web developers who have started their own business / company. I think this is the way the road is leading. What sort of business skills were necessary. What has helped you? Any advice on that would be great too!
If you think you can get another job, and you're truly underpaid - quit. You could offer your services on the internet or through a website, but that would require marketing skills.
For freelance work you are certainly underpaid. As a US based freelancer the minimum starting wage is $20 an hour. And that is if I am feeling really generous and expect the contract work to be long lasting. For a one off job or something the price can go as high as $60 an hour, but that entails a lot more code work and creating things from scratch. As an employee, you also need to look at all the benefits available to you, and take full advantage of them. Max out a 401(k) or other investment plan, use the health insurance, etc. A business pays a lot more for you than just your salary. You also have to take into account experience. At 3 months in you haven't really proven yourself. Wait it out for a year and then see about a big raise. I can tell you that virtually no one is going to give you a 25% raise.
You are only worth what you are paid!! That is the first thing to bear in mind. I have been looking at licensing and whereas in the past the software required would make a Website business start-up very expensive it is completely free! The only real cost involved are the actual PC and your connection (and a lot of coffee!) The point here being that there is a lot of competition from the emerging worlds where the skills and knowledge seem to surpass many of the natural english speakers. Find your niche and find it fast, soon the western world will find it hard to compete. Apologies for not being able to ratify your actual salary but being based in London i haven't a clue what your pay grade should be. This is of course complicated by the fact that i work for vastly varying amounts for service to different locations and industries
It depends on what company your working with, and also your experiance. if your freelancing then its different every time
As a programmer, I undercharge for my services quite a bit at $25 per hour for web development. One guy pays me $50 per hour, which is closer to what I deserve. My JOB as a programmer pays just a little over $50K annually, but I'm truly worth closer to $100K or more. I do better and more work than others who make 50% more than me. Don't be afraid to ask for higher rates when dealing with people. Most of the time they'll pay it, and if you provide quality work, you can create a great relationship with them when they need more work.