What is a decent website programmer's Salary

[GirthP]

Hello all!

I work for a small company, we are interested in hiring a web developer to help us create and maintain a website that would include a store, a blog and a community.

I'm curious if anyone out there is familiar with salaries for a full-time programmer who really knows their stuff concerning all aspects of web development.

Also, if someone needs a job, heh heh, leave me a note; I'm looking to talk to some knowledgeable people about this as well.

Thanks all!!

 

[angelwatt]

I recommend checking job sites and seeing what other companies are offering. A lot of it depends on location. Larger cities will generally offer larger salaries than smaller ones. Also depends on the country.

 

[SrWebDeveloper]

You might want to visit Salary.com which has a great database for salaries based on job title, size of business, location, employer vs. employee, etc.

http://www.salary.com/

I typed in 'web developer' and they had numerous free reports based on this job type with average salaries in a nice graphical format.

-jim

 

[InLikeALion]

You might want to visit Salary.com which has a great database for salaries based on job title, size of business, location, employer vs. employee, etc.

http://www.salary.com/

I typed in 'web developer' and they had numerous free reports based on this job type with average salaries in a nice graphical format.

-jim

Dang. I'm SO underpaid, it's not even funny.

 

[SrWebDeveloper]

Those are average salaries, and if you read the fine print sometimes they factor in end of year bonus, or it's gross and not net, years of experience, etc. That's why you should actually check both sources - word of mouth and databases, to get a proper feel for what's right in your area with your experience and skills. I didn't add that link to replace what angelwatt so wisely suggested.

-jim

 

[InLikeALion]

I make about 1/3 of what my area should be. It's weird because I work at a job where I started of as a low-paid production artist while still in school. But now I do most of the web programming here and most of the IT stuff. As my employer has seen me learn all my web-skills, I feel its harder for me to tell them my worth or for them to see it. My boss has made comments that I am a "good reader" - sort of discounting the skills learned as just instruction reading/comprehension.

Anyways, I got a raise of $1 (yes, I'm hourly) a month ago and now get paid vacations, but I'm now I am a graduate and married and was going to ask for a raise of about $2-5 before I was surprised with that preemptive raise, which sort of stole my thunder. Sorry if this is hijacking the thread for a second, but anyone have any suggestions for my situation?

 

[mperkins37]

Inlikealion,
Nobody HAS to stay at their current employer.
If your skillset demands more than they are willing to pay then start putting feelers out for a position elsewhere that has a better pay capability.
As you started as a low paid production person they will likely dangle the rotten carrot in front of you as long as they can.
If they indeed feel like your education is not worth it, find something better, where they will value your skills & abilities to expand your knowledge. I would Bail.

 

[SrWebDeveloper]

Just to state the obvious, don't bail until you are sent an offer letter from wherever you wish to finally work, show it and any others to your current employer asking to match and then bail with two weeks notice no matter what! First off, it's easier to find work when you are working, secondly being respectful to your boss (no matter how disrespectful they are to you) makes it much easier to get professional letters of reference - not to be confused with personal LOR's from anyone other than management, and you'll feel better about it in the long run.

I am in complete agreement, you eventually need to bail - putting their constraints on salary aside, you described perfectly a workplace where your skills are not appreciated nor do they want you to succeed. Out there in the world are real employers who care deeply, offer excellent tuition and training reimbursement, talk to you eye to eye during evaluations, and give raises or increase benefits when possible which is the ultimate thank you. I know, I happen to work for such an employer.

You know that commercial with the parrot in the cage by the door saying, "Not another day!" over and over. Then through that door comes a disgruntled middle aged man who clearly is coming home from work, and he says, "Not another day!" over and over.

DO NOT BECOME THAT MAN.

-jim

 

[7on]

Inlikealion,
Nobody HAS to stay at their current employer.
If your skillset demands more than they are willing to pay then start putting feelers out for a position elsewhere that has a better pay capability.
As you started as a low paid production person they will likely dangle the rotten carrot in front of you as long as they can.
If they indeed feel like your education is not worth it, find something better, where they will value your skills & abilities to expand your knowledge. I would Bail.

Unfortunately in my case, I can't move and design jobs are sparse in my area. It's not like I don't get paid well... it's just very unfulfilling work...
I just designed an ecard to go out :/ I might have to go back to tables though as webmail doesn't test to good with it...

http://www.jonshipman.com/web/52UnionNICU-OR.html
(looks best in IE... my boss said not to even design in anything else since our visits are 88% IE... regardless, I do try and not make it broken in other browsers)

 

[naftalim]

Been a recruiter in high tech for many years so perhaps can add some to this. However, you need to provide more information as this impacts the compensation greatly

What city are you in? You can be sure that they would be quite different for someone in San Francisco versus Peoria, Illinois.

What type of skills are required? If its just front end development such as Javascript, CSS etc. then thats one rate. If its J2EE, Hibernate, Eclipse back-end etc. thats a higher level.

The skillset requires also is impacted by the supply and demand for that skillset in a given market.

Being a small company, you may not be able to compete on Dollars per se, or on a benefit package, but you could offer other tangibles and intangibles. For example, in a smaller company, a programmer can work on multiple projects as well as on larger segments of a project than in a bigger company. This is interesting to people who like the technology and want to have more impact in what they do.

Don't look at salaries at a national level, look at whats going on locally and get a feel for what the supply and demand is in your city for that skillset.

For web development you can often get someone to work remotely, where they cost you less.

Good luck