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Web Skill & Salary Guide

Posted on June 28, 2000

in Reviews & Links

by Jason Pomerleau (stiCK)

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Jason Pomerleau

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User since: December 15, 1999

Last login: June 28, 2000

Articles written: 1

I recently stumbled across an interesting PDF while checking out 1099 Magazine's parent company, Aquent. It's a detailed salary/fee guide for web professionals.

They've broken it down into various types and levels of skill, along with typical salary ranges or fee structures one might expect at each rung of the ladder. Check it out here. (You'll need to enter an email address to take a peek)

One nice touch: it was designed to be read from the client's perspective. A prospective client can use this guide to get a rough handle on what this type of work is going to cost them. Web professionals can use it as a guide to structuring their fees based on their level of skill in each particular field, from serious backend work all the way up to Flash wizardry.

I'm curious: what do you think of the rates themselves? I've noticed that there still seems to be a lot of variance in what web professionals are charging for their services...

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Submitted by palyne on June 29, 2000 - 19:13.

According to their guidelines, in about 7 different categories I should be making $70-125/hr. (How they translate that to the annual salary they do, which does not remotely match that $/hr FT, is beyond me.) Can't wait till I tell my clients... Palyne

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Submitted by MartinB on June 30, 2000 - 01:57.

I don't know about the US situation, but here, Contract rates are way above (double roughly) what you'd be paid as a permanent employee. The theory is that as a permie, you have more job security and have tax etc taken care of for you. In this industry, anyone good is not going to have a problem finding work, and projects only last 6 months anyway, so the job security thing is mostly irrelevant. And with a reasonable accountant (who won't cost you 50% of your rate!), the tax thing just goes away. No chance am I going permie without a damn good reason as I'm in that same rate bracket (for a long-standing contract. Hire me for a single day and it's double that). As a FT staffmember, I'd be on maybe 50% of the quoted rate.

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Submitted by erika on July 2, 2000 - 22:29.

Yes, US independent contract workers make more money per hour than employees, for the reasons you describe, Martin. If we want health coverage, we have to pay for it ourselves. We don't get paid holidays or vacations. We have to deal with our own accounting & taxes. We have to buy our own software & hardware. We have to find and negotiate our own contracts, etc. I think rates for web design vary depending on the economy and the market. Where I live, work in all fields earns approximately 1/3-2/3 less than in the city (with the exception of state/federal jobs). In a rural area, one often takes what work one can get , even if it pays a fraction of what one is "supposed to be" worth, because web design is more interesting than mopping floors or answering phones.

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Submitted by cjnvision on July 14, 2000 - 13:55.

good god. my salary is not within the low end of ANY of these positions, though i do site design and architechture, database design and production, site production, server admin, content development and site management. fuckin a

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Submitted by shelley on July 22, 2000 - 00:09.

Another resource for hourly rates, perhaps even more encouraging (or depressing if you charge rates as low as ours): Advertising Age's "Web Price Index Rate Card" from April 24, 2000 http://www.netb2b.com/cgi-bin/netb2b/article.pl?id=3050

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Great Resource

Submitted by gsxl on December 14, 2000 - 18:20.

Thanks for the link(s). It is hard to find a complete source of salary range and expectations, I will use this one-page wonder in the days to come. I am also thankful that my salary does fit well within the ranges provided.

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Aquent design salaries chart

Submitted by aardvark on January 19, 2001 - 09:55.

This salary chart was just posted to AIGA recently. It's from their "AIGA/Aquent Survey of Design Salaries 2000," sent to members in October 2000.

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