Starting salaries for designers??
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- studderine0
yea design is fucking nuts.
- bcline0
Look for stuff around $40-50K that allows you to work on good projects and if you are not complacent you will be making $60-80K within a few years. I would say though that work experience is very important in this business. Without any job experience you are at a natural disadvantage, once you have at least a few years of work experience and a good portfolio you'll be able to charge more.
ukit
(Oct 19 07, 12:32)and good internships don't really count as any work experience do they? damn...
oh well
- Jaline0
What ukit said.
- ukit0
and good internships don't really count as any work experience do they? damn...
oh well
bcline
(Oct 19 07, 12:37)Everything helps. It's all about getting your foot in the door.
- Jaline0
Yeah, you'll have to face the fact that your salary will be low and your efforts may not pay off right away. Anything can happen, but get in first.
- Witt0
hey, what's the average income in north america (US+Can) for a technical/uni diploma in human science or arts? Generally speaking of course.
- edd-e0
bcline, im not sure if this salary thing outside of my industry is true, but if your work stands out and you have a great attitude and you shine like no other than you can ask for anything experience or not, or school or not... its all a perspective, if you have the confidence the people with confidence with start to flock to you, and i dont mean arrogance or anything like that, but then again i am in nyc where its walk or be walked upon, that being said yo uhave to hustle fulltime or freelance its the same thing... full timers though seem to not hustle so much at all in comparison to a freelancer but you can charge what ever you like, it all comes down to negotiation and worse scenerio the client says ok,, yes that seems good YOU'RE HIRED!!
but going in to the field asking for a 30k is weak in any cities standard especially if you want to be a designer...
you can start at a low salary and slowly move up to what 50k in how many years??? fuck that!! ask for 50k today!! donthesitate, and if the client says you dont have experience then your work should showcase something thatt can sell you the more so.
i used to be in that world of no money at 28k in nyc for 3 years, it was hellish!!! you cant imagine1!! since then i learned that you can ask for any number you want, and negioate it.
thats whats its about, who the hell wants to hire a regular design thats a dime a billion dozen today when you can find someone who knows what they want and grabs life!!
sound right??
for me its my moto today. demand salaries!
and see what happenes.
who knows they may just say yes.
again outside of NYC this may not be true.
biased and all..
;)
- studderine0
JUMP!
- studderine0
well i think design studios know good work when they see. for example, i couldn't go into their doors and demand 50k a year.
- edd-e0
well i think design studios know good work when they see. for example, i couldn't go into their doors and demand 50k a year.
studderine
(Oct 19 07, 12:54)why not?
how much does your work yeild the company?
think about it like that.
- ukit0
hey, what's the average income in north america (US+Can) for a technical/uni diploma in human science or arts? Generally speaking of course.
Witt
(Oct 19 07, 12:47)According to the US census it's $45K. Seems low to me but there are probably a lot of teachers and secretaries out there balancing out the Bill Gates of the world.
- edd-e0
studderine if i was interviewing you i would know i have a budget to hire asome people, and if the designer is asking for 30, ill give them 28k but if the designer asks for 50k i can still bring them down to 40k which is now 12k more than what you are asking at 30.
always ask for more, because the client will always pay you less, but what if you get more than anything you thought you could get, think of your hard on then!!
;)
- Witt0
hey, what's the average income in north america (US+Can) for a technical/uni diploma in human science or arts? Generally speaking of course.
Witt
(Oct 19 07, 12:47)According to the US census it's $45K. Seems low to me but there are probably a lot of teachers and secretaries out there balancing out the Bill Gates of the world.
ukit
(Oct 19 07, 13:01)45k after or before tax?
- ukit0
Must be before, I never heard of anyone calculating income after tax.
- studderine0
epill u are awesome.
- bcline0
but going in to the field asking for a 30k is weak in any cities standard especially if you want to be a designer...
you can start at a low salary and slowly move up to what 50k in how many years??? fuck that!! ask for 50k today!! donthesitate, and if the client says you dont have experience then your work should showcase something thatt can sell you the more so.
i used to be in that world of no money at 28k in nyc for 3 years, it was hellish!!! you cant imagine1!! since then i learned that you can ask for any number you want, and negioate it.
thats whats its about, who the hell wants to hire a regular design thats a dime a billion dozen today when you can find someone who knows what they want and grabs life!!
sound right??
for me its my moto today. demand salaries!
and see what happenes.
who knows they may just say yes.
again outside of NYC this may not be true.
biased and all..
;)
edd-e
(Oct 19 07, 12:52)edd-e,
thanks for the great response, this the way i kind of feel as well. i'll ask something, and then negotiate from there. i'd love to freelance down the road too, we'll see. I just feel, if one is a hard worker ( yours truly ), and has ambition ( yours truly ), is self taught ( yours truly ) + has a degree, good things will come. i guess we'll see, Dec. 16th draws closer ;). i think the biggest thing is i've been in school so long and done these internships, sometimes i feel i'll never get there and start making real money ( other than intern stipends )
- Jaline0
I know the feeling. And I am crazy and unsure enough to continue with school for another year or two ;)
- Witt0
Must be before, I never heard of anyone calculating income after tax.
ukit
(Oct 19 07, 13:15)Is that so strange? Actually we (in Portugal at least) calculate the available amount of money to face expenses. When we state our salary it's usually after tax, and also on a monthly basis, coz all our payments are monthly (banks like this monthly fee you know?).
e.g., when I say I make 2000 euros/month I'm referring to the available money in that month.
- edd-e0
school is great, but work experience cant be taught.
and always be aware of the client, if you do ask for too much, the client can be turned off by it.
another way of approaching this is to state you are looking for a "Competitive Salary" and not leave a number...this reasoning is good for starting out designers, because the budgets may be lots higher than the number you throw down or the number the client will throw down and you may be losing out.
- version30
you deserve at least 3 dollars