As for being a freelance Flash designer/developer vs other professions, white collar or otherwise. The amount of money I spend per year on computer equipment, software upgrades, hosting, books/training materials etc, not to mention unpaid hrs working on my own stuff which increases my skill level, is pretty substantial. I do think you are correct though, it's pretty good pay when I think of other things I have done in the past!
...but, I spent 8 years in tertiary education for a Masters degree among other design tech qualifiictions. If I was a lawyer or in finance I surely would be paid a lot more for the same amount of training, so it's hard to compare professions like that. I love what I do, that's why I do it. I work on my own Flash stuff for free anytime I can, being able to be paid for doing it for others is a great bonus : )
I agree that some AS developers/designers haven't had a great deal of training, and experience and skills can vary widely (it's the agent's job to check that stuff for their clients) .
Better get back to it ; )
jj
On Friday, September 26, 2003, at 01:47 PM, Mark Stanton wrote:
Agent's commissions are usually pretty high as well, 'cos they can getThat is not high or unreasonable - its close to the standard recruitment
away with it when the job market is not tight. I have heard of an agent
recently charging a company $57 dollars p/hr for a good Flash Developer
friend of mine (MM Flash MX certified), and paying him $40 p/hr. $17
p/hr, quite a good commission for the agent. Needless to say, my friend
he as annoyed when he found out.
commission (20%). This is not some big conspiracy to rip off developers.
If you are a developer & you don't like the commission structure - go
knocking on doors instead of answering agency ads. If you're an employer &
you don't like it - put the ad out yourself. No one *needs* an agent, but
they manage to stay in business somehow - probably because they are seen to
be worth their %.
How much do you pay for a plumber is Sydney? More that $40ph I'm sure.Plumbers are skilled tradesmen who have to invest a lot in their materials.
Also a plumber has usually done several years of apprenticeship for next to
nothing. Is your average AS coder more or less skilled than your average
plumber?
Traditional thinking is that blue collar workers are less educated than white collar workers & as such should be paid less. How many [web developers|plumbers] are qualified? How many are self taught? Does this "less educated" analogy still work?
As for "Flash ACTIONSCRIPT developer $25-$30ph (1 to 2 week contract)" I
think that's on the low side, but if you don't want it don't take it.
Sorry for the rant, but I refuse to pay homage to this "they get it so easy,
why I'm so hard done by" attitude. Get super good at all aspects of what you
do and then go pound the pavement & *sell* yourself as an asset & make sure
you bring value. If you are good & persistent you will get good work at good
rates.
If you constantly go through the traditional channels and queue up for jobs
with 50 other people and are unable to differentiate yourself you're going
to have to take what you can get.
I know James & I know that he is self motivated, innovative & knowledgeable.
I think his idea of "I prefer to go direct to company or client, word of
mouth etc etc." will pay off for him.
One other point - TAFE (NSW) are crying out for IT & multimedia instructors
@45 ph. There are more avenues than just the classifieds in the Saturday
paper.....
I'm not flaming anyone where - this is meant to be a positive email - its
just something I feel strongly about.
Cheers
Mark
______________ Mark Stanton Web Production Gruden Pty Ltd Tel: 9956 6388 Mob: 0410 458 201 Fax: 9956 8433 http://www.gruden.com
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