Soldato
- Joined
- 10 Apr 2006
- Posts
- 7,891
- Location
- North West
you'll be lucky to get £20-22k with no experience first year
Web Developers
- Thread starter LiE
- Start date
Associate
- Joined
- 15 Feb 2006
- Posts
- 1,872
- Location
- hell
I work in SEO, and get to do a fair bit of web development too (html & css... some jquery/javascript)
It's a good way in for someone with no web dev experience
It's a good way in for someone with no web dev experience
Soldato
- Joined
- 18 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 16,052
- Location
- The land of milk & beans
Very true. Somewhere in the region of £15-£18k is more likely.
I know this seems like a stupid question, but you dont get unless you ask, so i will throw it out there anyway.
Basically im sick of my current job but due to my lack of qualifications i dont have a mssive amount of prospects i had thought of going to uni but agai nit's a stumbling block as i would be unable to leave full time work to do an access course i believe.
So i have decided i am going to teach myself and give myself some goals to achieve rather than working and throwing my self into timesink games.
I have set myself the task of relearning html used to be able to o some a while bac, but havent done anything for ages) along with css and php.
As an offshoot i want to get to grips with c# aswell ut that's another topic.. for another time.
How hard would you say it would be for someone like me with no formal qualifications to be able to break into a web development role in a 6months to a years time?
Edit : - For clarification, im not asking if i can earn the big bucks anytime soon, but we have to start somewhere.
Basically im sick of my current job but due to my lack of qualifications i dont have a mssive amount of prospects i had thought of going to uni but agai nit's a stumbling block as i would be unable to leave full time work to do an access course i believe.
So i have decided i am going to teach myself and give myself some goals to achieve rather than working and throwing my self into timesink games.
I have set myself the task of relearning html used to be able to o some a while bac, but havent done anything for ages) along with css and php.
As an offshoot i want to get to grips with c# aswell ut that's another topic.. for another time.
How hard would you say it would be for someone like me with no formal qualifications to be able to break into a web development role in a 6months to a years time?
Edit : - For clarification, im not asking if i can earn the big bucks anytime soon, but we have to start somewhere.
This is very disheartening. I've been building websites for many years, but not commercially. My current job isn't really what I want to do in terms of career, which is where the whole web dev idea came from. As mentioned, I have a lot of skills already in this area but I'm in the process of filling in the gaps.
Financially I couldn't drop to anywhere near 15-18k from my current 33k. I've spoken to my friend who's a IT recruitment consultant for the local area and he thinks he can get me in at around 20-22k. Hopefully he's not wrong.
I think your be pushed to get 20k+
I'm currently looking to get into web dev, and its a hard hard area, you need to be **** hot on all of your stuff.
Soldato
- Joined
- 10 Apr 2006
- Posts
- 7,891
- Location
- North West
If you can get £22k with no commercial experience, going in as a junior with no experience, you have done very well.
£15-18k outside of London is standard for someone with no commercial experience, inside London I have no idea though!
£15-18k outside of London is standard for someone with no commercial experience, inside London I have no idea though!
£15-18k is a joke. I could walk into any sales job tomorrow and be earning the same if not a little more 
edit:
I plan to do some freelance work and build a portfolio over the next year before I even start applying for positions.
edit:
I plan to do some freelance work and build a portfolio over the next year before I even start applying for positions.
Last edited:
£15-18k is a joke. I could walk into any sales job tomorrow and be earning the same if not a little more
Unfortunately, welcome to the real world.
A combination of more available / online training and more awareness of how websites are made is pushing the 'oooooo you're so clever' perception of Web Developers into a more generic state of employment.
Sure there will always be specific areas and nichés that require that little bit more experience, but as a whole, developing a website that captures form information is pretty basic stuff for most computer enthusiasts and as such, the salary will reflect this.
Not a case of most people know it, I think it's more a case of it's so easy to download a 'free' IDE to design websites on, the tags of <P>, <IMG>, <FONT>, <TABLE> are all so easy to pick these days that the average worker in an office can impress their boss by saying "I can do our website" and take it from there. No company is going to fork out several hundred (or thousand) pounds of revenue for a simple 5 page website (front page, about, services, clients, contact us) when the internal sales guy can make that at home, web design companies know this and as such can no longer justify paying a worker over £22k of salary if there's not that amount of work coming through the door.
You're right, the words you used like PHP, Ajax, SQL are not everyday technologies that Joe Bloggs can pick up, but the basic creating of websites, knocking out a few pages is far far easier to do and far more readily available to a lot more people.
Afraid people do work for £15k-£18k, and unfortunatley unless you've got a hell of a lot of experience in various technologies, I really don't think you'd get much more than that unless it comes down to geography and cost of living for the area.
Soldato
- Joined
- 10 Apr 2006
- Posts
- 7,891
- Location
- North West
You could walk into a sales job tomorrow, but how happy would you be working there? I'd happily work for a few grand less as a web developer/designer than a salesperson. Its a career and if its something you really want to do then you won't be put off by the lower start off wages.
I worked for 6 months as a freelancer and I am now working as a digital developer, like you say at the moment I work for the same wage a salesperson could get, but I'm much happier than I would be elsewhere
I worked for 6 months as a freelancer and I am now working as a digital developer, like you say at the moment I work for the same wage a salesperson could get, but I'm much happier than I would be elsewhere
Two vital points..
Never blindly accept a job's opening offer, always negotiate for higher. They expect it. If they flat refuse, look elsewhere as well and gauge your options.
Every man and his dog claims to be able to make websites. It *is* a low(er) skilled job than many think. Many people are willing to accept shoddy work, simply because it works. To do it "absolutely right" is very much a skilled job, but not in demand compared to "just get it working"
Never blindly accept a job's opening offer, always negotiate for higher. They expect it. If they flat refuse, look elsewhere as well and gauge your options.
Every man and his dog claims to be able to make websites. It *is* a low(er) skilled job than many think. Many people are willing to accept shoddy work, simply because it works. To do it "absolutely right" is very much a skilled job, but not in demand compared to "just get it working"
tsinc, I understand your point, and I'm definately willing to take a pay cut. I'm on 33k now, but if I want to make this career move I can't drop so low because ends won't meet.
Speaking to my friend whos an IT recruitment consultant he thinks I could get 20k with a decent portfolio and the skills I listed above, in my area.
Speaking to my friend whos an IT recruitment consultant he thinks I could get 20k with a decent portfolio and the skills I listed above, in my area.
Last edited:
Soldato
- Joined
- 10 Apr 2006
- Posts
- 7,891
- Location
- North West
Best bet might to be stick at your current job and try freelancing. Some people can go straight into freelancing and some prefer a steady job. You could even try moving into a junior web role and freelance to make extra money.
Start saving now if you're thinking of moving into it in a years time, that way you would have more money than the £15k and it might tide you over for the first year until you get the experience under your belt.
Like Jestar said, anyone can download a copy of photoshop and use the design view of dreamweaver to create something shoddy as a lot of people will accept this type of work. Things like spec work have also ensured that people expect more for less with web design/development so the niche/skilled market that was once around isn't as apparent these days with entry level designs/coding.
Start saving now if you're thinking of moving into it in a years time, that way you would have more money than the £15k and it might tide you over for the first year until you get the experience under your belt.
Like Jestar said, anyone can download a copy of photoshop and use the design view of dreamweaver to create something shoddy as a lot of people will accept this type of work. Things like spec work have also ensured that people expect more for less with web design/development so the niche/skilled market that was once around isn't as apparent these days with entry level designs/coding.
I don't agree with having XX amount of skill set will get you higher earning!
All you need to do is become very good at couple of web technologies and be prepared to work very hard for the first year.
I still work very hard usually 9-7pm one or two days a week and occasionally work couple of hours over the weekend.
I don't think any company will refuse payrise to someone who works hard, passionate and willingness to learn more.
All you need to do is become very good at couple of web technologies and be prepared to work very hard for the first year.
I still work very hard usually 9-7pm one or two days a week and occasionally work couple of hours over the weekend.
I don't think any company will refuse payrise to someone who works hard, passionate and willingness to learn more.
Permabanned
- Joined
- 25 Oct 2004
- Posts
- 9,078
Web Development is something im very keen to get into myself, having only finished 2 web sites for the company i work for, one created from scratch with xhtml, css, php and mysql the other is a modified version of an existing software application (php/mysql), where i have added in additional functionality.
Just not sure if im at a stage where i could get into this field specifically because my experience is pretty limited.
Just not sure if im at a stage where i could get into this field specifically because my experience is pretty limited.
