expected salery?

Kotu · 24 Aug 2006 at 21:00

This might be in the wrong place (feel free to move it), but im in a bit of a situation I would like some advise on.

Ive been on a placement doing html/php/flash along with some sql, linux admin and photoshop work of which my employee has been making about £50 per hour from the work I have done. I was fine with this as he had given me a chance to prove me skills. But I have now been offered a job, but on the minimum wage doing the same thing (£5.05per hour) with a pay review after 3 months (been on the placement for 1 month so far). This comes to just under 10k working full time and looking through places like monsters.co.uk the junior web designers seem to get offered 15k-18k.

Is he taking advantage of me or should I really only expect min wage doing this kind of job?

Indy500 · 24 Aug 2006 at 21:02

Only 15k? I've seen similar roles paying *much* more, however this isnt my expertise so I'm only guessing.

Beansprout · 24 Aug 2006 at 21:06

Minimum wage is a bit of a joke. £7 - £10/hr seems the going rate for web/hosting techie guys (anyone looking for a job

) so I'd try and up a bit...then again I'm guessing you're in or just out of uni? In which case not much experience, so you need to start somewhere

Indy500 · 24 Aug 2006 at 21:13

Beansprout said:
Minimum wage is a bit of a joke. £7 - £10/hr seems the going rate for web/hosting techie guys (anyone looking for a job

Me

Brizzles · 24 Aug 2006 at 21:13

Kotu said:
Is he taking advantage of me or should I really only expect min wage doing this kind of job?

He ( Your employer ) has given you a chance to prove yourself.

Take that chance and use the experience to move on , if thats what you want.

Ask yourself the same question from an employers point of view ;

I have known this person for 1 month , will he stay ?

Good Luck.

Mark

Una · 24 Aug 2006 at 21:13

If your working up north its not unheard of that placements pay that amount. It is a bit poor, but look at it this way if you can't find anything else at least its experience. Might be worth having a word with your boss if your not happy with it.

KurTz · 24 Aug 2006 at 21:13

Depends on a number of factors.

1) How old are you?
2) How much experience do you have?
3) Are you working towards or hold any kind of qualification?

Sometimes when your young you have to take your licks and start at the bottom. (I did).

Also put a positve spin on it. Whats the worst that could happen should you accept 5 quid an hour. The worst is that you're looking for a better job while you're earning a couple of hundred quid a week. The flip side to that is that you're earning nothing while looking for a job. Its easier to find a job while you've got one in my experience.

Kotu · 24 Aug 2006 at 21:34

ive got a hons degree in CS, I do not have any commercial experience but I have worked on a few fairly complex sites. Im not really learning much in the placement, on the contrary, I have been able to teach the others there a few things.

KurTz · 24 Aug 2006 at 21:41

Sounds to me like your being taken for a ride then.

Just ask the boss what the score is in terms of your pay and why the offer is so low, give him some evidence about what similar jobs are paying elsewhere and see where you get.

Things like that can be a good indication of what sort of a boss they would be.

Still you may struggle to hit 15k without any commercial experience but then again I'm not the employer. You may find you get and interview, blow em away and get a nice offer.

Fingers crossed for you and good luck. Always hard when your first starting out.

zetec452 · 24 Aug 2006 at 22:43

KurTz said:
Depends on a number of factors.

1) How old are you?
2) How much experience do you have?
3) Are you working towards or hold any kind of qualification?
4) How much money you make the company

I added one.

If you enjoy the job, its worth sticking it out for a year, first ask for a pay rise and justify why you should require one. Ie: Im introducing this and that. Not, oh I looked on monster.co.uk and it says so.

Once you have some experience you can then look for better jobs. Web design is a rather strange market, especially with Indians offering to do a full ecommerce website for 2p. Personally I don't think its ever going to be a really well paid job if that’s what your after.

MagSafe · 24 Aug 2006 at 22:53

10k is far to low, I recently got a job coming straight out of uni, doing the same stuff as you and I'm on 15k. This is what I expected coming out of uni without any experience working in office environments etc. I've been put in a responsible roll and learning loads so i'm more than happy.

I'd talk to them about it, if they simply won't budge then start looking for other companies offering a similar roll at a higher pay. I.T jobs are hard to come by these days though so if you can't find anything else you might as well stay where you are for the time being.

nav... · 25 Aug 2006 at 09:56

burger flippers earn 10k a year.

zetec452 · 25 Aug 2006 at 10:01

Possibly more.

The thing most people aren't seeing is that good experince is worth its weight in gold. Yes 10k is low and I personally, would ask for a rise. However a solid year learning as much as possible will lead to a much better paid job. Its up to the OP whether he can afford to work for one year on 10k or to risk leaving for another better paid job.

Buttons · 25 Aug 2006 at 10:30

JonRohan said:
...especially with Indians offering to do a full ecommerce website for 2p...

Sure you didn't mean TUPE? Mwu hah ahah hah aha

No? Just me then.

zetec452 · 25 Aug 2006 at 11:23

Buttons said:
Sure you didn't mean TUPE? Mwu hah ahah hah aha

No? Just me then.

HTMLHugo · 25 Aug 2006 at 11:27

take the job then whilst there look to move on

then if you get offered something else go back to your current employer and give him the option of matching / raising your current wage then if he dont go for it you leave

i personally would rather emply somebody currently doing the job in question then somebody who isnt

Scam · 26 Aug 2006 at 14:35

How long have you been working with this place? If it's for a decent time (i.e. months rather than weeks) i'd be inclined to say he's taking you for a ride. You've proved yourself; theres no reason for him to pay you so low. I really would think he's just trying it on because he knows you'd be worried about finding something else, or your (possible) lack of experience.

I did some summer work at a web design company locally and earned only about £600 for the month i worked there. Worth it at the time, but i wouldnt work for that again!

Tbh i would expect something over the minimum wage That is a joke regardless. You could stroll into an agency to do catering, warehouse work or whatever and earn more than that per hour. Don't be beaten down by people taking advantage of your naivety. You've got skills, and should be paid according to them.

(Thats probably a very rose-tinted view but as a graduate i need to be looking at it that way

)

Mr^B · 27 Aug 2006 at 22:58

Kotu said:
This might be in the wrong place (feel free to move it), but im in a bit of a situation I would like some advise on.

Ive been on a placement doing html/php/flash along with some sql, linux admin and photoshop work of which my employee has been making about £50 per hour from the work I have done. I was fine with this as he had given me a chance to prove me skills. But I have now been offered a job, but on the minimum wage doing the same thing (£5.05per hour) with a pay review after 3 months (been on the placement for 1 month so far). This comes to just under 10k working full time and looking through places like monsters.co.uk the junior web designers seem to get offered 15k-18k.

Is he taking advantage of me or should I really only expect min wage doing this kind of job?

If it's a placement year as part of a sandwich degree course, then £10k (or minimum wage) is about right (you're not supposed to be earning, you're supposed to be learning, etc. etc.). If you're not learning anything then you're on the wrong placement. You'll find that those junior web designers will require a degree at least and/or some real-world experience (I am assuming you have neither of these).

If it's not this, and you have some experience and/or a degree, then, yes, you are being taken for a ride.

JustinW · 28 Aug 2006 at 09:56

Mr^B said:
If it's a placement year as part of a sandwich degree course, then £10k (or minimum wage) is about right (you're not supposed to be earning, you're supposed to be learning, etc. etc.). some experience and/or a degree, then, yes, you are being taken for a ride.

Actually I have to disagree. There are a number of reasons students decide to take placement years. In some cases it IS an opportunity to make money. This is especialy the case where students have accured large credit card bills and/or overdrafts in their first two years.

Secondly £10,000 is probably at the lower end of the scale for a student placement year. I've seen positions range from £9-20k and the average is about £14/15.

Some examples:

Microsoft Placement Scheme - £14k
Accenture Consultancy Placement Scheme - £18.5k
Accenture NHS Leeds Placements Scheme - £14.5k
Fujitsu - £13.5k
Dome Connect Ltd. - £14k

Justin

zetec452 · 28 Aug 2006 at 10:40

I do agree with Justin, although my placement was to start on 10k, which then after 2 months rised to 12k and then three months later to 16k. In the end my 10k placement gave me a job this year (a year after my placement) of over 20k.

There is only one person who can judge whether it's the right company to work for. I made some money, worked hard and recieved the above payrises. All from what a first seemed like a crap under paid job.