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Salesperson makes commission on sales, CTO gets bonus for going to out of office meetings, designer gets bonus for every design finished. What does the web developer get?

Answer: "we can't afford to give out bonuses just for doing your job."

There are 10 websites to build in the next 6 months, 3 brand new offices in different states that need it equipment ordered and installed by me, and the other 160 clients who all think their edits are most important.

And to top it all off, every time I give an estimate for the work, boss says "just give it to them." Gee, maybe you could afford to pay me a living wage or incentivize me to keep working 6+ hours a night at home if you stopped giving away everything I build for free.

You lower the value of my work and every other web developer out there when you tell clients that the website I built them isn't worth paying for. If every one of the free sites on my list was just charged the minimum $10k, I'm looking at $200k on this board that could have been used to hire me some help or increase my pay to make me feel appreciated.

I love my job and the people I work with, but when you aren't making enough to pay the bills and you work 70+ hours a week something has to change.

Comments
  • 8
    Stop working so much. You need to explain to your boss how much work you actually do and that you can't get it done in a business day. You also need to explain to him that you are not getting paid enough for all of that and are having a hard time living on what you do get. If you don't get a raise I would suggest looking for a different job.
  • 4
    @ejwill I'm trying to cut back on the work outside the office and trying to keep it 8-5 every day. And I'm taking a vacation next week. Hopefully I can take the Vaca without the anxiety of what will be waiting when I return. Reviews are around the corner too so I hope to have a pretty in depth conversation there.

    We're a digital agency and the boss doesn't believe in web, as in the website is only a small part of process in his mind. In reality the website is the front door to the company for most people today and when I have to crush out 3 sites a month, well, you get what you pay for.
  • 7
    I would start looking for another job. Doesn't sound like you are valued or will be valued where you should be for the foreseeable future there.
  • 2
    Get a new job. Where I work every employee gets a monthly bonus if sales quotas are met.
  • 0
    If you're good and work 70 hours, you could work 20 hours less, work for yourself and make triple the money. Or simply get a normal job.
  • 0
    That is a solid rant. Have a ++
  • 1
    @Zilounay I've thought about going freelance, but I'm the furthest thing from a designer so I like having the team of people to help with that.

    And I will also admit that at least 10-20 of those out of office hours are me working on things that are not work assigned, but will simplify my life in a few months.

    We are working on setting a new process and almost separating the web department from the rest of the company so that we can invoice separately and show the boss how much money he's bleeding.

    I did get approval for an intern though which could go either way.
  • 0
    My input may not be a direct tip, but hopefully food for thought.

    At a management perspective the more you produce and the lower you cost, the better. Since you are more profitable.

    At a bigger scope, if you charge low for your work you are demeriting everyone's equivalent job, since even if you leave them, they will try to replace you with someone just as profitable (aka, low cost, high output). If everyone does that, the"value" of our trade decreases, since everyone would devalue their work.

    I do believe, you could do better, since it seems you have the experience. Either change the way you work, or you place of work.
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