So, do any of you guys make a decent income from Flash...

[mlkedave]

I am new to Flash and I saw that there is a bunch of you that are very talented in Flash. I was looking into getting a job at a Flash Development company (I have only been part time employed 2). So, can any of you survive solely on your website development services? Just curious.

[mlkedave]

no one!?

[mlkedave]

you guys aren't giving me much hope lol

[neverrain]

one day you will learn mlkedave that we "live to design and design to live". I'm sure most of us make a lot of sites (as I so) for nothing more then a pat on the back from your buddy and a big thanks a lot man.

I would pay the person to design, I love it so much, you do what you love or you will be an unhappy person doing something you hate.

The best part about it is when you are taliented in what you love to do, then you are truly lucky.

-Data :sketchy:

P.S. PJ be nice on the n00bs, he's new here. :D

[Digitalosophy]

and.. nope

[Yeldarb]

I don't make enough to "live" off of, but I don't really need to at this point in my life (only 15 yrs old), eventually I hope to make a living off of web designing, but I don't think I can do it on flash alone. If you are really interested, you should probably learn Flash, HTML, a server side language (such as PHP), and a Client Side Language (such as javaScript or DHTML), CSS is also a bonus, as is Photoshop and 3d Art. It's a daunting task, but if you are serious about web design, it is strongly encouraged, if not absolutely necessary.

at this point, I have Flash and HTML down, and am learning PHP, I plan to move on to the rest after I perfect my present projects.

[Marz]

I make me whole entire life off of it...

But I really make money off of Automated sites and all the good php programming sides of things... I rough out around $2500.00 a month from websiting and services computers... it's enough to live here in PA... Actually it's very comfortable living here...

Once I gte a couple of my "funding" sites up though.. me and my partner have some high hopes for the future... So.. yes there is hope... But... Not for you if you jut stick with Flash only... Sorry guys.. Flash is great... But not for you very small business I believe...

But.. design what you want... because if you don't.. You won't enjoy it at all.

[.soulty]

depends on how you market yourselve, and how much clientel you can get. It cant be a sole provider for your income , but can be a package, say you are a designer , you includes coporate id (logo, stationary) and you can also create a website for them, for X amount of dollars, clients sometimes like this, because the style of design can flow through every media, giving that overall look to their company, and you also have that website for your portfolio to help you showcase for future clients.

[comicGeek]

Yeah! I work in an e-learning company based in Germany. The primary tools we use are Flash MX and Photoshop 7! But to really get the extra bucks I divided my time. During the day I am here in the office working with Flash then after work I still stay here in the office and do some web design work for my clients also using primarily Flash. A "side-line" if you will. So basically since I am a happy Flasher I am happy with the situation that I am now. Plus the pay is okay! :)

[Phat7]

The competition is rough out there, and I think the best way to make yourself is through local marketing. Because someone of course would prefer sitting face to face with a rep of a local company than work through correspondence with someone they don't know...

[norie]

Originally posted by ..::Soulty::..
depends on how you market yourselve, and how much clientel you can get.

yea, most of my income comes on saturday nights... oh wait we're talking about flash, my bad. NOPE

[Laslett]

I keep myself indispensible as I introduced flash to our company back at version 4 and am now un official support even though i've moved on from the job I was doing when I introduced it. It never really caught on but it is used for things like the corporate agm for the big wow presentation on the video wall

[Jasninder]

Yes, u gota b spl though...mix of everything....like the chosen one :P hehehe u have to work hard, i have made sites for free in my past, just to workout on a portfolio and now i m a price giver, not price taker, its not easy to get on top but to stay there is another story....on a serious note, u gota know urself before u know the business coz this is one thing u r gona do life long, job satisfaction and money should go hand in hand.... dont know ur age but i tried many professions before chosing this one... i have been an ex Dj and chef, i left dj'ing coz of lack of job satisfaction, even though i was/m good at it and had a very decent job but that was'nt just me.... left chef training as i dont like ppl yelling at me.Know urself then the business.

[junahu]

Can someone tell me if you can get some kind of income (enough to cover a student loan) from making flash games for sites. I've seen a lot of flash games but I don't know how much they fetch.

Also. How would I go about finding people to make games for? With my very limited portfollio (without a reward to aim for I rarely finish my work) I assume it wouyld be very difficult.

I also get the feeling that noone listens to me... Is it my avator? I can change it you know.

[gr8jay]

There is money if you are in to scripting. the money is in CBTs and flash based apps. There is not much money on designing a website on flash. Coz there aare many templates available and like some already said, now almost every one knows how to use flash to make a decent design. But, there is money in scripting for flash apps. Thats wat we do in our company here.
jAy

[neverrain]

I beleive you make more money doing the site maintenance rather then building the site itself. So you also want to write in the contract they have to buy maintenance from you. lol What they don't know is for months on end were not doing a **** thing...ssssssh

-Data :sketchy:

[Jasninder]

Very right jay, dont for get cd rom presentations and believe it or not i still charge a fair amount of Rs per website (html with little flash) ofcoz flow is not the same as it was ones... but never stops, u gota find links and work... sites are never ending concept.There's money everywhere, u gota find it or generate it.

[Yeldarb]

Originally posted by Phat7
The competition is rough out there, and I think the best way to make yourself is through local marketing.
as in? like TV ads, newspaper ads, and such? that seems like it would be expensive!

[Jubba]

You have to spend money and work hard to make money. If you people think that life is going to be easy just because you know how to tween a box across the stage, then you're in for a rude awakening. As good as you think you are, there are people out there 50 times better and it all comes down to being lucky and getting a break.

[Yeldarb]

I completely agree, I've been spending almost ALL of my time for the last 6 months learning Flash, and recently PHP, and compared to others (Electrongeek, 2advanced, Sen, etc) I look like I just started yesterday.

(and in those 6 months, I've only gotten 1 or 2 actual paying jobs and its cuz i charged almost nothing)

[Jasninder]

:spot on:
:bullseye:

[StylingPaT]

^^

[BigSilly]

Is PHP an actual program? Or is it like HTML, where its just code? I dont know ONE THING about PHP...can someone please explain it? And can you use Flash with it?

[McGiver]

PHP is a server side script. It needs to be installed on the server - the server is running the script, not your PC (like html and flash).
PHP is used for dynamic content. If something needs to be written down, PHP is a possible choice.
PHP was created by someone a long time ago, it stood for Personal Home Page, and was open source.
Later the webcommunity developed the script, and the name PHP became the synonym for Personal hypertext preprocessor.
I read this somewhere some time ago.
anyone of you masterminds got something somewhere to add? :)

[λ]

Originally posted by McGiver
PHP is a server side script. It needs to be installed on the server - the server is running the script, not your PC (like html and flash).
PHP is used for dynamic content. If something needs to be written down, PHP is a possible choice.
PHP was created by someone a long time ago, it stood for Personal Home Page, and was open source.
Later the webcommunity developed the script, and the name PHP became the synonym for Personal hypertext preprocessor.
I read this somewhere some time ago.
anyone of you masterminds got something somewhere to add? :)

PHP actually stands for "PHP:Hypertext Preprocessor" ;)

Basically, PHP is run on the server before the HTML/Flash content is sent out. The client never even knows you're using PHP :)

[Jasninder]

wherez marz when u need him :P

[McGiver]

Originally posted by njs12345
PHP actually stands for "PHP:Hypertext Preprocessor" ;)

Basically, PHP is run on the server before the HTML/Flash content is sent out. The client never even knows you're using PHP :)

well I guess you can say it this way too :P
PHPHP :h:

[reverendflash]

Originally posted by Vash
You have to spend money and work hard to make money. If you people think that life is going to be easy just because you know how to tween a box across the stage, then you're in for a rude awakening. As good as you think you are, there are people out there 50 times better and it all comes down to being lucky and getting a break.

nicely said Jubba...

I might add that:

your attitude while dealing with clients, your ability to estimate a job correctly, your ability to stay on deadlines, and budgets, your attitude with clients after they have stopped being clients. How you deal with change orders. How you deal with 'freaky' clients.

These are the things a prospective client looks for. Notice that the quality of your work hasn't even come up yet. That's not to say you can be a poor designer, but just because you rock doesn't mean you are going to get jobs lining up for you. It's amazing how many talented people there are out there willing to do what you do for absolutely nothing...

Revhttp://aulman.com/rev.gif

[neverrain]

I didn't know Vash was Jubba. I was wondering what the heck happened to Jubba. He was very helpful to me when I first started working with Flash. :)

Thanks Rev. :thumb:

-Data :sketchy:

[reverendflash]

Originally posted by datapimp
I didn't know Vash was Jubba. I was wondering what the heck happened to Jubba. He was very helpful to me when I first started working with Flash. :)

Thanks Rev. :thumb:

-Data :sketchy:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/images/products/front/lg-doh-sticker.gif

Revhttp://aulman.com/rev.gif

[Digitalosophy]

i once made a rediculous income at the army corps here in NY. too bad it was only a contracting job. :(

[brooklyniteOne]

Originally posted by reverendflash
nicely said Jubba...

I might add that:

your attitude while dealing with clients, your ability to estimate a job correctly, your ability to stay on deadlines, and budgets, your attitude with clients after they have stopped being clients. How you deal with change orders. How you deal with 'freaky' clients.

These are the things a prospective client looks for. Notice that the quality of your work hasn't even come up yet. That's not to say you can be a poor designer, but just because you rock doesn't mean you are going to get jobs lining up for you. It's amazing how many talented people there are out there willing to do what you do for absolutely nothing...

Revhttp://aulman.com/rev.gif

wow wise words. The problem is that you have creative minds and technical minds that are not business oriented by nature and frequently not People persons.. (say that 10x fast..LOL). I was cheating myself out of thousands until I realized that I would better sell my services If i was not selling my services myself. So I got with someone who has an mba in ecommerce does tech sales and public relations that although they cannot do the technical implementation their self they have a good idea on what your time should be worth so they can be the negotiator for you. Let them handle calling the clients, handling their needs, assessing the scope of the project then we meet. I focus on creative they focus on the buisness side. The money and budgets are out there you just have to know where to look and how to approach. For flash look at who uses multimedia its alot of entertainment companys. This one music label i know of has a 30G budget for next year for 3 flash sites. Point being the money is out there.

[Yeldarb]

where can i find one of thes mba ecomerce tech sales/pr wiz kids? lol sounds like something i need lol

[brooklyniteOne]

nah no kids here she has her degree from columbia and im the youngest at 25 ..I thought this was a serious discussion LOL

[norie]

All the php is run BEFORE the php page gets to the user. Hence the name Server Side Script. Everything happens on the server.

[Yeldarb]

no, i was serious, where can i find someone like that?

[Kitiara]

I work full time as a developer and designer, so I guess you could say I make my living from Flash. Well, Flash and HTML, really. And the odd graphic here and there. :)

My wage is pretty good all things considered. Still room for improvement of course, but I could be doing a lot worse...

[Laslett]

Mistress of the night returns!

[Laslett]

Originally posted by Kitiara
I work full time as a developer and designer, so I guess you could say I make my living from Flash. Well, Flash and HTML, really. And the odd graphic here and there. :)

My wage is pretty good all things considered. Still room for improvement of course, but I could be doing a lot worse...

How much Flash do you use in corporate Inter net and Intranet.

I use flash mostly for the annual general meetings back ground performance and presentation stuff where they want a bit more umph.

Theres a 48" screen at our corp HQ with some of my stuff that loops over and over. I get really embarased every time i go over there as its like a year old nowq and was done in Flash 4

[Kitiara]

How much Flash... Good question. :)

Depends. I've written a couple of games and a homepage for our *ahem* 'funsite', a couple of intro movies, an e-card or two... That sort of thing. We're a bit restricted at the moment because of the changeover. Hopefully we'll be allowed to do more... Mostl though we have to stick to plain HTML, so everyone can view it. :)

[Laslett]

So do you do Intranet or Internet or both.

Most of my work is integtration with SAP. web interface with back office system but I get to do promotional CD roms and stuff for corporate presentations. These give the pride back from the other wise mundane updating style sheets or updating a gif arrow to make the interface look completely new

[brooklyniteOne]

To Yeldarb you just have to be in the business to meet people in the business. Most developers are not the social club type LOL so for me it was a partner that brought her in as a new partner.
Im a webdeveloper/ content developer/ media specialist also for a company and I do flash pieces for the intranet & internal distribution mostly public relations employee pumpup crap, "powerpoint alternatives" LOL for the executive commitee, image gallerys for the company site. I think the term is "New Media" when looking for work in flash etc. nowadays.