Entry designer/developer salary

[serkios]

Hi,

I'm currently a part-time designer at a graphic design studio and graduating from college in December. The studio is considering hiring me full-time once I graduate and today my boss asked me to start thinking about what my salary should be once I go full-time.. Since I'm just leaving college, I'm really not sure what this should be. But I also know I'm not on the same level as other entry-level designers, as I have a two years of experience working in studios, and one year designing for fortune 500 clients.

Here's a little background on me:
I've been working part-time in design studios for two years.
I've been working this current studio for over a year now. I've gotten quite good at flash programming and designing and have several published flash pieces and designs that are for large clients (motorola, hp, jim beam, etc).
So far my biggest projects have included designing large microsite designs and print publications (i.e. packaging for cell phones). Given that I have proficiency as a designer and developer in flash, what kind of salary should I be expecting?
I've been doing some searching on CommArts and other job sites, and they seem to all say around 28-35k for entry level... but thats for developer or designer and each differ. Should I be worth more than the average entry level designer? What could I get away with asking for? Any insights to this is much appreciated.

[DDD]

www.salary.com and search the boards next time

[jokun]

www.salary.com and search the boards next time

That's a little harsh, don't you think? Sometimes a person is looking for individual opinions for their own particular situation, not general info and comments on someone else's problem or question.

Serkios,

Salary.com is a good place to get salary info, and it looks like you've already done your homework there. You have an advantage in that you're already with a good company that knows what you're capable of and has already invested their time in you. You'll probably be able to ask for something on the higher end of the salary range.

See if there's anyway you can find out what others are making there, and remember to always start high. If they don't like the number, they can counter-offer. If you start low and they accept, then you're screwed. It's best to let them throw out the first number. If they ask how much you want, ask them what the range is for that position. If you think it's too low, go higher and explain why you think you deserve it. You've been there long enough that you can back it up.

Hope that helps.

[DDD]

That's a little harsh, don't you think? Sometimes a person is looking for individual opinions for their own particular situation, not general info and comments on someone else's problem or question.

Serkios,

Salary.com is a good place to get salary info, and it looks like you've already done your homework there. You have an advantage in that you're already with a good company that knows what you're capable of and has already invested their time in you. You'll probably be able to ask for something on the higher end of the salary range.

See if there's anyway you can find out what others are making there, and remember to always start high. If they don't like the number, they can counter-offer. If you start low and they accept, then you're screwed. It's best to let them throw out the first number. If they ask how much you want, ask them what the range is for that position. If you think it's too low, go higher and explain why you think you deserve it. You've been there long enough that you can back it up.

Hope that helps.

I dont think it is harsh at all.

One would think that just maybe this has been asked before therefore answered before. And normally instead of waiting for a response one could find the answer easily and faster by searching. This was just talked about in detail a few days ago. And most like myself the contributed tons of insight do not feel like typing all of that again. So you see the person shorts themselves by not searching.

And as you see I still gave him/her the answer to their question. You wont get a better answer here than what salary.com offers.

[Digitalosophy]

That's a little harsh, don't you think? Sometimes a person is looking for individual opinions for their own particular situation, not general info and comments on someone else's problem or question.


Advising members to search is helpful, not harsh.

DDD is a great guy/mod and helps out a lot. We need to make new members understand that it's so much easier and faster to search.

:)

[jokun]

Sorry if I offended anyone here. I know how helpful everyone can be. The reason I said what I did is because the post, in my opinion, did seem a little harsh, or sharp. That's all. I'm not saying everyone needs to be babied or have their hands held, but it definitely didn't give a nice vibe (imo).