Hi Kristina, On Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 4:59 PM, Kristina Anderson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Tom -- > > The average corporate attorney makes $200K. The average attorney in > business for themselves makes about the same. The average CPA, about > 150K. The average doctor, electrician, etc. etc. etc...way more than > we do.
I have what I consider to be more than average experience with electricians and they are nice folks, but hardly what I'd call on the top of the "social status" scale and I would question what the average salary was, but I doubt your numbers. Really, I doubt your "average". But it doesn't matter. You make what you do because that is what you are willing to work for. Suppose the floor fell out of IT tomorrow (literally), and the going rate for PHP was $10 per hour. Would you still do it? Maybe for fun, but not as a job. Why? Because you won't work for that little. You couldn't survive. But you can survive on $80K (or whatever), so you do it. When you decide that $80K isn't enough, you'll stop working for that much. > > The AVERAGE programmer makes, what, 80K if on salary? (I'm self > employed and the hourly rate I can get from the clients is pretty > constricted by the market, and I'm trying to bust open that 100K > barrier but it won't be busted...I'm still on the losing end.) Look at your market. The "big" consulting firms charge much more and pay their people much more. How come they are getting it and you are not? That's the question you need to ask. You shouldn't be looking for protection from the marketplace, you should be looking for ways to excel in it. > > Come on, work with us. > I am, really! I'm telling you to not look to others to solve your problem - it won't help. Look at things Social Security and pension plans. These systems put the burden on others - and they both have severe flaws which are hurting us now. Look at what you can do to excel. How are your sales efforts (speaking for myself in my experience as a consultant - I always dreaded sales, but recently realized that it needs to be embraced, not feared)? Professional networking? Who is your customer? Are their pockets deep enough? Are you really taking advantage of your expertise (are you doing graphics when you are really a DBA at heart)? How can you get the work done faster? Can you invest in tools (store bought or that you create) to help? Invest in services? People? Can you reuse code? Are you tracking problems so that you don't make the same mistake again? There are answers, but no one just pays more for your services "just because". Tom _______________________________________________ New York PHP Community Talk Mailing List http://lists.nyphp.org/mailman/listinfo/talk NYPHPCon 2006 Presentations Online http://www.nyphpcon.com Show Your Participation in New York PHP http://www.nyphp.org/show_participation.php
