Recently in Money - Salary Expectations Category

How user stories could revolutionise your billing

July 25, 2012 9:16 AM

Danny Bradbury

Freelance software developers: How do you charge for your work? It can be difficult to structure your billing so that you get paid on time in a way that makes economic sense for you and your customer. How can you do it?

Time-based billing by the hour or the day is one way, but it has its downsides. If you're really good at what you do, then you put yourself at a disadvantage, because you'll be highly productive on the job while earning a set amount. The more productive you are, the less profitable your work is for you. The other problem with an hourly or daily rate is your scalability. Time-based invoices come with a ceiling. There are only so many hours in the day, and days in the week. You limit what you can earn, unless you keep increasingly your hourly rate.

Project-based costs are another option. Charging a set fee for the whole project enables you to capitalise on your productivity. Getting it done quickly while hitting the project requirements enables you to increase your earning potential. But this carries two dangers: scope creep, and cashflow issues. The bigger a project is, the more difficult it becomes to accurately scope the requirements and the harder it is to get clients to stick to them. And while some clients may be prepared to lay down a significant advance up front, many won't be, meaning that you don't eat until you're done.

One other way to charge stems from agile development processes that break programming jobs down into more manageable chunks. It involves partitioning the project into user stories. A contractor friend of mine who works remotely and for multiple clients does this on a regular basis. User stories break down the functionality of a program into small tasks that correlate to tasks that the users of the system would understand and identify with.

A user story for an online library system could be "As a user, I want to renew a book so that I can read it for longer". Another could be: "As a user, I want to reserve a book so that I borrow it when it becomes available".

These stories are understandable enough that the client will feel comfortable about what they are paying for, and small enough that they can be coded in a couple of days and billed for in a granular way. They also provide freelance programmers with a way to more easily reuse code, as many user stories may use the same underlying functionality.

There are doubtless some projects that this won't work very well for. It might be inefficient in terms of time to break down very small projects that only involve a week of work into different user stories. And projects that users never see (perhaps certain embedded systems, or complex back-end financial algorithms) might not be a good fit. But for straightforward projects such as web applications, this could be a good way to charge the client equitably and clearly - while also providing a structure for yourself to tackle the project in the process.

How to succeed in iOS games development

September 30, 2011 5:21 PM

Danny Bradbury

0 Comments

How can you make money developing IOS games? An informal survey conducted by one developer suggests 'be in the top 10%'

Owen Goss, an independent video games developer based in Guelph Canada, surveyed 252 developers who created games for Apple's mobile operating system, to find out how much they earned. The survey took place online over seven days. It turned up some interesting results, one of which was that the Pareto principle seems to apply to IOS app revenues; a small number of developers earn a large part of the cash.

One of the great things about being an app developer for Apple's mobile operating system is that the App Store can be used to market your app for you. Millions of App Store users can see it. However, that is also part of the problem: there are many apps to choose from, and it is easy to get lost in the crowd.

On average, games developers make about $165,000 from a title, but here is where statistics can be misleading. That is the mean average. The median splits the developers in half. 50% of developers have made less than $3000 lifetime revenue from the App Store.

The revenue curve is exponential, because the few developers who are most successful make most of the money. Those in the 75th percentile have made roughly $30,000 lifetime revenue from the App Store. The bottom 25% of developers have made less than $200. Those lucky 4% of respondents who are most successful made over $1 million.

Getting into that successful 10% at the top of the pile isn't rocket science, but it isn't easy either. There are some pointers.

Polish your app

the best IOS apps look good. They are shiny, just like the phones they run on. Games are properly play tested, and gameplay is well thought out, so that there is a solid progression throughout the game.

Do your own marketing

Doing your own marketing is also important. Simply relying on being featured in the App Store isn't a realistic business model. Good marketing includes understanding social media and soliciting user feedback.

Don't race to the bottom

There are thousands of apps for the IOS platform, many of them doing almost exactly the same thing. Your app will succeed on its quality. Don't be tempted to rush it out. Concentrate instead on making it better than the others available.

Look for new opportunities

New social media networks and other developments such as Apple's iCloud promise to disrupt games development. These opportunities along with in-app purchases, can be used to maximise your revenue.

Be original

It's hard to find originality in the oversaturated app landscape, but not impossible. Spend more time in conceptualisation, and ensure that your idea stands out from the crowd.

With Apple's iPhone 5 rumoured to be launching next week, this will be a big quarter for games developers. Will you be ready to capitalise on the ongoing success of the platform?

IT Job Satisfaction Versus Salary

November 12, 2008 2:51 AM

Stuart Brown

0 Comments

Job satisfaction is a funny thing - while there is a definite relationship between the benefits you receive for a job well done and the resultant satisfaction, the correlation only extends so far - and at the higher levels of expectation and remuneration, there can even be a detrimental effect on the appeal of a particular position.

The Bottom End

For those in an entry level position, or those who deem themselves to be beneath the market average for a given role, the lack of financial reward may hamper the resultant sense of satisfaction and self worth. Being underpaid for work that others may do for considerably more is a considerable downer for morale, and can be a cause for a worker to look elsewhere for employment.

As you'd expect, then - as salary increases for a given position the general level of satisfaction will increase in a correlating fashion - but at a point around the market average things will start to change, as payment beyond market rates usually requires a greater commitment.

The Perils of Middle Management

For the technical worker who wishes to progress up the ranks and beyond the core positions in the middle, there is ample opportunity. One such way is to take on more responsibilities, in either a project scope sense or in a managerial one.

Such endeavour to escalate one's career can lead to dangers as far as happiness is concerned - while increased responsibility may be beneficial to some, in most cases such a path will lead to an increased workload and a resultant rise in stress levels. This is, of course, not always the case - in some cases such promotions will grant more flexibility in a role, more creative control.

Achieving Nirvana

The perfect blend between reward and enjoyment is difficult to attain; there are very few jobs that both pay exceedingly well and provide a fulfilling, stress-free existence. The fortunate few who are in this position are probably toting highly specific and sought-after skill sets - particularly within leading edge and high-tech companies.

While we can't all aspire to such heights, that's not to say that you can't forge an enjoyable niche beyond the level of the average. While it may be sometimes impossible to avoid the cloying nature of elevating responsibility during your career, the worker who values job satisfaction over monetary concerns may find a sweet spot between the two.

Web Skills Progression and Salary Expectations

September 2, 2008 11:04 AM

Stuart Brown

0 Comments

There are a multitude of different web-related roles out there, each with a particular composition of skills requirements - from the basic web editing roles through to senior development positions, and beyond.

Salaries listed are based on my own estimation, and of course can vary greatly depending on region, particular job role - and luck.

Core web skills based (HTML, CSS)

Web Content Editor

Required skills: Basic HTML, Some graphics editing

Typical salary: £12-20k

As far as core web skills are concerned, the entry level consists of a combination of a little HTML with some basic graphical ability - web content editing, principally. This extends from managing a corporate website's content, through blogging, and a variety of marketing and PR-related positions (that, depending on the role, may scale to a higher level).

Web Designer

Required skills: Moderate HTML, Graphic design, Photoshop, Dreamweaver

Typical salary: £15-25k

The general-purpose web designer role tends to focus more on the design aspect of the job, rather than the altogether-more-lucrative programming roles, and tends to involve working as part of a design-led team or agency, often as a design counterpart to a developer role.

Knowledge of development languages in addition to the basics of web design can greatly enhance your career opportunities, not to mention your salary. Of course, there are a number of languages and routes to choose from, each with accordingly different remuneration.

Web scripting languages (PHP):

I'm listing PHP here separately, as the composition of skills tends to differ slightly from the more enterprise-focused roles. PHP tends to be used in situations where the support and frameworks otherwise relied upon by larger businesses.

Junior PHP Developer

Required skills: Moderate HTML, Moderate PHP, Minimal graphics experience

Typical salary: £17-26k

At the junior level of PHP development, there is an expectation for a moderate level of general purpose web skills, covering HTML, CSS etc. PHP tends to be a first port of call as far as development is concerned, as it is commonly taught in university and is quite ubiquitous in nature. It is also amongst the easier of web languages to pick up.

Perhaps it is due to this ubiquity and ease of learning which inhibits the salary potential of PHP work, but there is at least some room for career progression and the benefit of a healthy job market for skills in PHP.

Middleweight PHP Developer

Required skills: Good HTML, Good PHP, Minimal-moderate graphics experience, some server administration experience, Minimal-moderate DB experience

Typical salary: £20-30k

As a PHP developer matures, they will need to pick up some supporting skills - most notably the introduction of the ability to manage a database and web server should the need arise.

Senior PHP Developer

Required skills: Expert HTML, Expert PHP, Moderate graphics experience, good server admin ability, moderate DB experience.

Typical salary: £28-35k+

At the higher level of PHP development, you can expect a healthy salary as long as you can back up your PHP knowledge with a good level of database and server admin experience.

Enterprise-oriented languages (NET/Java)

Junior .NET/Java Developer

Required skills: Moderate HTML, Moderate .NET/Java, Minimal-moderate DB experience

Typical salary: £20-30k

Enterprise-type languages such as Java and .NET have a number of benefits over PHP, in that they tend to be suited to larger production environments and boast better vendor support.

As far as salary is concerned, both Java and .NET have significant advantages over most other development languages; Because of the environment they are used in, and the applications they tend to be used for, these 'enterprise' level languages tend to pay a lot better from the outset.

Middleweight .NET/Java Developer

Required skills: Good HTML, Good .NET, Moderate DB experience

Typical salary: £28-40k

As a typical .NET career progresses, it is primarily knowledge of the language and frameworks that matters, although subsidiary skills such as a strong grasp of HTML, CSS etc will help employability. As such roles tend to focus on the development aspect of the web (rather than design), skills with database systems will prove to be useful as well.

Senior .NET/Java Developer

Required skills: Good HTML, Expert .NET, Good DB experience

Typical salary: £40-60k+

For a top level enterprise developer there is ample opportunity. It's hard to specify an exact range of salary or experience, but for the developer in a leading role the salary can be very attractive.

By this time, the developer will have a broad knowledge of the language, as well as supporting hardware and database systems.

Beyond

Of course, beyond development roles there are a multitude of other opportunities. Development lead roles may fuse together project management skills with senior-level development experience. Software architect roles fuse together knowledge of database and hardware architecture with planning skills and software modelling ability.

Development lead and architect roles vary greatly in terms of composition and salary .Once you're past the senior development roles the positions become less fungible, more fitted to a particular scenario. But as with the core development roles listed above, the increase in the breadth of the skill set required and the responsibilities correlates with an increase in salary.

« Mobile | Main Index | Archives | Project Management »

(* Required field)