I submitted the post by mistake. Here's the rest of my post :

In september, I will have the opportunity to discuss my salary with my boss.

I'm currently paid 18$/hour for 35h per week. That's 2520$ (before taxes) per month.

I feel like I should have a raise, but I don't know how much I can ask for. Is my salary honest for the work I do ? What would you do if you were me ?

Most of my friends who work in bigger agencies have approximately the same salary as me, but i'm the only one who does so much different tasks. Most of them are "only" front-end / back-end.

Thanks for your input!

EDIT :

I should have said that my contract allows me to ask for a raise after my first year of work in the company (1st September). Every employee have the same opportunity and I'm here to get information about how I should negotiate my raise.

Ask yourself some questions before you ask for a raise:

• What could you get paid elsewhere?
• Which things did you not do the last period because you did not have enough money?
• Is the company making a profit? Are they taking the profit or investing it into the company?
• What is your ambition? What would you want to do if money is not an issue?

You do not want to twist their arm into giving you a raise. If all data was on the table (your financial situation and theirs, the market, the company, etc) there would probable be a fair salary for you. Try getting that on the table so you can feel good about the money you earn :)

There's a lot of good advice here, but I wanted to add: play the long game.

I was grossly underpaid at your age too, but worked hard and found meaningful work that built my portfolio. I stumbled into it through luck and sheer determination, but I'll make 10x what I made when I was 21 this year.

You're in a small shop charging $75/hr. They can't realistically pay you much more than they already are. This job won't probably ever pay you what you're worth. The next one probably won't either. But if you play the long game you'll find a situation that pays you what you're worth and where you can do incredibly meaningful and fulfilling work.

What's the question?

Just some random thoughts to add to the conversation:

1. When looking back over what you've accomplished this past year, be sure to evaluate client satisfaction as well. Have the agency's clients been thrilled with the work you've done for them? Has it resulted in more business for the agency? It's a much more compelling sell for yourself if you can say more than "I did X, Y and Z", but can find a way to highlight how it's affected the agency's bottom line and success.

2. Any company/boss worth his salt knows your worth in relation to the current market. You are young and experience is a big deal, so keep that in mind and go for what you feel is true market value for what you bring to the table - in the area you live (people dropping bay-area comparisons is silly). I'll be real. If you feel you're worth 5-10K more a year, have helped the agency grow and have made them look good... they will not have an issue paying you fair value. They know what they've got and to risk letting you go to only pay the money you wanted for someone new - and then get them gelling as part of the overall team is foolish if everyone is happy.

3. If they are truly just getting ramped up, consider asking for profit share at year end instead of a big salary jump. Maybe ask for a raise you feel is solid and then ask to have the opportunity to make more based on agency success. This way - you're skin is in the game and they only pay you out when they've cleared all expenses, etc. It can be a win-win for all involved.

4. You're a jack-of-all-trades. In the long run, this can make it harder to get a big salary. Think about a few things you love to do, specialize in that (while still knowing the other stuff). It's easier to be a UX expert (who makes X on average where you live) and sell that alongside your other skills... versus "I know a little of everything". In that case, there is no clear area of expertise (or salary comparison). Be "T shaped" super deep passion/knowledge in one area... but then know a whole bunch of other shit to round you out.

Good luck.

Check out #talkpay for your area and experience level. Honestly the amount you should be paid is equal to the amount you can get paid, regardless of experience level. It's your job to figure out what that number is. If you're leaving money on the table, that's on you.

You should do some research and see what you could make working somewhere else, you should figure out how much you're actually worth to the place you're working at right now (including the costs it would take to hire someone new and get them up to speed), and you should ask for that (not demand it). Good employers will do what they can in order to keep you satisfied (especially in this talent market). Keep in mind that your employer might not do this, in which case maybe it's time for a move to somewhere that's willing to may you market rate.

You don't even have 1 year of professional experience, just relax and enjoy your work.

Hey Antoine!

I live in Québec City and have been around a few places here since 2010. Here's some local info (#talkpay style, I guess!) for you:

All numbers are for an designer or interface designer position:

• Year one, small 3-4 person agency: ~30k, promotion to 35
• Year two & three, big up-and-coming mobile agency: 35k, promotion to 40 and some design leadership/client relationship (wasn't well paid once the additional responsibilities kicked in)
• Year three, four, five on the way: Web app company, I'm the creative director. Pay is variable but comes around to ~42k before taxes.

None of these jobs had contracts that requested or rewarded 40+ hour work weeks, so free time or overload hasn't been an issue.

Feel free to email me if you'd like some details on that :)

Judging by what the wages are for devs in the US and the Bay area, sounds like you're underpaid.

When you're 21, it's rare that anyone is going to give you anything - you only get what you're asking for, and trust me (from experience) if you don't ask, you don't get, AND you are good enough to get what you deserve, even if it's elsewhere.

It sounds like you're good at what you do, humble and hard working. I would guess that you would approach the conversation delicately. Have the strength of your convictions and don't be afraid. The worst thing that will happen is a "no".

Hey fellow Canadian :DD I'm also a junior designer in Vancouver, BC. Thanks for making this awesome post! I feel so afraid to talk about salary at such a level and often just accept what I got.. It feels so encouraging to see a post like this.

I'm in almost exactly the same boat as you. 21 years old, got my first full time job out of college in September (on the same day as you.. weird enough). I love the company I work for, it's a small startup environment and only in the last month or so have we really started to grow.

However, because of the nature of the company pretty much everyone is early-30's to late 40's and those are mainly C++ developers with a ton of experience, and the web contractor that they were using before me is a big Java/Spring enterprise guy (now he's on app development). So I'm building internal web services in Node and Angular which nobody else in the office knows, but am getting paid about $43k a year (before taxes). Not to mention that I'm the only one who knows design of any sort.

I'm with you on this one, I'll definitely be asking for a raise coming this September. When I started I didn't have many options so I was ok with getting underpaid, but now that I've been there for a while I get recruiters emailing me like crazy with most of the positions offered range from $55 - $65k a year.

I think part of it might also be that, at least in my company, since nobody is really a web developer and management focuses on the main product (which are mobile apps), any web dev work seems to be undervalued and underappreciated.

Hey Antoine,

It sounds like you are in a great position to learn A LOT of things about the industry and the way business works. I wouldn't undervalue the importance of this.

I've always tried to compare my situation to a set of rules to determine whether or not I need to move on, or attempt to make changes.

1. Am I learning new things at my current position?
2. Do I like the people I am working with?
3. Are they paying me enough to live comfortably? (comfortable is subjective)
4. Am I enjoying the work I am doing?

Generally if 2/4 are satisfied, I will stick around, unless an unbelievable opportunity comes along.

That said, I think that you could ask for a bit more in salary, say, ~$22-25/hr, or for ~20$ with 40hr work weeks. You may get denied, but it never hurts to ask... And IF you do get denied, try and set up criteria with your boss that would validate your claims for higher pay in your next review.

For me, I worked at the same rate for my first year out of school, and got some raises on the year anniversaries afterwards.

My point in outlining the criteria above is, don't discount the incredible learning opportunity that you have and working with people you enjoy being around. The money will come in time.

Good luck!

How much PHP are you doing? Are you writing MVC PHP or copy/pasting Wordpress methods? Are you structuring databases too? Slinging jQuery around the DOM or writing complex MV* angular/backbone stuff?

You could be writing amazing shit but if you aren't contributing to the company's vision then you are worthless.

You should get numbers down on paper. Your boss won't care how your Sass is structured or if you are name-spacing your javascript correctly. It is about numbers to management.

For example, if you worked for a furniture company and were in charge of ecommerce you could say;

"I rewrote the front end using AJAX to load pages and optimized the entire site to render across multiple platforms and devices which has created an entire new user base...we're seeing an increase in sale from mobile devices by 10% and our bounce rates down 3% and abandoned carts down 7% this quarter."

I was in your shoes once. Hope this helps.

You are a full-stack designer, you deserve 6-figure salary.

Someone should I build an app that test your code skills, and evaluate your salary based on how well you can code. And another app that evaluates your A/B designs success. Maybe another app that can evaluate the branding value of your design by polling people in ad recall/brand recall.

You may be a superstar, and it never hurts to talk about salary, but be patient on your journey.

You are 21, and granted, so you have a lot to learn and a long time to do it. You are making decent money for a 21 year old, currently.

Cost of living where I am, vs where you are is quite comparable. I graduated college and started work for internationally renown brand(s), doing design and dev immediately out of school and only made <1k more than you currently are. The next year I got a bump, and each year subsequently, raises promotions for 2 years, then I left the job, got paid more at my next one, went freelance made a lot less that year and then got another larger pay bump this year... so it fluctuates, but normally, you only have things to gain.

I hope that gives you a little bit of hope, even if the growing pains are currently present, and/or stick around for a while. Just keep working hard and eventually you'll get paid what you are worth, regardless of if THIS job pays it to you.

If I were you I would still expect to be paid as a jr web designer and developer. The reason they hired you and are paying you the way they are is because you are a jr. They probably couldn't afford someone more sr.

Hey Antoine, I am not to familiar with the state of FED in Canada, but these 4 tips might help you when you're negotiating your next salary:

How To Ask For A Pay Rise And Get it!

Good Luck!

Speaking from a London perspective, for someone with the experience possible in a 21 y/o 40-45 $usd is probably about right, but there is no golden rule. Trends are just that - vague figures based on averages. The same employee cannot be paid the same salary in every business of a similar size & vertical.

Based on your role description you might be underpaid, but it also depends on the business turnover & profit.

Salary always depends on: skills + experience + responsibilities = $value to the business / what the business can afford for that role. Ultimately if the company you work for believes you are worth more than they are paying you, you should be able to ask for a pay rise to an appropriate level. Everyone deserve what they are worth, and a business owners will rarely openly express this without being actively poked as they are making more profit by paying a valuable employee less than they are worth to the business.

Don't be afraid to talk about it openly with your boss. It's not a battle, just an open conversation of value. If you are valuable they will not want to loose you - good employees hold all the chips.

Good luck.

Here are my $0.02 so take it how you will.

I'm not too in tune with Canadian salaries vs U.S. salaries but in the U.S. you would be considered extremely underpaid.

In most major metros a junior front-end developer is going to make between $60 - $90k. If they're in the Bay Area it's closer to $100k - $120k. Mid and senior level developers are pulling in a bit more than that.

If you brand yourself as a software engineer you could be making even more.

Now for your specific situation I would absolutely ask for a raise. Agency work is typically lower paying but even so you're still really underpaid. I'd basically just give the company and ultimatum. Either double my salary or I walk. That seems rough but it's absurd how low they are paying you.

I have no idea about salaries and cost of living in Canada but it seems like you're in a good position. Money can often seem like a vulgar subject to bring up but you seem to be a valued member of the team and ultimately you want to be rewarded for your work.

I can't give a figure but you deserve an upgrade of salary just on the basis of what you do (and that's a lot by the way).

In terms of your future it would be a lost opportunity if they don't reward you; you're an asset.

Good luck, and would love to see an update on any decisions made.

Did you mean for it to end there? You might want to type more as a comment.