In 2008, 30,055 readers took part in the A List Apart Survey. Once more, data analysts Alan Brickman and Larry Yu crunched numbers this way and that. With a global recession in full swing as of December 2007, we were particularly interested to find out how financially and professionally secure web people felt, and whether there were discernible differences in the way people responded to questions about satisfaction and security in 2008, compared with 2007. This year we also improved our fact-finding on freelance and part-time web personnel.
- http://aneventapart.com/alasurvey2008/
Quite interesting looking at the age, gender and educational diversity displayed in the survey results. Found it interesting looking at the amount of freelancers their still were considering the current climate and also how recently other people in the same role had had a pay rise.
Where I am currently working there has be a pay and hiring freeze on for a good 6 months with no signs of subsiding and redundancies, but in the survey it suggest a majority of people had had a pay rise in this period. I'm obviously in the wrong job!
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decibel.places posted this at 14:36 — 8th April 2009.
He has: 1,550 posts
Joined: Jun 2008
Interesting survey - but I did not participate, didn't know about it, know about ALA but don't visit frequently.
A recruiter told me about 2 months ago that the unemployment rate in IT in NYC is around 3% - so there are a lot of jobs in that market.
I am a freelancer, casually looking for a high-paid "job" in the "right" setting. I have gone on about 6 interviews in the past year.
I have noticed that some employers are lowballing the hourly rate to $40 or so, but there are still jobs out there for $100-120K too. My current hourly rate is $70.
One thing in the survey that caught my eye was "perceived age bias" - I will be 50 next month but look/think younger - however, nearly half of my interviews were with persons nearly half my age, so I wonder if there were bias issues involved.
Currently, I am planning to create a more formal entity for my business, to hire a handful of qualified developers, and be able to contract more jobs that way while maintaining personal QC.
Unless I find the right job
(I am discussing a great position with a dream employer, wish me luck!)
decibel.places posted this at 14:39 — 8th April 2009.
He has: 1,550 posts
Joined: Jun 2008
Also, the freezes and project cancellations in organizations are leading to a boon for startups, who are absorbing the talents of the thwarted employees.
Expect to see many projects that look a heck of a lot like something your company put on hold taking root outside your company, particularly as startups.
Roxy posted this at 13:42 — 17th April 2009.
They have: 18 posts
Joined: Mar 2009
Quite a few have recently left here and as you said - done start up companies with similar trates.
I work in an office of about 100 and there is only about 2 people here over 40. A majority of the employees are in their 20's. I hate to say it but I don't think an older person would get a job here due to some kind of age bias, though I am not sure why. I suppose you could be of the opinion that if you get someone young then you can mould them to fit the role, but if you go with an older person they have already been moulded.
If anything I would say being a woman and doing a techie role I am at an advantage. I have worked on a couple of teams where I am the only girl and I think I may have got the job over other more qualified men because they want to mix up the dynamic of the department.
Or maybe they think I will make more cups of tea and do the washing up for them...
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