UX Rave: How to Tell if Your Tech Salary is Fair

morganmissen:

Most people have no idea what the market rate or prevailing wage is for their profession and career level, much less where they fall on the pay scale.

I’m tired of fluffy unvetted career advice, so I’ve sourced and linked to ten ways you can determine what other people with…

Eh… Winning!

I’m totally going to push for $35 - $40/h come California. If I take on a new employer that is… I’m not quite sure if my current would like to jump $20 come less than a year from now.

Still! :D

Source: mrgn

Clients From Hell: Join the Launch of The World’s Longest Invoice

clientsfromhell:

Editor’s note: I love contributor’s anecdotes about their humorous client interactions. Judging from our growing list of followers, you do to. But I don’t enjoy hearing about all the unpaid bills, shady practices, and downright immoral behaviour most of our readership has to deal with to make…

Luckily I haven’t had to deal with any of this as a freelancer. Doesn’t mean it can’t happen, and definitely doesn’t mean I shouldn’t support this.

#GetPaidNotPlayed

Return To Manufacturer

Seems I’ve made a slight mistake… In hopes to clean up the plethora of boxes accumulated by computer purchases, I have now been made aware that I cannot return my faulty power supply to the manufacturer. It’s not reading properly on a voltage meter and is one of two possible causes my computer doesn’t detect any of my hard drives — not even my SSD! The other potential culprit would be the motherboard — and I don’t have it’s packaging either. 

So note to self, keep those boxes, purchase receipts and all the stuff you might call useless for your products that you would want to RTM if ever it fails. Because really, a $100 or more product that defects and is still under warranty is worth replacing. I really don’t want to spend the money to buy another.

Bills, Money, Rent, Quebec

The past month has been absurd… Upon landing from California it’s just been “Shit! Gotta pay this off… And this! And that! And even this!” And then my account goes red, and then it goes green again. Up and down.

Luckily I have funds in Quebec to transfer here in order to make the trip but otherwise, I would have been fucked. Even then, I’m in the red until I get back. I still have to pay my car insurance, electric bill(which is only like ~$25), internet and maybe a couple things here and there.

Funny thing is, if I didn’t pre-pay January, I would have been in the clear. Well in the clear. Money for the trip, additional bills, and even some to play with. Yes, there is such a thing as paying too early, because if you don’t budget for things, you’ll soon realize it was a bad mistake like me.

So make sure you budget. Keep a calendar, a running tally of what’s going in and out when, and be very aware of what you spend.

#Lessons learned the hard way