Being taken advantage of at work? Web Developer #struggles

[Mister K]

I don't see what's the problem. I also did not have lead developer teach me anything. I like my job but I don't like whats the main product of the company because it makes my job boring. Junior C# programmer.

I am in similar situation like you are but I'd rather have any kind of money than no money at all. Also, I studied whole my life web development and now I don't work as web developer. Oh and yeah, I'll also look for another job, if not ending creating my own.

Yeah problem was and is that I try to do too many things and loose focus on my main objective. Bettering my Front End. I am decent designer, alright developer and know decent amounts about infrastructure and implementation but just need to better my front-end.

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Your current job seems shady, so cast your net and accept the first decent offer thrown your way.

it is, its a small business so shortcuts had to be taken. I really wanted it to work. I have stuck by my manager since 2012 working on a Social Network (marketing division) to know.

I would work overtime because I wanted to and not get paid (11pm once because could of lost a LARGE client). I loved the work, wanted to be a good foundation of the business. However, the salary was not getting increased unless i hassled them.

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You have valuable skills and knowledge in a branche where they are always hiring, so YES go for another job!

If you can, save up some money indeed and if there are customers that you can take with you, make sure your contract allows it (and if not, ask the customers to say they followed you by their own choice to avoid legal troubles).

Well I know Slovak, I understand Czech (I speak Slovak which Czech people understand and we understand them). My mum said move to Prague get a job there.

I am good designer (ui/ux/interface/websites categories) however my development is html/css and very mild php. I think I will look for some freelance work and build a client base on the side. Go weekends through every store I can find and see if they want a website/social media branding done.

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I will NEVER understand people that stay at a shitty job(specifically in tech). If you have the skills you should have been looking for another job 3 years ago.

Dedicated to the company, loyalty and hoping for a better future. I was promised golden fruits from the trees of heaven when the company grows large and I can sit back. Maybe little nativity from me unless I gave you the context.

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I'd also advise against "game development", if that's something you play around with in theory.

Not interested. Web interfaces, UI, mobile, websites and things of that nature interest me billion times more. Most kids go Game Dev, its just like doing beauty at school for girls. Most of them will end up doing shit job and not what they studied.

[Moozart]

I have started working at this company 3 years ago. At the time my job position (Junior Web Developer) was available for £700 a month as I had to take a pay-cut and enroll in an apprenticeship (company can't afford you unless you take a pay-cut and enroll in an Apprenticeship). A year has gone past, had no time to do any of the course work and work really needed me on projects rather than apprenticeship stuff and I couldn't keep up. So I ditched it and they employed me full time. This time I was getting £1000 (after tax) for, another, year...

I kicked up a fuss regarding it and demanded £1500 but they met me at £1350. This is year 3 and have been on this salary for around 6 months.

The amount of money they have saved is beyond me.

Now I was selling my computer, I offered it to work for £800 (great specs, decent price). They have said they will buy it off me, so I waited for good 3-4 weeks (while they used it all). In the end boss decided that he did not want it and its best to sell it on ebay. I was like fine. A few days later I pretty much sold all the parts. However, the screen that I have for sale, the manager (friend, once upon a time) has said that his current financial situation means he cant buy it. He told me he will ask our main boss but of course, lets be fair its not going to go through. He has been taking from work and home for a good month so extra wear and tear is probably there.

The company skimpted out on legit adobe/window license, so a lot of pirated **** floating around (tbf I help installing most of it). They tend to employ apprentices just to get the government grant (by the looks of it). I personally had no lead developer teach me the ropes, I was the only developer now we have another that we outsource and one 17 year old freshmen.

What do I do in this situation? Am I being a ***** and butthurt and should man up, save money and leave? (take clients with me)?. I would leave the job but I have no savings (stupid me!).


#rant

First of all they are paying you what McDonald s workers here in the states are paid. You should had known you were being taken advantage of the moment you say that starting salary. Entry level Web designer at a legit company here in the states can start at 3 times that easy. Once you ignored the first red flag the pirated licenses should had been another large one. You are knowingly using pirated software, that makes you as guilty as they are.

At this point your best course of action is to call Adobe directly and tell them what is going on, turn them in and let Adobe sort them out. Adobe will care much more than Microsoft probably will, especially if they are operating as a legit business.

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Save enough to be able to make it for the next six months, then leave. Don't do something horribly unprofessional like taking a copy of the client base, I would never hire you if I called for a reference and found you did something that shitty. You can always give some personal information to clients though (so they can contact you for further information if they cannot find you at work is the polite excuse to use at work). Do a better job scouting the company you might work for the next time so that you work for someone who has his shit together.

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Considering there is no location on the OP's profile, can we really know if they are underpaid? E.g. what is barely enough to survive in the US is a fortune in Eastern Europe.

Did you miss the fact that most of the company is using pirated software to even function? The company is FAR from legit, he would be doing those clients a favor by taking them.

[Mister K]

sooo - in 2 years you got nearly 100 % raise and you think company is not fair to you ? jezus millenials are really something else -_-

if you were my employee i would kick you out the first time and hired new one so many of web dewelopers with mediocre skills right out of college to choose from .

I started at £700 at the age of 20. I worked damn hard, sometimes overtimes, after 5o clock club because I loved it. I was getting depressed over my salary and buggered them until I got a grand which they said would increase after a year. A year later, I had to do the same, pester to get £1350. I deserved (non millenial bullshit) £1150/£1250 when I started, not measly 700 because "they couldn't pay me". But, I agreed to it (not in contract) so I have to suck it up and deal with it.

Dev skills, mediocre yes to an extent. However, I build a £1000 to £3000 site in 2 weeks, that's 2 sites a month meaning the company covers my costs and then some. Also re-done whole email and server infrastructure which brings in additional £700 to £800 a month + £200 for email hosting (after OEM expenses).

[Moozart]

Reporting company that grew you is a shit move and will leave you open for shitty recommendation.

It's first and foremost OPs fault he sat on his behind for 3 years with that pay, not company's.

If you have no ambition and ready to work for food, it's no wonder that's what you get.

please see the comment i made directly above this one

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sooo - in 2 years you got nearly 100 % raise and you think company is not fair to you ? jezus millenials are really something else -_-

if you were my employee i would kick you out the first time and hired new one so many of web dewelopers with mediocre skills right out of college to choose from .

You clearly do no understand how low he is getting paid for what he does. McDonalds drive through people make what they are paying him man, get off your high horse.

[haxartus]

And this mentality is why the employee turnover rate is so high these days.

It is because companies don't value employees that stay with them for longer.

If you've been with the company for 2 years, and you are paid 30% less than the industry average, they will not give you a 30% raise if you ask for it. So, you quit, and they find someone else and pay them closer to the same amount that they could have paid you to stay...

[Mister K]

<br>
Did you miss the fact that most of the company is using pirated software to even function? The company is FAR from legit, he would be doing those clients a favor by taking them.

<br><br>Also most of the Themeforest templates, plugins which state that they only allow 1 license per site are reused multiple times on projects which net £1000 to £3000 profit. So 1 Theme $72/ reskined for project that could be worth hundreds or few thousand. <br>
<br>Obviously I won't report them as its a dick move and can bite me in the ass in the future (as someone said, references are important). Leaving on good terms, I know my exmate/manager will give me a blasting reference but still.<br><br>However our next door server security patching guys are now getting a list of the software that is pirated to replace with license because of possible inspections etc. They good guys them lads, they have different problems their end tho.

[Moozart]

<br><br>Also most of the Themeforest templates, plugins which state that they only allow 1 license per site are reused multiple times on projects which net £1000 to £3000 profit. So 1 Theme $72/ reskined for project that could be worth hundreds or few thousand. <br>
<br>Obviously I won't report them as its a dick move and can bite me in the ass in the future (as someone said, references are important). Leaving on good terms, I know my exmate/manager will give me a blasting reference but still.<br><br>However our next door server security patching guys are now getting a list of the software that is pirated to replace with license because of possible inspections etc. They good guys them lads, they have different problems their end tho.

Ok, so guess what, you are an KNOWING accessory and participant in illegal and unlawful activities by your company. Do you know the type of damage that can be done to your clients if it comes out their whole site/business was made using illegal software? I am only pointing this stuff out because i have been through all of that when i first got into the tech sector. I ended up moving somewhere else to get employment because all the companies where I was at the time knew my companies history and REFUSED to hire anyone who had ever worked there.

[Mavett]

Well, for comparison, 1350 is buttons. In the UK, if he works 40 hours/week, it comes down to about minimal wage. 700, with the bullshit apprenticeship shenanigans, is legal pay if you're under 18, and only. I don't know if OP lives in a big town or not, but in most places that means 50% of his income goes on for rent.

I know skipping up from company to company every six or so months was a thing a couple of years back, might still be. But definitely, if you've got the skills for it, you can and should try for a new company. 26-28 grand per annum is what you should be looking for a start, if you have the university degree, and with additional qualifications, you can easily go above 30, like that offer for Dublin (Ireland is a very good place for IT at the moment, as some of my friends have considered going there, away from England.)

Loyalty to the company is a commendable quality, but only if they're loyal to their employees back.

48 h/w, you're right though, he should be looking for a new job given his experience, at the end of the day there are bills to pay and loyalty won't pay that.

[Deleted]

Meh, women in tech have it worse, you shan't be complaining OP.

[Independent voter]

Another problem with working for low pay is that future employers will see it as a mark of your worth. A $33K developer and a $120K a year developer might have the exact same skills but everyone will believe the $120K developer to be better.

[Cæli]

Oh, hello there Karl

I'm not communist ahah, I'm more in favor of capitalism but not today's capitalism, what I said is true though

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This is true, its why I am thinking of going freelance. However my problem is being good at selling. At our agency, the manager can sell shit and market it as gold that's how good he is. We charge £1000 to £3000 for themed wordpress websites which take 1-2 weeks to knock up. Download theme, reskin it, sell it rebranded.

being an employee is often the easy way, but if you don't want that it's for a specific reason, personally I prefer getting 1k per month and being free, than working for someone for 10k, because time is more precious, I would not advise to leave employment until you have a good project that would generate you stable money monthly, because you still need money to live properly, I think you must first get a stable work from home with decent hour count and you'll have the opportunity to work for your future, that or if you're skilled work and get enough money so that you'll have room to do something that would give you money, you need at least 3 years I'd say if you already have a viable idea, but without stable income you have to be employed

[moremana]

it is god damn cute! I would love to hire him, he doesn't live here so.... and even as a apprentice in the low voltage security industry he would make $2200. per month to start and he would be bumped every 90 days as he learned up to his 1 year anniversary. Apparently in the UK your employers treat employees like shit, in the US, unless your flipping hamburgers, we take care of our employees.

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It is because companies don't value employees that stay with them for longer.

If you've been with the company for 2 years, and you are paid 30% less than the industry average, they will not give you a 30% raise if you ask for it. So, you quit, and they find someone else and pay them closer to the same amount that they could have paid you to stay...

If your in my industry, good techs are hard to find, we value the ones we have and they make 10-20% over the industry standard. No need to look elsewhere.

My youngest tech, hes 24 and makes $19.00 a hour, plus benefits and 3 weeks vacation a year. he started out at 21 at $13.50 a hr

[Themius]

Whistle blow... collect money from fines for using pirated software.

[helebelemon]

Leave. You're at the 3 year mark. Anything more at a trash shop is going to be a detriment to your career, particularly as the field is being flooded with people from all walks of education backgrounds. Whatever you do, don't mention their problems or the fact that you had little to no supervision. Though someone here appears to be gloating about such a feat, it is a big red flag as early professional development is very much dependent on good mentorship.

[GreenJesus]

Dude just go work at Mcdonalds and you can earn more.

[Rockyreg]

To be fair the OP stated his salary was after tax so he is on around £19k gross which doesn't sound as bad (although not great) especially living in some areas of the country. I don't profess to know if that is good or bad in his industry or inline with his skills/experience so I can't really comment any further.

What I will say is that best chance to increase your salary is to get a new job. Unless you get promoted it is very unlikely that any current employer will gives raises much above the rate of inflation and some people are lucky to get that at the moment.

If you like where you are and like what you are doing you should at least try and get a job offer from another company. Then you can sit down with your boss, explain that you have been offered another job, detail out the pay and conditions they are offering and see if he can better it. It goes without saying you have to actually have a job offer and be willing to accept the position if your current employer says that he cannot do it.

Above all, be courteous and professional and don't burn any bridges or try and screw them over as you never know when that shit will come back and bite you in the arse.