Erin Taylor
Professor Donald Amos
WEB 2200, WW2
30 November 2007
The University of Tennessee describes an adult student as being at least twenty-five, and/or a parent, and/or married, and/or returning to school after several years' absence ("Adult”). That's me all over. But, UT does not describe a common goal I believe we, as adult students, share – to make more money. As a high school graduate fifteen years ago, I didn't think about going to school to make money so that I could have the life I wanted and be able to provide for my children. I wanted to see the world and experience new things. Been there – done that. Now, I, like many others struggling to make ends meet, am ready to do something toward an end. If all goes as planned, the result of my studies will be my possession of the knowledge and skills (and a matching degree) that will lead to a job making enough money to make better life for me and my family. As I sacrifice time and money to go to school – neither of which is plentiful at this time – I often wonder: Will these sacrifices and my hard work get me the job I want? And, will that job pay enough to warrant the investments of my money and time in the education needed to perform it?
To answer these questions, I decided to research the starting salary I can anticipate earning after graduation. Though I have been creating sites for a number of years, and will be two years further in my experience when I graduate, I don't know that my experience prior to school will count in the eyes of a prospective employer. I do plan to present a portfolio of my work to interested companies, and hope that it will be impressive. Because I do not know if my prior experience will matter, and the impact of a portfolio is hard to quantify when researching salary information, I performed research based only on the degree I will hold upon graduation – Associate of Applied Science. What I found was encouraging.
I first consulted the website of my school, Pellissippi State Technical Community College . There, I found that “Pellissippi's Web Technology program has placed 95 percent of its graduates in the last two years with the average starting salary of $32,500” (Bryant). I then contacted Carolyn Carson, Director of Placement at PSTCC. She gave me the figures for the average starting salary of graduates from the web program over the past three years: $32,500 in 2004, $33,333 in 2005, and $33,700 in 2006 (Carson). This means that the starting salary increased about 3.7 percent over two years. Therefore, I estimate that the average starting salary for Pellissippi web graduates in 2009 will be around $35,570.
My next step was to do a Google search for salary information. The first result, Salary.com, created a salary report based on my expected degree, experience, and location. A Web Designer in the Knoxville , Tennessee area with an Associate Degree and zero years of experience makes, on average, $52,000 per year. Salary.com conducts their research with 1.3 million individuals in 5,000 companies (“Salary.com”).
Another site, owned by Pencom Systems Incorporated Technical Recruiters, offers a salary calculator, as well. For the Southeastern United States they show a median income of $40,000 for a Web Master with less than one year experience (“Pencom”).
Finally, I consulted one of my new favorite web sites, A List Apart. They conducted a survey of “people who make websites” in Spring 2007. While the salary data was not specific to education or experience, the numbers seem to coincide with those found elsewhere. The largest percentage of those surveyed made between $40 and $59 thousand per year. The next largest group made between $20 and $39 thousand (“Findings”).
For the most part, I feel encouraged by my findings. I know that an Associate degree will only get me so far – a Bachelor degree would result in a higher salary than a two-year degree. But, I think that, armed with my degree, knowledge, skills, talent, and a stellar portfolio, I will be able to earn at least the median for those with my degree and experience and will certainly try to excel in my field so that I will be among those making more than just median. I'm excited about my future profession – new technology will necessitate a constant learning process, so I'll never get bored; technological jobs will be needed more and more as time goes on, which offers job security; and technical job salaries are on the rise. I feel quite confident that the sacrifices of today will bring a better tomorrow for me, my family, and all seeking a better life through a good education.
"Adult Student Services Center at the University of Tennessee ." The University of Tennessee . 2005. University of Tennessee Knoxville Office of Dean of Students. 30 Nov 2007 <http://web.utk.edu/~adultssc/>.
Bryant, Gay. "Web Tech at PSTCC." The University of Tennessee . Pellissippi State Technical Community College . 30 Nov 2007 <http://pstcc15.pstcc.edu/departments/web/>.
Carson, Carolyn. " RE: Request for Salary Information for Web Graduates." Email to Erin Taylor. 26 Nov 2007.
"Findings From the Web Design Survey 2007." A List Apart: A List Apart. 16 October 2007. A List Apart Magazine. 30 Nov 2007 <http://www.alistapart.com/d/2007surveyresults/2007surveyresults.pdf>.
"Pencom Systems Incorporated - New York IT technical staffing/recruiting firm . . ." Pencom Systems Incorporated - Professional IT Placement Services for over 35 years - Home . Pencom Systems Incorporated. 30 Nov 2007 <http://www.pencom.com/isg.html>.
"Salary.com's Salary Wizard™ - Do you know what you're worth?" Salary.com Job salaries - Performance reviews - Compensation software . Salary.com, Inc. 30 Nov 2007 <http://swz.salary.com/salarywizard/layoutscripts/swzl_newsearchexp.asp>.