Would You Take Part in an Extensive Industry Salary Survey?

[Jeff Mottle]

It was suggested by one of our readers that we should perform an extensive and detailed indutsry salary survey. My question to you is how much are you willing to dilvulge and how much time are you willing to spend on a survey of this nature?
Take the poll then post your ideas and suggestions on what type of information you think should be included in this survey? If there is enough support this is something that I would be willing to compile on a yearly basis.

[ September 08, 2002, 06:50 PM: Message edited by: Jeff Mottle ]

[Michiel Quist]

Hey Jeff,

I don't think that it is valueable for anyone to know how much someone earns a year. We are from all over the world and you just can not compare any salaries. Even between Belgium and The Netherlands its not comparable, and we are neighbours.
And if you would like to know how many jobs one is doing, ask yourself this: Is someone doing all the jobs by him/herself or is there a whole team involved. And what quality jobs do they do. What kind of deadlines did they have.... etc etc...

well this is just my opinion....

[Jeff Mottle]

If I were to do somethign like this, it would obviously be broken down by country. This will not just be a simple salary poll, but rather an in-depth survey of everything from how many jobs the studio does in a year, the average cost per project, annual income for the studio, salary based upon position etc. There are many sites that do this now, but none to our specific industry.

[Michiel Quist]

Could you tell me the purpose of such a survey?

thx

[Jeff Mottle]

Could you tell me the purpose of such a survey?

I think information like this is important for many reasons. It's important to know so that companies can stay competitive, so that companies know how much they should pay to hire an artist, and how much a client should expect to pay for a rendering. It's also a great indicator of how our industry is doing. Are we growing, is there a reduced demand? If I were living in the UK and wanted to move to the US, where and how do I know what I should expect to be paid, where should I move to find work? These are just a few of the reason a survey of this nature is useful.
I think many people, including myself, would like to get a better idea of the inner working of the majority of studios out there. Does the industry comprise mostly of freelancers, in-house CG artists, large multi-media/advertising firms etc.
I'm sure others could add to this list.

Why do you not think it is useful? While I'm sure some will have no need for this type of information, I suspect that the majority of people want to get a better feel for the current state of the industry they work in and how it is structured. Understanding your industry is key to running a succesful business. Anyway, that's my 2 cents.

[Jim Warren]

Jeff, I have to agree mostly with quizzy.

Do you see value in these results to the actual business owner's or to their employees because as an owner I'm kinda on the fence as to why I would tell specifics like this?

I do however agree that there is value to the community/industry in tracking trends but am unsure how you reach that goal?

Cautiously Interested...

[Michiel Quist]

jeff,

check this link:
http://www.cgarchitect.com/cgi-bin/u...c;f=1;t=000085
its about undercutting the market, if you would do such a survey its quite simple to undercut the market.

>>>YW*: and how much a client should expect to pay for a rendering

so the client knows this (great btw) website?? I don't think so. Also the price will depend on country, free-lance or in-house made, made by more than one person etc..etc.. This would only be useful if more than 10 or so people were posting from one country. Also if clients would see that in another country its much cheaper to buy a rendering they WILL do so, with the fast internet conections nowadays thats no problem anymore. I wouldn't say no to a client from another country. (not that i'm cheap )

>>>YW: Are we growing, is there a reduced demand?

To get a better bigger picture of our specific industry it would only be useful after a couple of surveys. So I guess you're planning on doing this survey once a year or so??

>>>YW: If I were living in the UK and wanted to move to the US, where and how do I know what I should expect to be paid, where should I move to find work?

Strange enough, I totally agree. But this kind of information you could also find on many job search websites.

>>>YW: Does the industry comprise mostly of freelancers, in-house CG artists, large multi-media/advertising firms etc

Yep, that's nice to know..

YW: Does the industry comprise mostly of freelancers, in-house CG artists, large multi-media/advertising firms etc

I agree..

Well this was about it.. my 2 cents as canadians say
YW* = You wrote

[Jeff Mottle]

Hey guys,

I can definetly understand your points and concerns, but based upon the poll results thus far it would appear that many other are interested in this type of info. I get the impression that you feel this type of information would or could hurt your bottom line. I am I right? I'm not sure I'd be worried about clients jumping ship to have somebody in a foreign country do the work though. A client has only to visit CGA so realize that there is talent around the world, and everybody knows that the cost of living differs from country to country. Cheaper cost of living equals cheaper bill rate.
This type of information has been gathered hundred of times before for most other industries including the CAD, AEC, and Graphic Artists Market, and have in a round about way covered the architectural CG market as well, but nobody has done anything that "specifially" surveys our market. I have a report done by a graphics arts accociation here in Canada that details each city by bill rate for differnt types of work, the size of their studio, the hourly rate, employee salaries etc, so this type of information is far from secret. There is even a book that outlines this information as well ( http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846 ). For the most part this type of info is almost always done for the US or Canada, and always as a general glace at our industry specifically. My goal would be to cross section this industry worldwide and do a detiled analysis of all aspects of the Arch CG market, not graphic arts or CAD.

I feel that this type of information is of use to owners as well. Working for SMED I have had to deal with our HR department on numerous occasions when they decided to create standardized pay scales (or attempt to anyway). While all of the other positions were easily determined, ours as you can imagine was a role of the dice and to date has been based upon how much another company has offered to lour us away. I personally would like to see a definetive survey done that puts an end that mystery. I truly beleive that our industry has grown to a point where it needs to be better represented and put on the map as a "profession" and not just something architects do to make a better presentation.

Anyway this is a great topic that I'd like to continue, I'd like to hear what others think and if you too disagree with what I am trying to do. Do you think this revealig this information does more damage then good? How would you use this information?

Thanks for the comments and feedback guys.

[Michiel Quist]

I'll be glad to do that upcoming poll, but please put a "don't want to tell ya" option in some questions..

[Jeff Mottle]

Originally posted by quizzy:
I'll be glad to do that upcoming poll, but please put a "don't want to tell ya" option in some questions..

Will do. Thanks Quizzy.