WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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Re: Accessibilty consultant salary

for

From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: May 10, 2016 7:52AM

I'd be happy to provide web accessibility consulting for $18000 an hour. *grin*
Seriously, a friend of mine who works at a very large multi-national
company once said they contracted a specialist for an hourly rate like
that .. and not for accessibility purposes.



On 5/10/16, Jennifer Sutton < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> WebAIM folks:
>
> I'll be fascinated to see where this discussion goes.
>
>
> I've been on email lists that explicitly forbid the discussion of
> salaries, lest the list be put in the position of setting up some kind
> of industry price-fixing or collusion, or even the appearance thereof.
>
>
> It's not my intention to sound scary; I'm simply sharing my experience.
> These were very mainstream lists consisting of folks who worked on the web.
>
>
> For my part, what I'll say, as an independent consultant is that it very
> much depends on your market/what kind of rates others outside of
> accessibility are charging, plus cost of living, plus all of the things
> that are required to sustain a business and a life. And sometimes, if
> business is good, I might charge a little less to help a nonprofit.
>
>
> Basically, specializing in accessibility, in my view, is going to
> require you to market harder, rather than if you were an independent
> developer who offered accessibility as an additional service (or if you
> just did it as a matter of course, which is even better).
>
>
> I sat on the procurement side of the desk, for a while, and what I
> learned from that has certainly informed my thinking as I've returned to
> consulting.
>
>
> So, were I in your shoes, Mike, I'd solicit bids for projects from your
> current job; that's how you really can get a sense of what companies
> would charge. And of course, the longer a company has been around/has a
> reputation, the more they can charge.
>
>
> I'd also mention that the more the legal situation heats up in the U.S.
> (or perhaps it would now be better to say becomes hard to predict), the
> more anyone who's in this business needs to keep that in mind. What
> "keeping that in mind" means for each consultant is up to him/her to
> judge. But not thinking about that area early and often, when
> establishing a new business, seems to me unwise.
>
>
> I trust you're studying the market enough to know, Mike, that Deque,
> TPG, and SSB BART Group are all hiring like crazy. That's something that
> would inform my thinking, if I were in your situation. Other companies
> may be, too; I mention these three because they're the ones I see.
>
>
> And no, I'm not going to reveal my rates here on the list, or by private
> email, unless someone contacts me about real work, just in case you were
> waiting for "the punch line." See my LinkedIn profile link below my
> name. And I'm not responding here as a disguised marketing pitch.
>
>
> Finally, here's a link to a WebAIM survey that may be helpful.
>
> http://webaim.org/blog/practitioner-survey-results/
>
>
>
> Good luck.
>
> Jennifer
>
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/jsuttonmedia
>
>
>
>
>
> > > > >


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