Hot take: I saw a guy at the library charging way too little for his first web design job

I was at the main branch downtown yesterday, and this kid at the table next to me was showing his friend a website he built. He said he only asked for $50 for the whole thing, and it looked really good. His friend told him he should have asked for at least five times that. It made me stop and think about my own first quote for a simple logo, which was only $30. Seeing someone else do the same thing, and hearing that reaction, really hit home. How do you even start to figure out a fair number when you have no past jobs to compare to?

3 comments

3 Comments

xenam842d ago

Ugh, that's so real. I did the exact same thing with my first few graphic design gigs. Made a whole set of custom icons for a friend's app, charged like twenty bucks and a coffee. You just have no clue what your time is worth yet, and you're scared to ask for real money. Hearing someone else's friend call it out must have been a weird mix of "oh thank god" and "oh no".

bell.jessica2d ago

Actually, it was my own friend who called me out! She saw the invoice and just went off. Definitely a huge "oh no" moment at first.

nancyramirez2d ago

Honestly that line about being scared to ask for real money kinda misses the point. Sometimes you just want to help a friend out without making it a big money thing. It's not always about not knowing your worth, it's about choosing to do a favor. That coffee and twenty bucks might be all you wanted from someone you care about. Calling it out like it's a bad deal just puts pressure on a simple friendly trade.