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There is really something disconcerting about knowing that no matter how hard you work or how long the hours are, there will always be a few million people in the third world who will work even harder and longer for less than one 10th of what you are making. Now, thanks to increasing global internet connectivity, those people can now telecommute to the first world, and they do in droves. How do I know this you might ask? I'll tell you. I used be be one of those guys beating the pants off of the western workforce by sitting in internet cafes located in some of the poorest countries in the world. With a cost of living that is much lower than most western countries, the jobs come quick and easy to a well qualified programmer. Especially when that programmer speaks and writes English as their first language.
By the time I left Thailand I was well on my way with a solid clientele list, and a steady stream of projects. This was almost ideal because I didn't actually do any business in the country I lived in. My employers were mostly European and American, and funds were always transferred from online accounts outside the country. So, what made it such a lucrative and busy business for a person in my position?
Salary.com lists the average salary for a web designer in the US to be about $48,000 a year. Not bad eh? That's about $23 an hour. In a staggering comparison, an entry level designer in Thailand with a decent education and skills makes about $6,000 a year. In all actuality, that is a very good income in Thailand even at a whopping $3 an hour! Minimum wage there is actually only about $7 A DAY!! and most can live on that with the comparatively inexpensive cost of living there. I managed to squeak by, and I'll let you know how I did it.
I didn't even have a computer or an internet connection for most of the time. I would simply rent a machine, internet connection, desk, and workspace in an internet cafe for about 30 cents an hour. A full day would cost me about $2 in expenses. During that day, I could rustle up about $10-$20 worth of revenue doing odd jobs such as processing image files for online catalogs, and fixing coding errors in websites. The same jobs that employers back in their own countries would have to pay 8 times the price for and get the exact same results. So, at the end of the day, I might clear at least $7 a day in profit, and sometimes much more. That was already at least the same as minimum wage, and I wasn't breaking my back on a construction crew for 12 hours anymore and risking getting busted by the labor department and immigration. Big Plus!!!
Well, those days are over now that I'm back here in the US for the time being. I'm finding myself back on the other side of the fence, and it can be really dis-heartening at times. It still get plenty of job offers, but most of them I can't even consider due to the cost of living here. For example, I had an offer last week to convert, crop and re-size a batch of several hundred image files of auto parts from PDF to JPG format. No, not the most exciting job, but it was work. I calculated my time and costs and put in a bid that was still far less than most would do it for in this country. I was flat broke broke and needed the money. The guy who got the job and beat me out was actually in India and took on the week long project for the equivalent of $50. It's a little hard to compete with that. I wouldn't even consider it for that amount of money here, but for him that was a good week's wages and food on the table. Heck, back in Thailand that would have paid my rent for two weeks!!! Now I find myself not even bothering to bid on those jobs just because it's not even worth my time here.
So, what's the solution? Not really sure yet. I have picked up a couple small jobs from firms that are staunch "non-outsourcers" but even they only want to pay half of what they should for my time. In this economy, money is tight, and what little there is to go around for us bottom feeders tends to go overseas. I didn't mind it so much when I was on the receiving end of those funds and living an inexpensive lifestyle in a foreign country. Now that I'm back in the "real world" it really starts to pinch a little bit. I was getting very used to making the equivalent of about $200 to $300 a month and living quite comfortably. It seems that here in this country these days it takes at least that amount to make a car payment just so you can get to work.
Well, there you have it. The challenge I have been facing this past few weeks as I try to find some sort of stability here. I just keep pushing along. It's been a long strange ride, and something tells me it's not over yet.
.
By the time I left Thailand I was well on my way with a solid clientele list, and a steady stream of projects. This was almost ideal because I didn't actually do any business in the country I lived in. My employers were mostly European and American, and funds were always transferred from online accounts outside the country. So, what made it such a lucrative and busy business for a person in my position?
Salary.com lists the average salary for a web designer in the US to be about $48,000 a year. Not bad eh? That's about $23 an hour. In a staggering comparison, an entry level designer in Thailand with a decent education and skills makes about $6,000 a year. In all actuality, that is a very good income in Thailand even at a whopping $3 an hour! Minimum wage there is actually only about $7 A DAY!! and most can live on that with the comparatively inexpensive cost of living there. I managed to squeak by, and I'll let you know how I did it.
I didn't even have a computer or an internet connection for most of the time. I would simply rent a machine, internet connection, desk, and workspace in an internet cafe for about 30 cents an hour. A full day would cost me about $2 in expenses. During that day, I could rustle up about $10-$20 worth of revenue doing odd jobs such as processing image files for online catalogs, and fixing coding errors in websites. The same jobs that employers back in their own countries would have to pay 8 times the price for and get the exact same results. So, at the end of the day, I might clear at least $7 a day in profit, and sometimes much more. That was already at least the same as minimum wage, and I wasn't breaking my back on a construction crew for 12 hours anymore and risking getting busted by the labor department and immigration. Big Plus!!!
Well, those days are over now that I'm back here in the US for the time being. I'm finding myself back on the other side of the fence, and it can be really dis-heartening at times. It still get plenty of job offers, but most of them I can't even consider due to the cost of living here. For example, I had an offer last week to convert, crop and re-size a batch of several hundred image files of auto parts from PDF to JPG format. No, not the most exciting job, but it was work. I calculated my time and costs and put in a bid that was still far less than most would do it for in this country. I was flat broke broke and needed the money. The guy who got the job and beat me out was actually in India and took on the week long project for the equivalent of $50. It's a little hard to compete with that. I wouldn't even consider it for that amount of money here, but for him that was a good week's wages and food on the table. Heck, back in Thailand that would have paid my rent for two weeks!!! Now I find myself not even bothering to bid on those jobs just because it's not even worth my time here.
So, what's the solution? Not really sure yet. I have picked up a couple small jobs from firms that are staunch "non-outsourcers" but even they only want to pay half of what they should for my time. In this economy, money is tight, and what little there is to go around for us bottom feeders tends to go overseas. I didn't mind it so much when I was on the receiving end of those funds and living an inexpensive lifestyle in a foreign country. Now that I'm back in the "real world" it really starts to pinch a little bit. I was getting very used to making the equivalent of about $200 to $300 a month and living quite comfortably. It seems that here in this country these days it takes at least that amount to make a car payment just so you can get to work.
Well, there you have it. The challenge I have been facing this past few weeks as I try to find some sort of stability here. I just keep pushing along. It's been a long strange ride, and something tells me it's not over yet.
.
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