Website development

[Dusty_Jacket]

in our school, nobody has responsibility for the website hence it's out dated, looks horrible and structurally is a dreadful mess and unmanageable.

so, i put my services forward i can do a lovely site using a cms and staff can edit their bits if needed, with me providing the training.

now, as it's not in my job description it will be paid separately... the figure banded about was £1500 anually.

my gut feeling was that this is a bit of an insult, after tax and ni that's like £95 per month... just not worth the hassle in my eyes.

are there any other schools in a similar position and what (if anything) do you get paid for web development? do you think £1500 is too low?

[webman]

Depends how much you value £1500 extra a year.

I wish I got paid more than my salary to do the website. It's not really a hassle and is easy to update as and when required anyway.

There are a lot of us that are much less fortunate and get given this responsibility for no additional remuneration.

[danIT]

Essentially that's not a bad figure, especially for education. I know plenty of Techies who does this for free for there schools as they would get laughed out the room if they asked to be paid for it - so your in a strong position if they are prepared to pay you for it.

If you went for something like Joomla and a nice theme, or even spent time developing your own that figure is about right.

The CMS is going to allow you to update the site quickly and easily, stipulate that content/copy should be provided to you in order for it to be published on the website rather than you having to create it all.

Obviously using Joomla certain sections of the site could be delegated to staff within the school?

How much do you think is a reasonable amount? Contact some web design companies and ask them for a quote so you have an idea of how much they would charge?

Web Design for Schools, Business, Charities - School Website Design UK - for an example?

[localzuk]

Considering that maintenance on our school involves roughly 5 hours a month of my time. So, 60 hours annually. So using your figure, that'd be 25 quid an hour. Not including the initial design work - but then I simply altered another theme for joomla, which took roughly 10 hours total.

So, in education, that is a very good price.

[torledo]

in our school, nobody has responsibility for the website hence it's out dated, looks horrible and structurally is a dreadful mess and unmanageable.

so, i put my services forward i can do a lovely site using a cms and staff can edit their bits if needed, with me providing the training.

now, as it's not in my job description it will be paid separately... the figure banded about was £1500 anually.

my gut feeling was that this is a bit of an insult, after tax and ni that's like £95 per month... just not worth the hassle in my eyes.

are there any other schools in a similar position and what (if anything) do you get paid for web development? do you think £1500 is too low?

when you say you'll be paid seperately, does this mean the £1500 or however much it is a month is going to appear on your payslip and identified as such ?

I personally think that if your job duties change considerably as in this case, you should be moved up the necessary scales - surely having it as a 'bonus' payment means they can take it away from you should they decide they don't like the design and want to get an external company to redesign the site, or if you are pulled in another direction by SMT. If they increase your basic pay as a result of extra duties and for some reason through circumstances beyond your control the web design schtick is something that's taken out of your hands you're still being paid at the higher rate. It's not as if you'll be paid the extra for sitting on your hands should you no longer be required to the web dev.

Ofcourse £1500 (less tax) however it get's into your pocket is not to be sniffed at, but there's a lot that i could do in my current role which would net me a great deal more money, but i find those duties to be much more hassle than they're worth....particularly if i want to be serious about the direction i want my career to go in. Only you can judge whether it's worth the extra money, and everyone has different financial circumstances so some may appreciate that amount of extra money more than others.

[Sylv3r]

in our school, nobody has responsibility for the website hence it's out dated, looks horrible and structurally is a dreadful mess and unmanageable.

so, i put my services forward i can do a lovely site using a cms and staff can edit their bits if needed, with me providing the training.

now, as it's not in my job description it will be paid separately... the figure banded about was £1500 anually.

my gut feeling was that this is a bit of an insult, after tax and ni that's like £95 per month... just not worth the hassle in my eyes.

are there any other schools in a similar position and what (if anything) do you get paid for web development? do you think £1500 is too low?

Personally, I think £1,500 is above the odds for a CMS solution especially if you are training other members of staff to input the information. So what I am trying to say is yes - take the money.

Our school website is maintained by one of our ICT Technicians who primarily started doing the website when he was in the sixth form and has moved onto work in the school. The website is one of many tasks he does and he enjoys doing it. On a weekly basis he probably spends less than 1 hour updating it etc.

I think you need to get the right CMS in place first and longterm you will have less problems - the training of the right relevant staff is also a priority.

[Friez]

I had the webpages get tacked onto my job as 'feature creep'. So effectively I get paid £0 for it.