Web Developers: Charging Too Little Hurts the Entire Community

Of those people who are willing to do web development for less than what they should be charging, I'm betting most of them aren't in a situation where they would be able to sustain themselves doing it as a full time gig. Maybe they are offsetting their living costs while living on savings and looking for a job. Maybe they are living with family for next to nothing. Maybe they are going to college and living off student loans.

I'm also not sure I buy the argument that x developer can do it cheaper simply because that developer lives in x cheap country. I live in a medium city in the Philippines which is a very poor country. Interestingly, the cost of living is really no cheaper here than it is in an average area in the U.S. Some things are cheaper, some things are more expensive. At the end of the day, it all balances out.

One thing that is definitely cheaper in poor countries is labor. So web developers in poor countries are used to working for cheap. That doesn't mean the country is cheap to live in, it just means the people are getting by without the sort of things people in Western countries take for granted. If Westerners who aren't business minded are charging way too little, then those who are from poor countries are way worse.

Developers just need to understand that they don't need to charge cheap rates. If they have world class skills, then they can charge world class rates. Developers also need to understand that if they really aren't competing with people who are charging far less. A serious business which needs a web portal isn't going to go for "my buddy who will do it for $300." A serious business wants the same level of professionalism that that business provides and only after that business has found possibilities at that level is it willing to take the lowest bidder from that group.

The bottom line is this. If the guy you hired to do your site is having to fit client work between multiple jobs flipping burgers (which are needed just to get by,) then the quality of work is going to take a big hit. However, the guy who is financing that site with multiple jobs flipping burgers (so that hopefully the site makes enough money that he can quit flipping burgers)is likely not someone a highly successful web developer is going to want to work for.