Title: Greetings all! 
I was hoping the fine minds here might be able to help me out a little with the quandary I'm in.<p>Some woeful backstory:<p>I'm a (ahem) PHP developer &#38; been doing it for 8 or so years now. I'll be honest, I'm no 'rockstar', 'ninja' or 'action-monk' but I think I'm reasonably good and have always managed to build whatever is required within a decent timescale. Nothing has even blown the heck up on my watch. I've done everything from proper low-end nonsense to working on/building on a few largeish e-commerce sites (nothing enormous but in the $millions taken through site in a year).<p>Right now I'm earning £18,000/yr (approx $26,708.40 - off the top of my head ;) with ZERO chance of pay rise (it's been 2 years since my last one) and while this pays the rent, that's about it. I can't pay every bill that comes through each month as it stands.<p>The problems I have are twofold:<p>1. My current job description looks good on paper (built/manage 8 sites of low-to-high complexity, mailing lists, graphic design, print, server admin, iphone app development..) but if a prospective employer saw half of these sites, I'd be binned instantly. It's the old 'make everything bold and pink' edicts and keyword spam that the bosses love to add.<p>2. As I said, I'm no rockstar. I can't in good conscience apply for one of these jobs knowing I'm not the genius they are looking for. Plus, I'd be out on my arse after a week once they rumbled me. Unfortunately, the next step down seems to be junior dev, for around the same wageas I'm on now!<p>So... am I having delusions of grandeur here? Should I be happy that someone with my skillset is getting paid this amount and I have no right to expect more for being average?<p>Or - am I right to think that I could do a lot better? And it what ruddy way do I go about it? The job market around here is pretty dire unless I make the 200 mile journey to London (not really feasible for several reasons).<p>Sorry for the waffle, just at my wits end right now and unable to see anything clearly. Please don't read this a pity-seeking tale of woe - I'm more interested in getting out and making something decent out of my life. Thanks for reading and any kick-to-the-head advice is much appreciated!
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