[debacle]

> I've built banner ads for advertisers, booked online campaigns in various platforms Google DFP, Yahoo APT

I don't want to make you feel like shit, but the demand for your skillset (media oriented programming) is declining. The main focuses these days are on JavaScript replacing Flash and mobile development, but apart from that any company in the space is only making money if it is overworking and underpaying its employees (which is easy to do when they are young).

The money in digital media was cheap and easy for a while, but since maybe 2010 more and more people have been trying to get into the space, because the barrier to entry is so low. This has massively driven down rates. If you're a competent programmer outside of media, you can easily pull down 100k+. If you're in the media space, you're working way more hours and pulling down a little bit more than half of that, in my experience.

tl;dr: You need to decide whether you want to stay in the segment of the industry you are in. If you do, you will probably be in this position again in 2-3 years. If you don't, you need to convince someone like me in an interview that you aren't just like every other "WordPress programmer" out there.

[morgante]

Your experience definitely doesn't match mine.

while it's true that media in general is in decline and has a poor wage situation, that's mostly felt on the editorial side. Programmers still seem to be paid quite well, at least in New York. I've never received an offer to work at a media company for less than $100k and have had a few at double that.