How Much Should A Performance Analyst be Paid?

I was asked this questions the other day via email and while I have my own views I thought it would be worth posting it on Facebook and see what other people thought. It quickly became the most commented post I’ve written on Facebook so it obviously interested a lot of people.

I was intrigued by some of the answers and there was a big range of prices and conditions people put on their performance analysis service. So I thought I would throw my 2 cents into the discussion and try and summarize what others contributed. I would break the answers into 3 categories.

Hobby/Enthusiast

If you fall into this category it is really up to you what you want to charge. One commenter charges about €40-€50 to film and €80-100 to film and code, but as he stated for one particular teams who he likes working for he is willing to do it a bit cheaper. Certainly I would think that the job shouldn’t cost you anything and you have to factor in how much it costs to maintain equipment etc… but if you love doing the job and are happy to be involved, set a price that both you and the club are comfortable with and you should be fine.

Student/Work Experience

This is probably the hardest category to gauge. I think there is a definite danger of being taken advantage of, but you have to way that up against how difficult it is to get a job in this industry without relevant experience. There was one comment that has since been removed (not by me) that stated they were working 6 days a week and getting £0. Also some of the ‘internships’ that I have seen are close to crossing the line of ‘free labour’. Although it is not always possible to find out it would be a good idea to see if anybody did your job last year – it could be a ploy by some clubs to get free work and change the analyst each year.

Having said that, experience it invaluable and as was mentioned in the discussion; ‘the problem really is only a small proportion of the jobs are actually advertised etc, and a lot of them come from meeting people and word of mouth’. Being in a club may make it easier to find another job or certainly build up your contacts if you need/want to move on at a later stage. For what it’s worth I would be willing to work 2/3 days on a voluntary basis in order to gain some valuable experience. I think this gives you the time to have another job or study, you are still gaining good experience and providing a valuable experience to the club. I would probably only do this for 1 season after which I would need to get some form of compensation of find a full-time post.

Professional/Freelance

Freelance:

There were one or two comments from people offering performance analysis as a service. There prices were (I thought) more reasonable. The rates seem to be £150 – £250 for filming and analysing a game. Personally I would charge about €300 for filming and analysing a game, depending on the depth of analysis a team is looking for. I think in this scenario it is important to value your service. If you have dedicated a lot of time (degree, masters and work experience) to your discipline it is important you are rewarded for your efforts. Remember that setting your prices low may in-fact devalue your service. Think of how Apple value their product as a premium product. If you think you provide a valuable service – charge accordingly.

Professional:

I have less experience of what somebody might expect to get paid at a professional club and as was mentioned not all jobs are advertised. I know earlier in the year there were 2 jobs going at Man City. The full-time experienced analysts job was paying £38k and the internship was paying £18k. The internship wage seemed very fair to me. Invaluable experience, the chance of full-time employment, working with the best technology money could buy and with some very experienced performance analysts. There was another comment that full-time experienced sports science staff would be on about £60k.

Final Thoughts

Try and decide what category you fit into. If you are in it as hobby or enthusiast and enjoy doing it for your old club, make sure you cover your costs. If you’re a student starting out, be willing to work for free, but only for a certain time frame, after all, one day you are going to have to earn a wage. I would recommend that you get as much experience as possible, but there is only so many times you can work 60+ hours a week for no money!!

If you have any more thoughts why not share them below or join the conversation on Facebook: www.facebook.com/thevideoanalyst