NYT on EA Games

The New York Times has a story investigating the EA Games accusations that we reported on before. They use the phrase "toiling like galley slaves" to describe EA's programmers, and note that EA has a formal policy of hiring young, naive people who are willing to work long hours for low pay.

Comments

Low pay? Atleast they get paid unlike OSS people

[Anonymous Coward]

And we the corporations thank you saps for toiling away at free code.

Oh. My. God.

[shaun]

We're supposed to be outraged about people voluntarily overworking themselves for $60 grand a year these days?

I'm supposed to believe that "just go home are a reasonable hour" never occurred to them?

I'm supposed to believe that "it's Friday night, see you on Monday" never occurred to them?

I'm supposed to believe that "go work somewhere else" never occurred to them?

The lack of imagination that the NYT is attributing to these E.A. employees is impressive.

There really are good times we live in, if this is what we're being outraged about. $60K/annum at 80 hours per week is still *way* over the minimum wage - how about some outrage on behalf of those poor defenseless minimum wage suckers, who generally *don't* have the option to just go somewhere where they'll be treated better.

The NYT really should be ashamed of themselves.

By the way...

[Poromenos1]

... does anyone know if EA are hiring?

I was going to say the same thing

[DoorFrame]

This policy is a GOOD thing. If you're looking to start out in an industry, you should expect to work long hours for little pay when you first start. If you don't like that, you can always look for work elsewhere... but guess what, everyone WANTS to work for EA Games. People know what they're getting into, I don't think there's any trickery involved.

People, if you don't like your working conditions, especially people as highly skilled as computer programers, you should find yourself a new job. Or find an avenue for promotion at your current job that you would leave you with less lengthly responsibilities.

Re:how is that different from other companies

[nwbvt]

Because they hire people who expect to work hard for their paychecks. Programmers are often (not always) young spoiled brats who have never had to lift a finger in their lives and thus expect to get huge paychecks to sit at their desk staring at a computer screen.

Toiling like galley slaves?

[nwbvt]

Unlike slaves, they get paid, get to choose their line of work, are not routinely physically abused and worked to death, etc.

This type of hyperbole is inappropriate, potentially offensive, and merely portrays programmers as whiny brats.