Stress Is Driving Developers From the Video Game Industry

Nerval's Lobster writes: For video game developers, life can be tough. The working hours are long, with vicious bursts of so-called "crunch time," in which developers may pull consecutive all-nighters in order to finish a project—all without overtime pay. According to the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) Developer Satisfaction Survey (PDF), many developers aren't enduring those work conditions for the money: Nearly 50 percent of respondents earned less than $50,000 annually. Faced with what many perceive as draconian working conditions, many developers are taking their skills and leaving video games for another technology sector. The hard and soft skills that go into producing video games—from knowledge of programming languages to aptitude for handling irate managers—will work just as well in many aspects of conventional software-building. Fortunately, leaving the video-game industry doesn't have to be a permanent exile; many developers find themselves pulled back in at some point, out of simple passion for the craft.

Comments

STEM Shortage

[RobinH]

There's no STEM shortage, just a shortage of people willing to work 80 hours per week for under $50k per year.

Re:STEM Shortage

[Anonymous Coward]

No, they are sitting at home or in a non-STEM profession because hiring in STEM (and everything else these days) sucks because employers are idiots. The structural unemployment and underemployment in the US proves that.

Unemployed people are discriminated against, for one. And then there are the completely unreasonable requirements for jobs - and we've ALL see those.

If one is an employer and has a problem finding qualified workers, I can say with 100 percent certainty, that it's their problem: their recruitment and hiring practices are horribly flawed.

I have never - ever - seen an employer spell out exactly what skills are missing in the candidates that they get. And what kills me, in Silicon Valley I see a lot of complaints about new grads not having the right skills. Really? So Stanford, CalTech, Berkeley suck? Recruit from MIT or an Eastern school.

Or how about telling universities what skills are required.

But they don't do that; which tells me that they are all full of shit.

For example, when Caterpillar needed welders, they helped the local trade schools to create a program and now, viola! plenty of qualified workers. The same can be done with engineering and programming talent.

But they don't do that - actually the entire tech industry doesn't do that. Why? Because they are full of shit about STEM shortages.

So, either STEM employers are really fucking stupid (they do ask retarded questions in interviews) or their motive for lying and saying there is a STEM shortage is all PR and politics to get cheap Third World labor and drive US wages down.

Re:"Crunch Time" == Bad Project Management

[jandrese]

Isn't that how game companies work? They hire fresh faced grads, work them like dogs for a few years and then let them go once they get the skills to demand good pay and reasonable working conditions. Or they just burn out entirely and change professions. That's one reason why there is so little institutional knowledge in game companies and they end up making the same mistakes over and over again.

Re:That's not all

[ShanghaiBill]

Women and minority developers are also being driven out of this industry because it is an inherently racist, sexist, misogynist boy's club.

Baloney. Women are repelled by the long hours and low pay. The game industry has plenty of minorities, unless you are using "minority" as a code word for "black". I have friends in the video game industry, and it has always amazed me how they can get so many talented people for such low pay and horrible conditions. But many guys (and very few gals) dream of being a game programmer, so they have them lining up at the door. My 12 year old son spent the entire weekend writing Mindcraft mods in Python, and wants to be a professional game programmer when he grows up.

Re: That's not all

[Anonymous Coward]

Men - especially young men - lack scope. They're thrilled by the thought of doing their "dream job", playing with cool toys and whatever, and forgetting a job is just a means to an end. By the time they find out it's too late, they're burned out, about to be replaced and with no safety net whatsoever. Computers are for chumps. There may be some smart and lucky ones but the rest is in for a miserable ride.

Re:That's not all

[bmo]

Men aren't supposed to be repelled.

It's the workaholic ethic many men grow up with.

You might think sexism is only discrimination against women. Men are the victims of sexism just as much, on the basis that they're supposed to be strong, macho, invincible in the face of adversity.

"Long hours? You don't like long hours? What kind of a pussy are you? You're not a team player. Your last paycheck will be Friday."

or...

(I heard this from one of my supervisors. It's something straight out of Dilbert:) "Taking unpaid personal time is stealing from the company."

These attitudes are rampant not only in game publishers but in manufacturing and everything else.

And we're supposed to just put up with it. Because we're not pussies.

--
BMO

Re:That's not all

[LaurenCates]

And I'll call bullshit on the sexist (and heteronormative) notion that women can't handle the idea of porn. That we're all so scared of guys liking porn and sharing porn that it's scaring us out of male-dominated fields.

Aside from that, if porn is the thing that alters your life plan, then your life plan wasn't that good to begin with.

You may need to find a new job, but there is a substantial difference between saying the industry is sexist versus a single studio being sexist.

Re:That's not all

[Jason Levine]

This attitude also comes into play when you start a family. It is thought of as natural for women to want to take some time off after the baby is born. (Though, maternity leave isn't guaranteed in the US. Some companies still expect you to push out the baby and get back to work.) However, if a man wants to take some time off to help out his wife (exhausted from the birth) and new baby, many people will think of him as neglecting his "duties" to waste time with his family.

Example: The case of ballplayer Daniel Murphy who missed opening day when his son was born. Some radio hosts said that he should have been at opening day and not with his family. The hosts even went to far as to claim that his wife should have scheduled a C-Section before the season began so that he wouldn't miss any games. Yup, let's put his wife through an invasive, likely-unnecessary surgical procedure just so he doesn't stop hitting a ball with a stick. Where are some people's priorities?

I was lucky that my company let me take time off, though it was pulling time from my vacation/sick days. My company could just as easily have said "No time off for you. Get back to work now!"

Re:"Crunch Time" == Bad Project Management

[aaron4801]

1. Promise AAA game in 10 months.
2. Scope out 16 months worth of work with the resources available.
3. Work a bunch of young, eager (i.e. cheap) developers to the bone.
4. Profit.
You say bad project management, but it sounds pretty lucrative for the folks who are actually in management.

Re: That's not all

[Rakarra]

A job is NOT "just a means to an end."

It's something you're going to be doing for the majority of your waking life. It really pays to find something that you like doing.
Going for your dream job is a fantastic move. Passion for your job is a positive. However, you can't let passion blind you either -- when considering that your 'dream job' pays little for terrible working conditions, it might pay to be pragmatic and avoid the industry. They can only get away with such conditions because so many are willing to put up with it.