I find this article very topical for me, personally... I have now been in the game industry for about a year and a half. Got one B title under my belt and am now working on a AAA title. The ups and downs are amazing... Somedays the job is great, other days I want to go weep in the corner.
Lately, though, it's been dawning on me that my friends, my peers, are off making more money, getting more "vertical" responsibility (ie leadership roles), working in healthier environments, learning more, etc...
So, I personally have been debating quitting, and returning to "normal" software development (I worked in that industry for about a year after school, before my games job.)
The money is a real sticking point with me, simply because I took a HUGE paycut to start working at the game company (about 20%, nevermind massive loss of perks from my previous job), and I have recently seen HIGHLY suspicious things, like level designers (people w/o college degrees) getting hired for what I'm currently getting paid, after TWO raises!! On my current project, I would classify my responsibility as "enormous", so, needless to say, I'm feeling a bit... exploited.
My problem is, I'm afraid that nothing out there is going to be as fun as games. The job before this, which was vaguely e-commerce related, but really more of an intranet application, just bored me to death. I know there has to be happy median somewhere.
I know this is... naughty... but I would be interested to hear what the other game engineers who have sounded off on this thread are making, because I honestly have no idea what a fair wage for an engineer in this industry is... which is pretty bad, considering I'm employed in it.
Oh yeah, if you know of any cool job openings in the greater Seattle metropolitan area, send me an email:^)
you've obviously never voted, if you think there are "lines". that would actually imply some kind of turn-out. i've never had to wait in a line, literally, every time i've ever voted. although, i have to admit one or two times i came close! whew!
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I find this article very topical for me, personally... I have now been in the game industry for about a year and a half. Got one B title under my belt and am now working on a AAA title. The ups and downs are amazing... Somedays the job is great, other days I want to go weep in the corner.
:^)
Lately, though, it's been dawning on me that my friends, my peers, are off making more money, getting more "vertical" responsibility (ie leadership roles), working in healthier environments, learning more, etc...
So, I personally have been debating quitting, and returning to "normal" software development (I worked in that industry for about a year after school, before my games job.)
The money is a real sticking point with me, simply because I took a HUGE paycut to start working at the game company (about 20%, nevermind massive loss of perks from my previous job), and I have recently seen HIGHLY suspicious things, like level designers (people w/o college degrees) getting hired for what I'm currently getting paid, after TWO raises!! On my current project, I would classify my responsibility as "enormous", so, needless to say, I'm feeling a bit... exploited.
My problem is, I'm afraid that nothing out there is going to be as fun as games. The job before this, which was vaguely e-commerce related, but really more of an intranet application, just bored me to death. I know there has to be happy median somewhere.
I know this is... naughty... but I would be interested to hear what the other game engineers who have sounded off on this thread are making, because I honestly have no idea what a fair wage for an engineer in this industry is... which is pretty bad, considering I'm employed in it.
Oh yeah, if you know of any cool job openings in the greater Seattle metropolitan area, send me an email
you've obviously never voted, if you think there are "lines". that would actually imply some kind of turn-out. i've never had to wait in a line, literally, every time i've ever voted. although, i have to admit one or two times i came close! whew!