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I've been curious about this - how is it to work for the porn company as a developer? Assuming you're comfortable with the X-rated content that is being distrib

I've been curious about this - how is it to work for the porn company as a developer? Assuming you're comfortable with the X-rated content that is being distributed, any specific differences other than what you already highlighted? Was there any stigma when moving forward? Do devs meet/hang around with the production staff, or are distribution and production entirely separate? Compensations comparable? Anything else?

cerrelio 10y ago
The only stigma I experienced was self generated. I wouldn't tell people where I worked for a while. However, after that period of shame, whenever I told someone I worked in porn, they had a positive attitude and dozens of questions. After moving to the Bay Area and going to several parties were Google/Facebook/Yahoo engineers were present, they would actually be very interested in what I did. Devs rarely hung out with the production staff. I almost never saw the talent. The production was done in warehouses several miles from where the back office work was done. However, the owners occasionally threw parties where the talent would show up. If you wanted to fuck a porn star you met at these parties, you could, if you were mostly discreet about it. Devs would also go to tech conferences (flying first class no less), but we never shared the nature of our business with people we met (at least I never did). Compensation was comparable/above average, perks were good (free membership at high-end gyms, fully paid health insurance), but bonuses were meager and there were essentially no equity possibilities. However, after 1.5 years working in the area of the country where I was, I had enough saved to put a down payment on a nice condo. I didn't, and I used that money to move to the Bay Area, where I had to start that process all over. And the Bay Area is definitely not a place where a developer can buy a condo after saving for ~2 years.
- yarou 10y ago
  Sounds like a wild ride (no pun intended).
- 01Michael10 10y ago
  Fuck a porn star? There are few things less appealing than fucking a porn star. Not without a ten foot pole anyway...
  - pyvpx 10y ago
    drug use is highly, highly frowned upon and performers are tested very, very regularly. porn stars are a safer bet than Tinder.
    - 01Michael10 10y ago
      Drugs are not prevalent in the porn industry? Are you kidding? I have never read a piece on a porn star where their drug use wasn't mentioned. How do you think most of them cope with their "career" and the "fame"? Yes, porn stars do get tested for STDs regularly which I believe is generally twice a month. What about the period in between tests? You don't know who they just fucked yesterday or earlier that day. You must realize for every porn star who has had a long career there are 50 who lasted a minute. There are reasons for that... Yes, many just can't hack it but drug use and STDs are high on the list. Porn stars are nasty... Period.
      - chris_wot 10y ago
        Not nasty - damaged.
      - kahrkunne 10y ago
        Depending on where in the country they are, porn stars are frequently tested twice a week, and able to provide a detailed history of who they had sex with, when.
cetak11 10y ago
Working for a porn company isn't much different from working at Facebook or Youtube. Your goal is to keep people jacked into their streams for as long as possible. To do that you basically take advantage of every human weakness ever documented. There are better things to do with your time and skills imho.
- jakebasile 10y ago
  Be careful not to fall off that high horse.
  - twwl 10y ago
    There's irony in this: Do you think not judging other people for X or Y makes you better than people who judge other people? :P
- imaginology 10y ago
  Well said. It's why I have no respect for people who work in the porn industry, however successful they may be.
bcheung 10y ago
I was a programmer and a photographer before I got involved with adult. My first real move into the adult industry was working at an agency in LA that represented porn stars. It was a small home based business and I lived with the owner and whatever models were staying from out of town as well. I answered phones, photographed the models, built the website, and created a custom CRM solution. The pay was absolute shit and was hard to get by but the perks were great. It was an amazing experience. I shot on set here and there but the money was unreliable. I did shoot once or twice a week at the agency doing portfolio shoots of all the girls. That was a lot of fun. I couldn't believe I was getting paid to do it. I had to eventually move into full time programming at various companies (pay wasn't good enough at agency) and they were completely separate from content production, they just bought it from someone else usually. The vast majority of programmers in the adult industry have no exposure to the production side. An agency or production company is where you need to be at. The really small production companies that have production and programming at the same office would get you exposure to it though. Everyone is completely open about porn and there's no hiding it. It's quite refreshing not having to worry about being PC about anything. There's porn on everyone's computer at work and nobody bats an eye. Surprisingly, there are about the same number of women in a porn tech office as there is in a typical Silicon Valley startup. The technology is really archaic though. FTP, PHP, Apache, really? It drove me nuts that I wasn't doing anything innovative and I eventually moved back to Silicon Valley. Would definitely recommend it if you ever get the opportunity though.
- csomar 10y ago
  >> The pay was absolute shit and was hard to get by but the perks were great. I wonder if you don't mind discolsing the perks? Just curious, not trolling.
  - bcheung 10y ago
    Living in a house full of porn stars with different girls cycling through each week, photographing them, and hanging out with them. Not something most nerds like me get the chance to experience.

cerrelio 10y ago

The only stigma I experienced was self generated. I wouldn't tell people where I worked for a while. However, after that period of shame, whenever I told someone I worked in porn, they had a positive attitude and dozens of questions. After moving to the Bay Area and going to several parties were Google/Facebook/Yahoo engineers were present, they would actually be very interested in what I did. Devs rarely hung out with the production staff. I almost never saw the talent. The production was done in warehouses several miles from where the back office work was done. However, the owners occasionally threw parties where the talent would show up. If you wanted to fuck a porn star you met at these parties, you could, if you were mostly discreet about it. Devs would also go to tech conferences (flying first class no less), but we never shared the nature of our business with people we met (at least I never did). Compensation was comparable/above average, perks were good (free membership at high-end gyms, fully paid health insurance), but bonuses were meager and there were essentially no equity possibilities. However, after 1.5 years working in the area of the country where I was, I had enough saved to put a down payment on a nice condo. I didn't, and I used that money to move to the Bay Area, where I had to start that process all over. And the Bay Area is definitely not a place where a developer can buy a condo after saving for ~2 years.

yarou 10y ago
Sounds like a wild ride (no pun intended).
01Michael10 10y ago
Fuck a porn star? There are few things less appealing than fucking a porn star. Not without a ten foot pole anyway...
- pyvpx 10y ago
  drug use is highly, highly frowned upon and performers are tested very, very regularly. porn stars are a safer bet than Tinder.
  - 01Michael10 10y ago
    Drugs are not prevalent in the porn industry? Are you kidding? I have never read a piece on a porn star where their drug use wasn't mentioned. How do you think most of them cope with their "career" and the "fame"? Yes, porn stars do get tested for STDs regularly which I believe is generally twice a month. What about the period in between tests? You don't know who they just fucked yesterday or earlier that day. You must realize for every porn star who has had a long career there are 50 who lasted a minute. There are reasons for that... Yes, many just can't hack it but drug use and STDs are high on the list. Porn stars are nasty... Period.
    - chris_wot 10y ago
      Not nasty - damaged.
    - kahrkunne 10y ago
      Depending on where in the country they are, porn stars are frequently tested twice a week, and able to provide a detailed history of who they had sex with, when.

cetak11 10y ago

Working for a porn company isn't much different from working at Facebook or Youtube. Your goal is to keep people jacked into their streams for as long as possible. To do that you basically take advantage of every human weakness ever documented. There are better things to do with your time and skills imho.

jakebasile 10y ago
Be careful not to fall off that high horse.
- twwl 10y ago
  There's irony in this: Do you think not judging other people for X or Y makes you better than people who judge other people? :P
imaginology 10y ago
Well said. It's why I have no respect for people who work in the porn industry, however successful they may be.

bcheung 10y ago

I was a programmer and a photographer before I got involved with adult. My first real move into the adult industry was working at an agency in LA that represented porn stars. It was a small home based business and I lived with the owner and whatever models were staying from out of town as well. I answered phones, photographed the models, built the website, and created a custom CRM solution. The pay was absolute shit and was hard to get by but the perks were great. It was an amazing experience. I shot on set here and there but the money was unreliable. I did shoot once or twice a week at the agency doing portfolio shoots of all the girls. That was a lot of fun. I couldn't believe I was getting paid to do it. I had to eventually move into full time programming at various companies (pay wasn't good enough at agency) and they were completely separate from content production, they just bought it from someone else usually. The vast majority of programmers in the adult industry have no exposure to the production side. An agency or production company is where you need to be at. The really small production companies that have production and programming at the same office would get you exposure to it though. Everyone is completely open about porn and there's no hiding it. It's quite refreshing not having to worry about being PC about anything. There's porn on everyone's computer at work and nobody bats an eye. Surprisingly, there are about the same number of women in a porn tech office as there is in a typical Silicon Valley startup. The technology is really archaic though. FTP, PHP, Apache, really? It drove me nuts that I wasn't doing anything innovative and I eventually moved back to Silicon Valley. Would definitely recommend it if you ever get the opportunity though.

csomar 10y ago
>> The pay was absolute shit and was hard to get by but the perks were great. I wonder if you don't mind discolsing the perks? Just curious, not trolling.
- bcheung 10y ago
  Living in a house full of porn stars with different girls cycling through each week, photographing them, and hanging out with them. Not something most nerds like me get the chance to experience.