3 ms·

afaik, the game industry is kind of an oddity. I don't fully understand it, but from what I hear, game devs are overworked and underpaid.

giggles_giggles 8y ago
I've heard a number of horror stories about the game dev industry that would be unheard of in the larger tech community. I've always thought this was because there was a less restricted labor supply among game developers. I knew a LOT of guys in University who got into CS because they "wanted to make games." That increases competition for the available positions, which creates unfavorable conditions for the labor pool and an easily exploitable market for employers who know there's always another eager kid lining up to "make games."
- tenaciousDaniel 8y ago
  Yep. Weird that it doesn't restrict the labor pool though. I would love to work in games. But I'm not putting in 80 hour weeks for 75K a year. No thank you.
- NorthOf33rd 8y ago
  And this is almost certainly coming to the rest of the industry- there is currently another front page article about the difficulty of getting into classes/programs because they are so full. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18987996 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18987996
  - tenaciousDaniel 8y ago
    It definitely hasn't hit the industry yet. I've been trying to recruit mid-level to senior devs throughout the last year - in NYC of all places - and I've had very little luck. We have an amazing in-house recruiter and nearly everyone is thoroughly unqualified. Although, we just took on an intern who absolutely kicks ass, and runs circles around people who've been doing it for 10 years. That kid makes me nervous lol.
gh02t 8y ago
> I don't fully understand it It's at least partially because it's so many programmers' "dream job." So many people get into programming because of their interest in games, then take jobs in the industry. They then are willing to tolerate/justify worse working conditions because they are doing something they are passionate about and the company culture has evolved to exploit that.
benjohnson 8y ago
I'm generally anti-union, but the game developers are treated so poorly that I completely understand. Theory: Because people like developing games, the industry has gotten used to overworking workers and replacing them with fresh meat once they burn out. There's more than enough replacements eager to work on games.
deleted 8y ago
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giggles_giggles 8y ago

I've heard a number of horror stories about the game dev industry that would be unheard of in the larger tech community. I've always thought this was because there was a less restricted labor supply among game developers. I knew a LOT of guys in University who got into CS because they "wanted to make games." That increases competition for the available positions, which creates unfavorable conditions for the labor pool and an easily exploitable market for employers who know there's always another eager kid lining up to "make games."

tenaciousDaniel 8y ago
Yep. Weird that it doesn't restrict the labor pool though. I would love to work in games. But I'm not putting in 80 hour weeks for 75K a year. No thank you.
NorthOf33rd 8y ago
And this is almost certainly coming to the rest of the industry- there is currently another front page article about the difficulty of getting into classes/programs because they are so full. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18987996 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18987996
- tenaciousDaniel 8y ago
  It definitely hasn't hit the industry yet. I've been trying to recruit mid-level to senior devs throughout the last year - in NYC of all places - and I've had very little luck. We have an amazing in-house recruiter and nearly everyone is thoroughly unqualified. Although, we just took on an intern who absolutely kicks ass, and runs circles around people who've been doing it for 10 years. That kid makes me nervous lol.

gh02t 8y ago

> I don't fully understand it It's at least partially because it's so many programmers' "dream job." So many people get into programming because of their interest in games, then take jobs in the industry. They then are willing to tolerate/justify worse working conditions because they are doing something they are passionate about and the company culture has evolved to exploit that.

benjohnson 8y ago

I'm generally anti-union, but the game developers are treated so poorly that I completely understand. Theory: Because people like developing games, the industry has gotten used to overworking workers and replacing them with fresh meat once they burn out. There's more than enough replacements eager to work on games.

deleted 8y ago

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