4 ms·

Had to up xirium, he’s dead on. In this day those skill sets lend themselves too many opportunities, particularly those that offer great (current/future) payout

by oqtol 18y ago

Had to up xirium, he’s dead on. In this day those skill sets lend themselves too many opportunities, particularly those that offer great (current/future) payouts + benefits. The sheer cost of game development now lends to larger teams, less individualism... (note: I’m not a game developer, if I’m dead wrong on this matter please call me out)

xirium 18y ago
> those skill sets lend themselves too many opportunities If you're in the UK and you've got fair qualifications in maths, computing and physics then your choices are as follows: - Finance - 60,000 pounds per year. Insane hours. Very little job satisfaction. - Consulting - 50,000 pounds per year. Long hours. Moderate job satisfication. - Film post processing - 40,000 pounds per year. Long hours. See your own work at the cinema. - Application programmer - 30,000 pounds per year. - Teacher - One year training course, possibility of 40,000 pounds in five years if you can handle unruly kids. (Many don't make it.) - Games programmer - Insane hours. Project may require porting code or using a legacy engine. Awful third party libraries licensed to shorten development cycle. Pay depends on previous success. May require beginning as a game tester at minimum wage. - Startup Programmer - Theorectical average salary of 100,000 pounds per year. Large control of project specification. Good chance of recognition and job satisfaction. > game development now lends to larger teams, less individualism... In the summer of 1996, I got some work experience testing a game at Bullfrog. In 1996, Bullfrog games were taking between 20-22 man years to develop. As a lead programmer, the latter phase of the project would consist of 12-15 hour days of bug fixes and build failures. In the subsequent 12 years, I haven't had the inclination to apply for a job in the games industry.
- Tichy 18y ago
  Startup programmers really make that much? I thought only the established "big" industries can afford the really high wages (like banks, telco, insurance...).
  - ovi256 18y ago
    Yeah, that seems fishy to me too. Altough i can see an argument about how the high salary is needed to compensate for the lack of job stability.
  - xirium 18y ago
    Its a theorectical average salary. You've got a very large chance of earning nothing or almost nothing and a very small change of being a zillionaire. You get one or more attempts at getting a good outcome. The average outcome would be approximately 100,000 pounds.
    - Tichy 18y ago
      Any foundation for that statistic, or is it a wild guess?
- gaius 18y ago
  Your numbers for finance, consulting and application programming are far too low (in London at least). With C++ and experience of derivatives you could clear 6 figures + bonus on top of that. As a consultant/contractor, you could certainly get close to 6 figures (tho' with no benefits/bonus).

by oqtol 18y ago

xirium 18y ago

> those skill sets lend themselves too many opportunities If you're in the UK and you've got fair qualifications in maths, computing and physics then your choices are as follows: - Finance - 60,000 pounds per year. Insane hours. Very little job satisfaction. - Consulting - 50,000 pounds per year. Long hours. Moderate job satisfication. - Film post processing - 40,000 pounds per year. Long hours. See your own work at the cinema. - Application programmer - 30,000 pounds per year. - Teacher - One year training course, possibility of 40,000 pounds in five years if you can handle unruly kids. (Many don't make it.) - Games programmer - Insane hours. Project may require porting code or using a legacy engine. Awful third party libraries licensed to shorten development cycle. Pay depends on previous success. May require beginning as a game tester at minimum wage. - Startup Programmer - Theorectical average salary of 100,000 pounds per year. Large control of project specification. Good chance of recognition and job satisfaction. > game development now lends to larger teams, less individualism... In the summer of 1996, I got some work experience testing a game at Bullfrog. In 1996, Bullfrog games were taking between 20-22 man years to develop. As a lead programmer, the latter phase of the project would consist of 12-15 hour days of bug fixes and build failures. In the subsequent 12 years, I haven't had the inclination to apply for a job in the games industry.

Tichy 18y ago
Startup programmers really make that much? I thought only the established "big" industries can afford the really high wages (like banks, telco, insurance...).
- ovi256 18y ago
  Yeah, that seems fishy to me too. Altough i can see an argument about how the high salary is needed to compensate for the lack of job stability.
- xirium 18y ago
  Its a theorectical average salary. You've got a very large chance of earning nothing or almost nothing and a very small change of being a zillionaire. You get one or more attempts at getting a good outcome. The average outcome would be approximately 100,000 pounds.
  - Tichy 18y ago
    Any foundation for that statistic, or is it a wild guess?
gaius 18y ago
Your numbers for finance, consulting and application programming are far too low (in London at least). With C++ and experience of derivatives you could clear 6 figures + bonus on top of that. As a consultant/contractor, you could certainly get close to 6 figures (tho' with no benefits/bonus).