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Game Developer Salaries From H1-B Data

21 points by JabavuAdams 18y ago

JabavuAdams 18y ago
These look high, from my perspective in Toronto, Canada. That said, I've only worked at smaller studios. The two large studios near Toronto, Rockstar, and Koei are famously secretive. My experience in Toronto has been that at most companies you take a salary hit versus non-game-programming, because of the sexiness of the field, and the small industry here.
- jrbedard 18y ago
  From my experience, these salaries are also 15-25% higher than what you get in most Montreal game studios for entry level engineer positions.
jrbedard 18y ago
It's quite surprising that they are making that salary table public. I can name 2 people that I know on HB-1 from that table just by looking up the company name and job title.
- zach 18y ago
  No doubt, I can as well; quite unexpected that this is public in such a format. Presumably there is also a country of origin in this data -- that would also be interesting to tabulate averages from.
jrockway 18y ago
Wouldn't H1-B salaries be lower than non-H1-B salaries? I thought companies liked H1-Bs since the employees don't ask for as much money. (Plus, they have the "if you dont like this job, you go back to your home country" leverage, which probably makes the H1-Bs not ask for more money.)
- mariorz 18y ago
  I would think companies like H1-Bs because it allows a bigger talent pool to choose from, not because they can exploit foreign workers more easily.
  - artaak 18y ago
    Talent and leverage goes side by side in H1-Bs. The same applies sometimes to the foreign students pursuing PhD in US. If the advisor does not like something he does not mind to use the leverage"if you do not like it - go back to your country".
- sachinag 18y ago
  Well, this is actually an indication that the law is working as intended for this industry - the employer can't find a permanent resident for this technical position at market rates, so is sponsoring someone from overseas to meet that need.
- helveticaman 18y ago
  I've read the H1-B discount is 20% off the regular salary.
  - mariorz 18y ago
    linkage?
    - deleted 18y ago
      [deleted]
    - helveticaman 18y ago
      http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=143052 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=143052 3 points by aristus: "My wife's took 5 months, but then she married a local. :) But before that was a three-year tragicomedy with all the problems you bring up, plus another nasty one: the 'visa discount'. Large employers love to cut your salary by 15-20% if they can get away with it. What are you going to do? Quit?"
deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
anamax 18y ago
All of the games would go away if the govt auctioned H1-B visas. Then the only question is whether they'd be owned/rented by companies or by individuals. As to choosing the number to be auctioned, we could either pick a number or stop issuing visas as soon as "enough" money has been raised. (Yes, you'd set things up so the first visa didn't cost a lot more than the last one.)

21 points by JabavuAdams 18y ago

These look high, from my perspective in Toronto, Canada. That said, I've only worked at smaller studios. The two large studios near Toronto, Rockstar, and Koei are famously secretive. My experience in Toronto has been that at most companies you take a salary hit versus non-game-programming, because of the sexiness of the field, and the small industry here.

jrbedard 18y ago
From my experience, these salaries are also 15-25% higher than what you get in most Montreal game studios for entry level engineer positions.

jrbedard 18y ago

It's quite surprising that they are making that salary table public. I can name 2 people that I know on HB-1 from that table just by looking up the company name and job title.

zach 18y ago
No doubt, I can as well; quite unexpected that this is public in such a format. Presumably there is also a country of origin in this data -- that would also be interesting to tabulate averages from.

jrockway 18y ago

Wouldn't H1-B salaries be lower than non-H1-B salaries? I thought companies liked H1-Bs since the employees don't ask for as much money. (Plus, they have the "if you dont like this job, you go back to your home country" leverage, which probably makes the H1-Bs not ask for more money.)

mariorz 18y ago
I would think companies like H1-Bs because it allows a bigger talent pool to choose from, not because they can exploit foreign workers more easily.
- artaak 18y ago
  Talent and leverage goes side by side in H1-Bs. The same applies sometimes to the foreign students pursuing PhD in US. If the advisor does not like something he does not mind to use the leverage"if you do not like it - go back to your country".
sachinag 18y ago
Well, this is actually an indication that the law is working as intended for this industry - the employer can't find a permanent resident for this technical position at market rates, so is sponsoring someone from overseas to meet that need.
helveticaman 18y ago
I've read the H1-B discount is 20% off the regular salary.
- mariorz 18y ago
  linkage?
  - deleted 18y ago
    [deleted]
  - helveticaman 18y ago
    http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=143052 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=143052 3 points by aristus: "My wife's took 5 months, but then she married a local. :) But before that was a three-year tragicomedy with all the problems you bring up, plus another nasty one: the 'visa discount'. Large employers love to cut your salary by 15-20% if they can get away with it. What are you going to do? Quit?"

deleted 18y ago

[deleted]

anamax 18y ago

All of the games would go away if the govt auctioned H1-B visas. Then the only question is whether they'd be owned/rented by companies or by individuals. As to choosing the number to be auctioned, we could either pick a number or stop issuing visas as soon as "enough" money has been raised. (Yes, you'd set things up so the first visa didn't cost a lot more than the last one.)