>>SWE at a game studio, especially any AAA game studio, is an awful experience. Just as a counter point - I work at one of the largest AAA game companies and w

>>SWE at a game studio, especially any AAA game studio, is an awful experience. Just as a counter point - I work at one of the largest AAA game companies and we have great work life balance(been here 9 years). Don't remember when was the last time I worked more than the required 7.5h/day, never worked on the weekend, the people I work with are all passionate about their work and want to deliver something great. The pay is "ok" - it's not exceptional but it allows for good quality of life. In comparison all my friends who went to work in traditional software development are paid somewhat more than I am but they all 100% hate their jobs, so......I don't think it's a bad trade off. As for the infinite supply of people wanting to do this - it's only really true at junior level, as soon as you talk anyone above junior it's extremely hard to recruit and you might be getting a handful of candidates a year. We've been trying to hire a senior rendering programmer for over a year now and we've had like 5 candidates total.