4 ms·

Ask HN: Why does web programming pay more than embedded and game programming?

• ZenoArrow 12y ago
  If I were to take a guess, I'd say the quality of the output is more visible to those who are paying. Also, there may be a high level of supply generally, but quality developers are not the easiest to find. Game programming is a special case in that you have to have a ridiculous level of programming skill but the mainstream developers are run like sweatshops (by many accounts), meaning that staff burnout and turnover are both high. It only works because there's a high number of youthful newbies who's dream job is making games, therefore giving a high level of supply despite the working conditions imposed. Embedded programming also requires a decent level of skill, but it's not seen as glamourous.
• georgemcbay 12y ago
  In both my own experience and according to indeed.com (though I don't know how reliable their data is) embedded pays more on average than web development, nationally. Game developers do get short changed often relative to how technical and time-demanding their jobs are, but that is primarily because it is a "glamour" field that lots of young people want to get into and the industry has evolved into a churn factory to accommodate them (for a short time).
• S4M 12y ago
  I don't know about Embedded, but if you want to make money by doing Game programming, I strongly suggest to work on your own - and possibly team up with a graphic designer.
  • aprdm 12y ago
    Like an indie dev at apple/google shops? There seems to be way too many, looks like a lotery for me
• kjksf 12y ago
  Because salary is rarely about how difficult a job is. In this particular case, there are 2 factors at play: 1. supply of programmers vs. demand for programmers 2. rich companies can pay more than poor companies The second explains why a web programmer at Facebook or Google or Twitter makes more than almost any kind of programmer at almost any other company. Embedded programming, on average, doesn't pay well because embedded programmers usually work for hardware companies that have much lower margins and culturally don't necessarily value programmers as much as hardware people. Or to put it another way: there are much more rich pure software web companies than hardware-software companies that typically employ embedded programmers. However, I wouldn't generalize it to all web programmers. Web programming is a dominant in our industry so while there are plenty of rich companies that employ web programmers, there are even more not-so-rich companies that also employ web programmers so maybe you have selection bias (i.e. you only look at high salaries for web programmers (which exist) while ignoring even bigger number of low salaries for web programmers). Supply vs. demand explains relatively low wages for game programmers. Almost all programmers are also gamers and many glamorize game development, seeing it as more attractive than other kinds of programming which makes it possible for game companies to hire people for less than other kinds of software companies. To re-iterate: it has nothing to do with how hard a job is. To understand business, look at market forces.
• bushido 12y ago
  Answer pertaining to Web Consultants, Web Programmers (freelance and agency) etc. Short answer: Higher Perceived Value. Long Answer: It is easier for most people to understand the value added by web programmers. Most businesses that hire web programmers/agencies measure the outcome as either a) new revenue generated or b) savings from more efficient processes. There is another possibility that plays out in conjunction with this - i.e. Marketing. In general I have seen web programmers to be a tad better at marketing, both personal and professional.
• fredophile 12y ago
  Does web programming pay more than embedded or game programming? The salaries that glassdoor shows for web developers don't seem exceptionally high to me. What data are you using?
• percept 12y ago
  B2B versus B2C (follow the money). Games are cheap consumables, and with phones and other consumer devices, for example, you even have a cottage industry based around ripping devices apart and itemizing costs down to the pennies, analyzing how much companies are profiting from each sale, etc. (And I'd guess that commercial devices are more profitable, but a much smaller hiring market.) Business customers--for the most part--just sign on the dotted line for products and services. There are of course consumer-focused Web companies, but I'd suggest that venture capital (necessarily) covers salaries for most of these.
• nanoscopic 12y ago
  The easiest way to make money is to find a business need and provide a solution. Games, first of all, are not a business need. They are entertainment. Except at high scale, entertainment typically does not make a lot of money. Embedded development is a specialized field. It does make a lot of money, but only if one is highly skilled so as to do applicable low level dev. I wouldn't say it pays lowly; simply that it is hard to get into it truly at all, so many of those who are "in" embedded dev just say that to make the stuff they do sound cooler. Web programming, also, does not necessarily pay more than anything. "Web Programming" is a very generic term. It is easy to setup a website that has no dynamic nature, that has poor layout, and cannot be properly updated by large groups of people under different permissioning rules. Doing all of those things is no small task. Web programming, at the level that people tend to get paid well for, can be very complex when considering the full stack of components and interdisciplinary skills involved. Basically, you are comparing very generic job descriptions that don't take into account the years of experience that are necessary to accomplish things. There is not a high demand for "kernel and hardware engineers". Why? Because the few that we have are quite sufficient. Hardware and low level software engineering is a somewhat working area. In comparison, the higher layers of software development are horribly incomplete and constantly changing.