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People in the game deveopment industry


Shnappz

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Hey,

 

So i was wondering. Is a degree or above entirely necessary to enter the games development world? Watching that interview with OWA he mentioned he had a masters (nice work ;)).

 

Also how is the pay? I dont want specifics, i'm just wondering if it would be anything near what i'm on now...

 

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Croatia's first game dev school in Zagreb keeps telling people that it's not the degree that gets you into game development but what you can do and how you go about doing it. You have to have good projects behind you and keep improving your skills, so that you can show future employers what you're actually capable of. Seems understandable. Degrees are a bonus ofcourse, but I'll let people who are actually inside the industry speak, since I've only developed things as a hobby like many of you here.

Edited by AZ-Stalker
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I'm earning around £15k a year currently, but my position is quite low. I'd say that a degree isn't as essential as actual industry experience, because a lot of it is who you know, not what you know (although knowledge helps greatly!)

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Depends what you want to do and where you're aiming to do it.

 

I'm a programmer (£22.5k a year atm, graduated last year with 1st class honors) and unless you're a prodigy and have an absolutely amazing portfolio you need to have a degree. It's also not worth going past a Bachelors degree unless you just want to learn more or cover a bad Bachelors grade with a better masters grade, or you just want to stay at university for another year :p.

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Thanks for the advice guys...

 

I feel like you should get paid WAY more than that :\ You guys are creating great things and with the massive technical know how that's required, the pay should reflect that!!

 

Truthfully 15K-22K wouldn't even cover my mortgage payments... well it would but i wouldn't be left with much after. Don't take that the wrong way, i'm not taking the piss out of your wages as i would genuinely take a pay cut to do something that i love but Realistically i couldn't take a paycut of that magnitude!

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That's $34k btw. But I'm only on the bottom rung of the programming ladder and Ben's in QA at Creative Assembly right now.

 

It's about a 20%-30% paycut to work on games instead of software and software is easier to get into, so you either do it because you love it or you just don't do it.

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The are very few jobs out there that actually need a degree, if you can find a job that doesn't need a degree, once you have actual job experience they hardly ever look back at your college degree stuff, unless you don't have much job experience. With that being said, a degree is always helpful when getting jobs early on, as employers otherwise don't have anything professional to look at.

 

 

In general web design/game development pay less than software engineer/developer/programmer. It wasn't until I was almost done with my computer science degree that my school started to offer a game design program, but the first class out of there had issues finding jobs as at the time the game development industry was flooded with people looking for a job in game design in contrast I got several job offers before I actually graduated and pretty much went straight from college into my new job (comp science major).

 

Something to keep in mind, all my game designer friends have had to start as a QA Bitch, so if you really hate QA work you might have to find a different way to sneak in to the position (not saying that going in as an engine programmer won't have you being a QA bitch either mind you).

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Speaking as someone who has a 3D modeling career:

 

Education is great, but your portfolio is vastly more important. Use Polycount University (AKA go to Polycount and learn from others by posting work and improving it)

 

Who you know is far more important than what you know, but knowing the right people and having the right talents are an unstoppable combination for finding work

 

Develop contacts as much as you can - this feeds into knowing the right people.

 

As far as pay is concerned, some companies offer great benefits and some don't. The company I work for is one of the best I've ever seen in any field in terms of benefits. Pay is also very competitive. Entry level modelers should earn around ~$30,000 while more experienced people earn $40,000+. I'm in the latter category.

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That's $34k btw. But I'm only on the bottom rung of the programming ladder and Ben's in QA at Creative Assembly right now.

 

It's about a 20%-30% paycut to work on games instead of software and software is easier to get into, so you either do it because you love it or you just don't do it.

 

Yeah i'm from the UK :) so i'm working in GBP too.

 

 

AircraftKiller,

 

Thanks for the information, but even 40,000 USD would be too low to cover my bills etc...that's like 25K GBP

 

I make 45,000 GBP and i still dont live as comfortably as i like...

 

I live pretty close to London and the cost of living is ridiculous so it's all relative i suppose

Edited by Shnappz
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What happens where I go to school is that the Game Programming degree will really put your foot solidly in the door. We actually feed to a variety of studios, some cooler than others. Our Game Art degree is a little less great because that is a job that requires a strong portfolio. Being trained and having a degree helps, but ultimately your artwork is what gets your jobs. My school claims that the average salary for people with the programming degree is 70 000 USD which seems slightly unlikely to me having worked as QA and later on as Designer. That said, I got paid a decent amount for it being my first industry job and not being done with my degree yet.

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That's $34k btw. But I'm only on the bottom rung of the programming ladder and Ben's in QA at Creative Assembly right now.

 

It's about a 20%-30% paycut to work on games instead of software and software is easier to get into, so you either do it because you love it or you just don't do it.

 

Yeah i'm from the UK :) so i'm working in GBP too.

 

 

AircraftKiller,

 

Thanks for the information, but even 40,000 USD would be too low to cover my bills etc...that's like 25K GBP

 

I make 45,000 GBP and i still dont live as comfortably as i like...

 

I live pretty close to London and the cost of living is ridiculous so it's all relative i suppose

 

 

That's (your wage) near enough a senior artist/manager level wage in the industry, but I've heard that lead artists, producers and such make up to around £55k It takes a while to get there though!

 

To be honest, even though the pay may be low, the fact that my job is to play video games and find bugs makes it not feel like a job at all. :)

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Bioware environment artists start at about 65k here in Canada.. Leads can net about 85k

 

QA's start off @ like $13 an hour :) I should also mention being a QA is not all fun and games, repetitive work, paperwork, etc.. It's not so glamorous

Edited by Mauler
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That's $34k btw. But I'm only on the bottom rung of the programming ladder and Ben's in QA at Creative Assembly right now.

 

 

It's about a 20%-30% paycut to work on games instead of software and software is easier to get into, so you either do it because you love it or you just don't do it.

Yeah i'm from the UK :) so i'm working in GBP too.

 

 

AircraftKiller,

 

Thanks for the information, but even 40,000 USD would be too low to cover my bills etc...that's like 25K GBP

 

I make 45,000 GBP and i still dont live as comfortably as i like...

 

I live pretty close to London and the cost of living is ridiculous so it's all relative i suppose

 

 

That's (your wage) near enough a senior artist/manager level wage in the industry, but I've heard that lead artists, producers and such make up to around £55k It takes a while to get there though!

 

To be honest, even though the pay may be low, the fact that my job is to play video games and find bugs makes it not feel like a job at all. :)

Hey OWA,

 

I'm a manager in my field, I don't have much room for progression anymore. Like I said, I would take a paycut to do a job I potentially would love... Money isn't what drives me... I just don't feel like going into arrears, either that or I move back in with my mum :'(

Edited by Shnappz
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120k euros/year. I run my own game development company (mobile games)

Keyword RUN lol, keep in mind that starting a company costs money, and there is always a chance that people won't like what you make, thus meaning its a complete loss.

 

But yeah in general managers make far more money.

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120k euros/year. I run my own game development company (mobile games)

Keyword RUN lol, keep in mind that starting a company costs money, and there is always a chance that people won't like what you make, thus meaning its a complete loss.

 

But yeah in general managers make far more money.

 

 

Hehe. Having some fortune in bitcoin surely didn't hurt as it allowed me to hire some people full time. Most of my profit goes straight back into the company.

Crowdfunding is an option. But ofcourse is no gaurantee for success. Having a good idea, execution, virality and a bit of luck is what it comes down to.

 

My company is basically a hobby that grew out of proportions. I don't have any degree in game design whatsoever.

Edited by wolf
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Entry level modelers should earn around ~$30,000 while more experienced people earn $40,000+. I'm in the latter category.

FYI, $40,000 (£26,000) is our entry level salary for graduate programmers fresh from university where I work. I didn't realise quite how poorly paid people in the games industry were until I was talking with OWA last night in London...

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Hey Dan,

 

It doesn't make sense to me.

 

The game's industry is massive, and very profitable. The UK has always been at the forefront as well...

 

In my eyes, we should be paying our game devs decent money.

 

I guess it's because they know people will do it for less?

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I'm in backwards Norfolk but currently earn £26,250 as a Software Engineer. I went to university at an older age and only graduated last year but because I have Cern on my CV I had a load of job offers. I think one went up to £32,000 but that was at BAE in Guildford and was not enough to live as comfortably as I do as I would have had to move to that area.

It really depends on you though as I am well aware the programmers at Cern do not really get "what they are worth" but do it because they want to. They could earn 3/4x as much (in most cases in non-academic industry) but still get paid enough really. The main reason I chose not to go back is because I would have had to do a masters but I really hated my dissertation to the point of depression, it was by far the worst 9 months of my life and I don't want to go back to that. Even in my current situation I am above average for Norwich (I think) so I'm not really bothered.

 

Oh and for the record, if someone needs inspiration, I was a manager at McDonald's only 5 years ago.

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