[TRENCHES] Tuesday, May 12, 2015 - Insta-Slam

Geth

Insta-Slam
http://trenchescomic.com/comic/post/insta-slam

I coulda been a contender

Anonymous

I’m old, so old I played Pong when it first came out, David Braben is a contemporary, so is Peter Molyneux, I even became a Grandad recently. So yeah, I’m old! (Get off my lawn, ya damn kids!)

A couple of years back and after 10 years of trying (I’ve interviewed with the best… and the worst) I was finally offered a role as a Junior Programmer with a game company, the main problem was the massive pay cut—a whopping £10,000 drop. Much was made of the risk that THEY would be taking by giving me a shot at the big leagues although it seemed decidedly asymmetric to me. If things didn’t pan out they’d just slot in someone else from the endless queue of wannabes, me, I’d be back on the bread line. So, yes Mr Big-time Video Game Developer tell me more about these risks you speak of. Anyway, I was assured that after a year or so I’d be earning the big bucks but, hey, I know shit from shinola.

I had a mortgage and a wife with a serious shoe habit, this was a big decision and I asked for a week to deliberate, they duly agreed. So, I spent days agonizing over whether to take my dream job or stay a company drone. Then, on the final day, with what I can only describe as a truly shitty lack of decency, they withdrew their offer before I had a chance to respond. No prompting, no urging, no discussion. They must’ve been in one hell of a hurry.

I don’t regret the outcome and if their attitude was any indicator I probably dodged a bullet.

So now, by day I write database apps, and during my copious free-time I write games and whatever the hell else I like (when I can drag my old bones to a keyboard). I’ve pretty much given up the idea of working as a pro and I may never see my name listed in the credits of a AAA game, but I try to console myself with my 39 hour working week and decent pay packet. But if you can afford it or bear it, you go ahead and live the dream, my time has passed it seems.

Anyway, I don’t know what the takeaway here is (perhaps that it may be hard to break into games when you’re young but it just gets harder as you get older) and I’m not sure if this really qualifies at all as I only peered over the edge into the trenches and caught a whiff of the stench that lay within, but this is certainly cheaper than therapy.

RMS Oceanic

If the overall software industry is like the baby shower scene in Disney's Hercules, Game Development is Hades.

HerrCron

If things didn't pan out they’d just slot in someone else from the endless queue of wannabes

Yuuuuuuuuup.

*nods*
*sips beer*

Agilus

I really enjoyed this Tale from the Trenches, and thought it was well-written.

As an older software engineer (although not nearly grandpa level, yet), I relate, although I've never applied for a game dev job. Show me the money and the work-life balance over any glamorous game dev job and the crap that comes along with it.

I can play games and tinker with them in my spare time. Heck, making a Minecraft mod is low-effort, and the kids think it's awesome.

mRahmani

I'm not even an older software engineer (under 30), but I'm in the same boat. I concentrated on game development in college, did a bunch of projects, but ultimately ended up working in a more traditional software development career.

And you know what? I don't regret it. I make more money, I have more time off, and I can afford to spend time with my wife and kid. At this point, that's worth more to me than working on the next AAA title.

forty

Geth wrote: »

but I try to console myself with my 39 hour working week and decent pay packet.

39 hour work week? Is that a UK thing or something?

BahamutEos

I guess there isn't going to be a second comic this week?

Ameter

I'm not in the gaming side of software, but I am a software development manager. And I can actually support the manager's claims about 'taking a risk' on him. The costs to ramp a person up are quite significant. In addition to paying the person for their time while they aren't producing at a full rate, you're also losing the productivity of the developer who's training them.

Worse yet, if they make mistakes and introduce bugs, that's even more time (resources) spent tracking those bugs down, fixing them and then confirming they're fixed. And, of course, if they didn't work out then you have to start this process all over again, but you've lost the time someone else could have spent working and ramping up.

So taking a risk on a person is far more than the wages you pay them if they don't work out.

I'm not convinced that paying a person less than they're worth makes sense when it comes to taking the risk, however. The wages paid are the least of the costs if someone isn't a fit, and all you're going to do is piss them off and encourage them to leave if they do happen to work out.

In any event, something to consider.

Ameter

P.S. We don't really track hours since everyone is salaried, but everyone's expected to work roughly a 40 hour work week. Some weeks more, some weeks less, depending on what needs to get done. Even when it comes down to time to cut our next release, this doesn't change - although it's possible I'd need to decline someone's PTO request if things were really tight.

I consider it a failure of management if I ever have to ask someone to work overtime. It's happened once, and I gave the devs an extra day off a few weeks later to compensate them for the time - as well as a small bonus.