Video Game Industry Salary Survery

So basically I can earn more than I do now by just doing QA testing for games. Sad. Then again, I think it was Tarryn that wrote an article on how crappy it is being a game-tester. I wouldn't want to spoil my hobby by making it my job.
 
Neo said:
So basically I can earn more than I do now by just doing QA testing for games. Sad. Then again, I think it was Tarryn that wrote an article on how crappy it is being a game-tester. I wouldn't want to spoil my hobby by making it my job.
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Yea, technically. But as I mentioned in the article, comparing your salary to those is not helpful. I think the average salary in the US is around $35,000 per year.
 
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Plus I think they have a much higher cost of living. But then again, that cost of living is then paying for a 1st World country style of living, which is better than ours, even though some people refuse to believe that.
 
Neo said:
Plus I think they have a much higher cost of living. But then again, that cost of living is then paying for a 1st World country style of living, which is better than ours, even though some people refuse to believe that.
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Yes, I meant to add that their cost of living is a lot higher. Still, the average US worker does have more expendable income than we do, but thats just because of the scale of their economy. Things like games/consoles/PC hardware are a lot cheaper relative to their salaries.

What I do find interesting about the survey, are the relations between different proffesions within the industry.
 
It looks like they're pretty much the same as countries like Australia where they proudly announce that they have a very wide "middle-class" band. The jumps in salary brackets are not that massive between positions like we have in the IT industry here in SA. So instead of having a few extremely high paying jobs and then another huge number of jobs paying almost nothing, they have a model where most jobs earn a decent amount.

I would love to see something like that in South Africa one day, but I don't think that will be the case in my lifetime. Not with the way things are going here with corruption and people riding the gravy train every day.

p.s If you find out why I'm having a mature and intellectual conversation, would you please kill it on sight? Thanks! :D
 
A mate of mine has had to work support for business software and if it is even half as soul deadening it's no wonder why there are so many inexperienced salaries that bring the average down.
 
I certainly did want to know what they earn.

Well I honestly wouldn't mind moving my programming career into a game programming career. In fact, something I have been wanting to do for a long time. But I am not really willing to move back to the US - and as far as I know there are no real game development companies in SA.
 
Well IT work in general is a high paying career line.

I mean, I'm getting into webdesign myself and I've allready got 2 offers each for R10 000 and I can finish both those within a few weeks. thats R20K in a month. Thats more than what my Dad makes and he's been a consultant for close to 30 years now.
 
There are quite a few development companies in Europe/UK mcryan. I knew someone who worked for Codemasters in the UK. I feel it's an excellent area to go into if you don't mind them owning your soul. Videogames are only going to grow in the foreseeable future.
 
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