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How valid are statistics and reviews from GlassDoor? A pixar animator makes over 90k yearly???

Blond
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Blond polycounter lvl 9
https://www.glassdoor.ca/Salary/Pixar-Animation-Studios-Salaries-E5118.htm?countryRedirect=true

Ok, I know it's pretty high-earning animation studio but wow, this salary seems like a dream to me.

How credible are the reviews and salaries given on this site? SHould we use it as a tool to seek what studios we should not/apply to?


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  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    95k average for some of the best animators in the industry seems about right. Cost of living is pretty high out there, too. 
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  • Jerc
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    Jerc interpolator
    Pixar is located between Oakland and Berkeley where the average rent for a 1br apartment or a studio is ~$2500.
    90k is far from a dream salary in the bay area :(
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  • claydough
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    claydough polycounter lvl 10
    90k after considering taxes and cost of living for a family with more than 1 child and an eye to retirement savings?
    I think many sell themselves very short in an industry that relies on exceptionally talented creative minds.
    A Baltimore City Police sergeant makes 90k a year and does not have as much of a burden considering their pension.
    Anyone advanced in their craft should not feel that 90k is exceptional when mortgages refuse to reflect a return to realism along with many other costs.
    My parents house is worth almost 200,000 and was probably more desirable an area compared to it's modern overpopulated equivalent. It cost only 45k and the mortgage payment was a pithy $400 a month! You couldn't count on getting a depressing efficiency in Baltimore's most violent slums for that much as those dilapidated townhomes usually go for over $600. And property Tax and utilities might as well had been nonexistent compared to today.
    ( my winter monthly bill in my first apt at 18 in 1984 averaged between $14 to $20 dollars! )
    90k is absolutely awesome for a bachelor without a family or medical co payment burdens and aging parents who are looking to you for strength.
    But hey! I am sure Trump is going to make America great again and offer a $15 to $20 minimum wage for the lowliest of the cockroaches hoping to feel what dignity might taste like. :)
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  • PyrZern
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    PyrZern polycounter lvl 12
    90k feels.... pretty low considering ...
    - Pixar is already quite the top company... Not sure about the salary, but it's a well known company that wants the best and brightest.
    - Years of getting there. Rewards feel low compared to the grind.
    - Not to mention usually these jobs are in big cities = expensive to live.
    - Anything could still happen. (Life After Pi). Not saying Pixar is gonna go out, but you never know. 
    - Compared to other profession. Programmers could be making 6 figures. Feels sad to see a top animator at a top animation studio doesn't make 6 figures.
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  • slipsius
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    slipsius mod
    Im not sure how accurate it is, but Ive actually heard that Pixar is one of the lower paying animation companies. They are able to pay lower than average because they have the prestige that every animator wants to work for them.  How valid that all is, I dont know. But it's what I heard. 

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  • RyRyB
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    RyRyB polycounter lvl 18
    With any site like this, take it with a grain of salt. There's been a lot of generalizations thrown around so far and blanket observations are (unfairly, imo) being made.

    It's a great resource for quick-glance summaries but I wouldn't use it to write-off or ignore certain companies. Every employee has a unique set of parameters and thresholds especially when it comes to salary and compensation, so you have to take that into consideration. 
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  • VelvetElvis
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    VelvetElvis polycounter lvl 12
    Don't just look at the raw numbers. You need to look at cost of living for the area as a partial driving factor. It may seem like a lot, but your housing/rental costs are going to be through the stratosphere. Even at 90k a year, you'd still be looking at donating at most if not all of a full paycheck a month to your landlord.

    Yes, Pixar was one of the studios implicated in the "let's not compete so we don't have to pay employees more to keep them" news that broke a few years ago.

    http://www.cartoonbrew.com/artist-rights/ed-catmull-on-wage-fixing-i-dont-apologize-for-this-105855.html

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  • Jonas Ronnegard
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    Jonas Ronnegard polycount sponsor
    hm yeah doesn't sound like too much, most of the people I know that have moved out there get 6 figure salaries, so I would at least expect that from Pixar as well.
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  • thomasp
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    thomasp hero character
    like slipsius i've also consistently heard over the years that if money is your goal then other companies do offer more attractive pay. pixar might still be the better CV entry long term though. it's not a sprint... ;)

    then again, i think their golden days of the can-do-no-wrong-era are kind of gone.
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  • Isaiah Sherman
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    Isaiah Sherman polycounter lvl 14
    If you think 90k is a dream salary, you should see what most senior, lead, and management level positions make. $130-$180k a year is quite common.
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  • JacqueChoi
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    JacqueChoi polycounter
    $88k is what an average art lead makes industry wide. 
    http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/221533/Game_Developer_Salary_Survey_2014_The_results_are_in.php

    Exceptional ones make a lot more. I know several  who are well over $150k+ and worth every penny.


    $90k for a Pixar-Quality Feature Film Animator in the Bay Area seems criminally low. I know many being paid significantly more in lesser roles to do feature film in Montreal. (Half the cost of living).

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  • Super
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    Super polycounter lvl 18
    Ha ha yeah, infact I've never met a mid-level artist earning less than 80k so thats pretty damn awful.
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  • Meloncov
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    Meloncov greentooth
    slipsius said:
    Im not sure how accurate it is, but Ive actually heard that Pixar is one of the lower paying animation companies. They are able to pay lower than average because they have the prestige that every animator wants to work for them.  How valid that all is, I dont know. But it's what I heard. 

    Also because they offer excellent job security in comparison to most jobs in games or VFX.
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  • alekseypindrus
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    alekseypindrus polycounter lvl 10
    Pixar was (and maybe still is) wage-fixing, search for «Animation Workers Antitrust Litigation.»
    Also be aware that salary is not the only way to get something valuable («thanks» to tax brackets).

    People in big companies may get 90K + many benefits (401K, insurance, medical, etc).

    Also, for real numbers you can search for Croner's report that leaked when Sony was hacked.
    It has numbers for many companies, not only for Sony.

    Plus use H1B data:
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