How do you deal with crunch time/overtime?

Boyani

Since, i am extremely interest to become character/environment artist in gaming industry. I want at least, honest replay from you guys/girls.

I have seen on many articles and blogs about overtime and crunch time in gaming industry. So, i am worried if i can't handle this crunch time.

What should i expect when this happen? How much upper management expect from people to stay at the office in crunch time or overtime?
Would i be fired if i leave,after i done my work when we are in "crunch time"? 

How long does you guys/girls stay at the office in normal or crunch time  hours? 

Should i feel like a slave when working in gaming industry?

Sorry about these stupid questions.I want to know what should i expect for this.

Justo

No, of course you shouldn't feel obliged to crunch like a "slave". At my office I see some guys do it, and in most cases it's no coincidence that they have an exceedingly mellow attitude to the point they can't stand up for themselves and say "I'm leaving".

It's not about never crunching or always doing it; it's about finishing your work in time, and if you feel like you're running short on time, maybe you should stay because that work won't get finished on its own. If it's cool, just leave. If your tasks have been assigned way too little mandays, something which you start learning about once you spend some time in the studio, then take it to your producer or HR and speak your mind. 

Some studios have a very toxic perception on crunches, some others don't. In the end, you always have the final say on whether your time is well spent in that place or not. 

Boyani

Justo said:

No, of course you shouldn't feel obliged to crunch like a "slave". At my office I see some guys do it, and in most cases it's no coincidence that they have an exceedingly mellow attitude to the point they can't stand up for themselves and say "I'm leaving".

It's not about never crunching or always doing it; it's about finishing your work in time, and if you feel like you're running short on time, maybe you should stay because that work won't get finished on its own. If it's cool, just leave. If your tasks have been assigned way too little mandays, something which you start learning about once you spend some time in the studio, then take it to your producer or HR and speak your mind. 

Some studios have a very toxic perception on crunches, some others don't. In the end, you always have the final say on whether your time is well spent in that place or not. 

How to find which studios have more friendly approach over crunch time? What do you recommend, that it worth it to work in some studios over other?

JordanN

Justo said:

It's not about never crunching or always doing it; it's about finishing your work in time, and if you feel like you're running short on time, maybe you should stay because that work won't get finished on its own. If it's cool, just leave. If your tasks have been assigned way too little mandays, something which you start learning about once you spend some time in the studio, then take it to your producer or HR and speak your mind. 

Out of curiosity, is it possible to be an artist who always finishes their work on time or works ahead of schedule?
This is not to put down other artists. I understand crunch, like a lot of other industries, have factors that can be outside of an employee's control. 

But if you are a person who does work at a fast pace, is crunch still obligatory or are you free to go home?

Justo

@Boyani if you have the luxury of being able to choose from many studios in your near vicinity, I'd try to get in contact with the artists and ask them personally how they feel about the workplace. Glassdoor is also an anonymous way of reading employees' opinions about a company. Also, if you get an interview, I believe it's good to take the opportunity to ask them about this. How they look at cruncing, what's their take on it, and maybe casually state your point of view too. Try to keep a polite and casual vibe to all this - you're supposed to be a pro, so act like it, but don't lose the friendliness. This is all important stuff both parties should talk about before making a contract!

@JordanN
Is it possible to always finish your work on time? Absolutely. Always work ahead of schedule? That'd be more difficult, I think. In my experience, sooner or later all companies will notice if you work faster than the rest and assign you a bigger workload. If they're paying you 7 daily hours of work for example, they don't want you to finish in 4 and go home. They're losing 3 hours after all.

I think it comes down to how do studios reward this kind of effort, because if they don't do it, artists will simply try to stay near the initial finish line. If you can work double and you'll win the same, why do it?

Now, that is where things start getting gray I think, because I know some people will say "Why do it? Because you'd be making more art, and that is rewarding in itself. It's about the personal enjoyment" I feel that too every now and then, and I'll choose on my own to stay and finish something extra, or help my coworker with his task so that we can both go home earlier. It's up to you and the workplace culture I think.  

Eric Chadwick

I help manage a team of 60 artists. Their work speeds vary greatly.

We try to schedule the work somewhat aggressively, so artists will stretch themselves to meet the goals. The goals are achieveable as long as people work smart. 

A lot of our artists are new, fresh out of school. So we do our best to educate, mentor them in professionalism and how to work smarter not harder.

Some of the artists crunch to meet their goals, even though we ask them not to. They work over weekends, or stay late.

It's understandable, they know they're being judged against their co-workers who with  a similar amount of experience are still able to achieve and go home at a decent hour (not crunch).

But we keep trying to spread the knowledge around the team to reduce this. Because we know people are going to get burnt out. 

On the other hand, we could just turn a blind eye, let people work long hours. After all, they're salaried, we're not paying them more to work those hours. And the work is getting done.

But this makes us in management uncomfortable. We know through experience that the enthusiasm they have will not last. We need to teach them how to meet goals in regular hours. Everyone needs "off" time to recharge their creative batteries.

Other companies I've worked for or with, have not felt this way. They've exploited their young work force. This happens surprisingly a lot in the games industry.

There's really no way to tell, except to ask carefully during your telephone and on-site interviews. Connect with their artists on LinkedIn, and ask them about working hours, are they happy and fulfilled in their jobs, what's their daily schedule like, etc.

Boyani

Justo said:

No, of course you shouldn't feel obliged to crunch like a "slave". At my office I see some guys do it, and in most cases it's no coincidence that they have an exceedingly mellow attitude to the point they can't stand up for themselves and say "I'm leaving".

It's not about never crunching or always doing it; it's about finishing your work in time, and if you feel like you're running short on time, maybe you should stay because that work won't get finished on its own. If it's cool, just leave. If your tasks have been assigned way too little mandays, something which you start learning about once you spend some time in the studio, then take it to your producer or HR and speak your mind. 

Some studios have a very toxic perception on crunches, some others don't. In the end, you always have the final say on whether your time is well spent in that place or not. 

Do you mean. just i can work smarted and quickly, and i finish my task on time or before deadline, and everything is fine. I have to stay more, and get more work, just do not go home early? I mean why? Is this because other people will think bad for me, or what? 

NikhilR

Boyani said:

Justo said:

No, of course you shouldn't feel obliged to crunch like a "slave". At my office I see some guys do it, and in most cases it's no coincidence that they have an exceedingly mellow attitude to the point they can't stand up for themselves and say "I'm leaving".

It's not about never crunching or always doing it; it's about finishing your work in time, and if you feel like you're running short on time, maybe you should stay because that work won't get finished on its own. If it's cool, just leave. If your tasks have been assigned way too little mandays, something which you start learning about once you spend some time in the studio, then take it to your producer or HR and speak your mind. 

Some studios have a very toxic perception on crunches, some others don't. In the end, you always have the final say on whether your time is well spent in that place or not. 

Do you mean. just i can work smarted and quickly, and i finish my task on time or before deadline, and everything is fine. I have to stay more, and get more work, just do not go home early? I mean why? Is this because other people will think bad for me, or what? 

Usually you have the option to go home whenever you want, most places are relatively flexible provided you do the task you've been given by the deadline.
During crunch, you are expected to stay back and finish your quota, however it isn't unusual for artists to take on more than their quota.
This overtime isn't always paid for, sometimes you are compensated with dinner.etc.
People will think good and bad for whatever reason. I wouldn't really care too much as long as you're clear about what you're doing.
Its not unusual for a bunch of developers to stick together in a company, even if one of them can basically do the work of the rest of them singlehanded. Everyone has different priorities and you'll see the impact of that depending on the overall age group of the workforce.

For instance in a company with many juniors who are in their early 20's, many of them aren't concerned about family obligations so it's likely that the lot will stay back and work to make curry favor with seniors and management or play videogames. Their career and making money is more priority.
For a company with more seniors who are settled, have SO's/families, they will likely try to minimize the cruch time, which because of their level of skill they can.
Or they can just pile all the crunch time work on the juniors most of whom are only too happy to take it on.

Justo

Boyani said:

Do you mean. just i can work smarted and quickly, and i finish my task on time or before deadline, and everything is fine. 

Normally, yeah. At least that's what you should expect from studios imo.

Boyani said:

I have to stay more, and get more work, just do not go home early? I mean why? Is this because other people will think bad for me, or what? 

That's what I was referring to toxic perceptions on crunching, yeah. Some idiots think that working more makes you be a better worker, be more productive, finish more tasks. When in many cases, this is detrimental in the long run, because artists are burning out and not being as focused as they'd be if they worked less time. You're just taking longer to do stuff you'd normally make if you were focused and had a good sleep and meal.

This is what Eric said above, who by the way knows about this way more than I. He's been an artist like me but also is now in management, so he knows the POV from both sides.