No degree vs degree Salary
polycounter lvl 3
Hello, as I decided to take a year to self-taught instead of going into college, I was wandering what was the Salary difference between someone with no degree and an artist with a degree.
What actually decide how much you'll be paid for ? Only your degree or does the quality of your work also play a big role in it ?
Like will an EXCELLENT artist (like AAA level) "degreeless" earn less than an "OK" artist with a degree ?
Or is it all about skill and not about degree at all, as it seemingly is when it comes to simply getting a job ?
What actually decide how much you'll be paid for ? Only your degree or does the quality of your work also play a big role in it ?
Like will an EXCELLENT artist (like AAA level) "degreeless" earn less than an "OK" artist with a degree ?
Or is it all about skill and not about degree at all, as it seemingly is when it comes to simply getting a job ?
Replies
your salary will be determined by your experience level, quality of your portfolio as it drives how badly a studio will want to hire you, and your interview. they will most likely ask you how much you are looking for, so its good to have an idea of the average salary in your area for the position you are looking to get.
a junior in LA or vancouver will make more than a junior in montreal or somewhere with a lower cost of living etc. glassdoor can be a useful tool for finding out what the average salary is in your area.
the final factor would be leverage. if you are currently not working at another studio you have less leverage and most likely a company's initial offer will be lower on the range for that position. if you set yourself up to get multiple offers on the table and tell each studio you have 1-2 other offers, chances are you can negotiate a higher starting salary. don't lie about that though, chances are you will get found out.
I knew that the degree was a must in order to get working visa but I also actually though that without a visa I'll be paid way less than someone with the exact same skill level, as if it was a motive to treat me as a slave lol
I've looked for informations in my country with glassdoor but apparently there is not a lot of data so I'll directly ask here, according to you, what would be the best paying country for a character/environement modeler/animator ?
I am not asking you the absolute truth lol, just your feeling about it.
On the other hand you have a lot less rights as an employee and you don't get free healthcare so it may well balance out.
By the way, its not just free heathcare, it comes down to costs of living as well and so many other things. Its nearly impossible to compare without taking specific locations and the individual into account. For example, I've close family in Austria and Croatia, while working in Poland. Even working for the same company at a different location within the country would result several hundred km/miles in additional distance I would have to travel, making it even more troublesome/time-demanding to visit family and increase the costs of the trip. Also in the current city I'm working at I don't need public transportation as thanks to the size of it and my apartments location I can reach everything on foot, this would be different at the other studio in Poland. As you see its very individual where you can save money.
There can be also additional costs that you might not be aware of, like in Finland your unemployment benefits being extremely low compared to your salary IF you don't join a union for at least a year (something Fins often forget to tell you because its normal for them, but its unusual in other European countries to have such a disconnected system - someone I know went from € 6k down to € ~500,- with costs of living in Helsinki being well above 1k per person; by being part of the union she would have end up with ~ € 3-4k unemployment benefits for several months, like in many other EU countries).
In general to keep it simple: you can expect that the companies are well aware of the international competition and salaries adjust to it. You end up often with costs of living for specific location + roughly the same amount of additional income (be aware of currencies and their instabilities and costs) - prestige that the company has (unknown studios have a harder time to attract people than big names). So when you take what you earned and look at your own situation the results for it will vary a lot since the difference in pay once you remove the costs of living among the studios (of the same level) is probably not that huge.
And again, without a degree the choice isn't really up to you. If you need visa and it demands a degree we are usually talking about several years of work experience being the demanded, so a rookie or even mid level might not have the legal requirements to get the visa.