I would assume it's to give others an idea as to how much an artist in the video game industry makes. There have been a lot of threads similar to this one in the past, so I think this one could answer a lot of people's questions.
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I would assume it's to give others an idea as to how much an artist in the video game industry makes. There have been a lot of threads similar to this one in the past, so I think this one could answer a lot of people's questions.
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this is why we have anonymous survey results to look up. if you're curious about industry norms, you should look there.
Xeno, is that chart for artists in general or game artists? Cause if it's artists in general then I make wwaaaaayyyyyyy under the average for an artist with 6+ years of experience. This thread depresses me.
I would STRONGLY advise anyone against posting their salary in here. Perceived injustices about salary differences can be a HUGE issue in the workplace, and in many companies you're actually breaking your contract in doing so. At EA disclosing your salary to a colleague could mean grounds for instant dismissal.
I wasn't making anywhere near that 'average' for one. Despite having 6+years of experience, and having been lead environment artist. I make enough to pay my bills and have the occasional weekend trip :P
well i thought I was paid really well until i looked at how much f***king slealth taxes I am paying to mr gordon brown. I may as well just hand him my salary in a big shitting weel barrow.
One thing I would say when staring a new job, negotiate hard, beacause its the one chance you have to get a decent wage.
Its difficult six months down the line to say 'ohh by the way, I should be earning 6 grand more because my mate at x company said I should be getting similar to him.
Why is that so hard to believe? At most places there aren't standard rates like working in a supermarket. It's all up for negotiation. Along with experience, your salary can include any number of random contributing factors like your reputation, what company you worked at before, what you earned before, your powers of negotiation, how bad the new company wants you, who at the new company is hiring you, all sorts of things.
If it came out that you were making significantly more than the bloke that sits next to you doing 'the same' job, all hell would break loose and Ive seen it happen. Salaries are never 'fair', and companies know that. It makes perfect sense not to shout about what you earn.
Why is that so hard to believe? At most places there aren't standard rates like working in a supermarket. It's all up for negotiation. Along with experience, your salary can include any number of random contributing factors like your reputation, what company you worked at before, what you earned before, your powers of negotiation, how bad the new company wants you, who at the new company is hiring you, all sorts of things.
If it came out that you were making significantly more than the bloke that sits next to you doing 'the same' job, all hell would break loose and Ive seen it happen. Salaries are never 'fair', and companies know that. It makes perfect sense not to shout about what you earn.
I can second Daz's advice. I learned fellow employees' salaries once by accident, and was amazed what some were making, and I was actually dismayed by it.
It really did affect how I thought my employers valued me vs. others, even though I _knew_ salary isn't really the same as value. The emotional overpowered the rational. It's better to keep that knowledge need-to-know, at least on the local level.
yeah its scary how many things affect money in the game industry and even not in the industry. i rember working in a non game related field years ago, and a co worker who had been working there 2 ears before me saw some paperwork and found out i made a good bit more than him. it turns out he had never in his life asked for a raise,, just took the ocasinal bump ups and never said anything. its my opinion that no one will ever just offer to pay a penny more than you are willing to work for. if you want a substantial raise i suggest the meeting with your boss and let them know that you want more, and feel you are worth more. be tactfull and truthfull,, never try and squeeze out more than you HONESTLY think you are worth.
I second what Daz said, it does and will cause issues. It is very interesting though how some people will get more than others even if they are doing substantially less work.
I'm pretty much on starter pay... It's my first 6 months in the industry so I'm not expecting anything great. Interested to see what happens with my next review.
But I earn enough to buy your mum, your sister and her friend dinner... Yeah, if we all went to McDonalds!
Well here goes! I earn a whopping 3200pound a year, oh actually I dont earn that its my student loan but thats what I have to live off...with the odd groveling to the parents and hoping for the best
Well I am currently earning a massive $ 0.00 I was receiving my Veterans Benefits (GI Bill) up until December but that only lasts for 36 months. I graduate in just under 3 weeks. I've had some interviews and hopefully come mid march I'll be making a good amount more. If not then I'll be the guy around Southern California that is holding up a sign that says "Will Model / Texture for food."
I've seen two references to a regional salary comparison on the salary related threads. Does anybody have the link to it? I tried google but I don't think I'm using the right search terms. All I was able to pull up (for free) was the GDmag one http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/266/are_you_in_demand_2006_game_.php
Anyhow, I have the huge number crunching task of figuring out if salary vs cost of living in certain cities is going to work for our family of 4. I know lots of you gents are single and can afford to live a college lifestyle and hence you can make it work on $35-$45k... but after looking at some mortgage calculators, this is would be totally unrealistic to buy a condo in the san jose area.
Anyhow, just was hoping someone could point me in the right direction on typical regional salary - not asking for personal figures. If we can't make the puzzle pieces fit with this area and the salary negotiations stay in the $35-$45k range then we're gonna have to turn it down.
mrsincredible, I'm not an expert on the subject, but the graph that shows various salaries only shows the average. Living in San Jose, you might be able to expect more, as the cost of living may be higher in your particular area.
There are a number of other factors that come into play when figuring out salaries. The skill of the artist can often far outweigh their number of years in the industry as far as many employers are concerned. It also depends on who is employing you. If you're working at a small start-up studio, then you should expect less. If you just got a job at Microsoft Game Studios, Epic Games, Rockstar Studios, or any of the other "big" employers, you can expect to get paid a lot more.
I apologize if I'm stating the obvious, but these are things that many people overlook when they first go job hunting. I'm not aware of your particular situation, so some things might be different, but I believe you could use these guidelines as a general rule of thumb. I hope this helps. Good luck.
For salary info by zipcode, try one of the calculators. http://content.monster.com/salarybenefits/home.aspx
I think Internet/New Media is probably our closest neighbor in terms of typical compensation. Just be sure to "no thanks" the registration page... social security #? come on!
It's also important to remember that while salaries may be adjusted by where the employer is located ... it's not going to be significantly higher or lower (on average). $40K in Dallas or Austin goes a heck of a lot further than $40K in San Jose, SF, or Los Angeles.
To second what Paul said, I actually received an offer for a company in the San Diego area the same day I received my offer from Gearbox. The salary offer for the one in San Diego was $15k more a year, but when you factor in the cost of living in the San Diego area vs the Dallas area the Gearbox offer was actually the better one.
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To second what Paul said, I actually received an offer for a company in the San Diego area the same day I received my offer from Gearbox. The salary offer for the one in San Diego was $15k more a year, but when you factor in the cost of living in the San Diego area vs the Dallas area the Gearbox offer was actually the better one.
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Yeah I live in San Diego and the cost of living is insane. You will never buy a house around here making 45k a year and you would be lucky to buy if you made 75k. Rent on average for a 2 bedroom in a decent area is 1150-1400 easy.
Downtown Vancouver rent for a 1 bedroom 700sq ft. is $1500 CDN. Converted to USD thats $1,286. I'm quite surprised to see that San Diego isn't much worse than us up here.
Luckily its my girl and I so living here ain't such a hard thing to do.
Which is only a little over $1100 US. Is there a specific way to calculate cost of living? I'd be interested to see how we really stack up against the US when everythings averaged out.
And do remember that some places are just cheapskates. A few years ago when looking for work, I turned down an interview for a more senior position than the one that I'd just lost. The cost of living was much higher there (Leamington Spa), and they were offering a senior artist position at £1,000 (about $2000) less than I earned as an artist in a place that was more expensive to live in.
Also you'll need to factor in extras - another place I went for an interview at around the same time (in roughly the same area as above) were offering me more money than I had been earning, still just as an artist. However, despite this being a successful company, they offered no bonuses, no healthcare, no training, etc. They also confided that there was little chance for development, rising within the company, and that pay increases were pretty much locked to the ROI.
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Which is only a little over $1100 US. Is there a specific way to calculate cost of living? I'd be interested to see how we really stack up against the US when everythings averaged out.
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This might, or might not, be of any use to anyone but I found it while googling. It's a salary comparison, with currency conversion, for Japan, the UK and the US. Sorry, no comparison for the ozzies.
Replies
- Forever
- £40-50 billion per second
...What is the purpose of this?
I would assume it's to give others an idea as to how much an artist in the video game industry makes. There have been a lot of threads similar to this one in the past, so I think this one could answer a lot of people's questions.
[/ QUOTE ]
this is why we have anonymous survey results to look up. if you're curious about industry norms, you should look there.
a thread like this is really just about bragging.
edit: congrats on the promotion mop!
Check out the Gamasutra article, was thinking it'd be a neat reference post but Daz brought up a point I hadn't considered.
@Xonobond - is that the latest survety results? last i saw, less than 3 yrs was ~$35,000 or something
Do a search for salary, much has been shared in this dept.
<ul type="square">[*]how's the salary for artists??
[*]A quick salary question
[*]How much should I be earning - Rsartwiki
[*]Starting pay for entry level jobs in the industry?[/list]
etc.
One thing I would say when staring a new job, negotiate hard, beacause its the one chance you have to get a decent wage.
Its difficult six months down the line to say 'ohh by the way, I should be earning 6 grand more because my mate at x company said I should be getting similar to him.
Enough to buy your mother dinner.
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as far as pay, i'm doing pretty decent acording to that chart
@daz - woah seriously?!
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Why is that so hard to believe? At most places there aren't standard rates like working in a supermarket. It's all up for negotiation. Along with experience, your salary can include any number of random contributing factors like your reputation, what company you worked at before, what you earned before, your powers of negotiation, how bad the new company wants you, who at the new company is hiring you, all sorts of things.
If it came out that you were making significantly more than the bloke that sits next to you doing 'the same' job, all hell would break loose and Ive seen it happen. Salaries are never 'fair', and companies know that. It makes perfect sense not to shout about what you earn.
[ QUOTE ]
@daz - woah seriously?!
[/ QUOTE ]
Why is that so hard to believe? At most places there aren't standard rates like working in a supermarket. It's all up for negotiation. Along with experience, your salary can include any number of random contributing factors like your reputation, what company you worked at before, what you earned before, your powers of negotiation, how bad the new company wants you, who at the new company is hiring you, all sorts of things.
If it came out that you were making significantly more than the bloke that sits next to you doing 'the same' job, all hell would break loose and Ive seen it happen. Salaries are never 'fair', and companies know that. It makes perfect sense not to shout about what you earn.
[/ QUOTE ]
Plus it's just not in good taste, really.
It really did affect how I thought my employers valued me vs. others, even though I _knew_ salary isn't really the same as value. The emotional overpowered the rational. It's better to keep that knowledge need-to-know, at least on the local level.
I'm pretty much on starter pay... It's my first 6 months in the industry so I'm not expecting anything great. Interested to see what happens with my next review.
But I earn enough to buy your mum, your sister and her friend dinner... Yeah, if we all went to McDonalds!
-caseyjones
http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/266/are_you_in_demand_2006_game_.php
Anyhow, I have the huge number crunching task of figuring out if salary vs cost of living in certain cities is going to work for our family of 4. I know lots of you gents are single and can afford to live a college lifestyle and hence you can make it work on $35-$45k... but after looking at some mortgage calculators, this is would be totally unrealistic to buy a condo in the san jose area.
Anyhow, just was hoping someone could point me in the right direction on typical regional salary - not asking for personal figures. If we can't make the puzzle pieces fit with this area and the salary negotiations stay in the $35-$45k range then we're gonna have to turn it down.
There are a number of other factors that come into play when figuring out salaries. The skill of the artist can often far outweigh their number of years in the industry as far as many employers are concerned. It also depends on who is employing you. If you're working at a small start-up studio, then you should expect less. If you just got a job at Microsoft Game Studios, Epic Games, Rockstar Studios, or any of the other "big" employers, you can expect to get paid a lot more.
I apologize if I'm stating the obvious, but these are things that many people overlook when they first go job hunting. I'm not aware of your particular situation, so some things might be different, but I believe you could use these guidelines as a general rule of thumb. I hope this helps. Good luck.
http://content.monster.com/salarybenefits/home.aspx
I think Internet/New Media is probably our closest neighbor in terms of typical compensation. Just be sure to "no thanks" the registration page... social security #? come on!
To second what Paul said, I actually received an offer for a company in the San Diego area the same day I received my offer from Gearbox. The salary offer for the one in San Diego was $15k more a year, but when you factor in the cost of living in the San Diego area vs the Dallas area the Gearbox offer was actually the better one.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah I live in San Diego and the cost of living is insane. You will never buy a house around here making 45k a year and you would be lucky to buy if you made 75k. Rent on average for a 2 bedroom in a decent area is 1150-1400 easy.
Luckily its my girl and I so living here ain't such a hard thing to do.
Also you'll need to factor in extras - another place I went for an interview at around the same time (in roughly the same area as above) were offering me more money than I had been earning, still just as an artist. However, despite this being a successful company, they offered no bonuses, no healthcare, no training, etc. They also confided that there was little chance for development, rising within the company, and that pay increases were pretty much locked to the ROI.
Which is only a little over $1100 US. Is there a specific way to calculate cost of living? I'd be interested to see how we really stack up against the US when everythings averaged out.
[/ QUOTE ]
This might, or might not, be of any use to anyone but I found it while googling. It's a salary comparison, with currency conversion, for Japan, the UK and the US. Sorry, no comparison for the ozzies.
http://japanmanship.blogspot.com/2006/12/salary-overview-2006.html
.