Why Would a Graduate Choose the Games Industry?

There's a huge irony in going from the horror of reading ea_spouse - then jumping in to working for the NHS, of which there are even worse stories!

In terms of the use of OT, it's common in project-based industries - game development is particularly vocal but it doesn't mean they're alone.

With regards to your salary comments, it's actually pretty quick to get to that £27k level - alot quicker than many other industries even those involving computing (which is FAR more regionalised than many would anticipate) plus look at the jump in wages to lead programmer - £39,958 p.a.
(but can rise to £49,138 p.a. depending on seniority/experience)

Then there's the last part - the assumption that all that OT is unpaid. From those I know in the industry (which also tends to be one of the better in terms of general employee environments, provision of healthcare etc) it more often is paid than unpaid, and you get people willingly going for it for the additional financial bonus, plus the end-of-project bonus.

Is it perfect? No, not by a long shot. Is anything else? Hell no! But ultimately while the bad stories always float to the top because they're shouted the loudest, there's a lot worse you could do than go into the games industry.

Hi Andy, thanks for this comment man. You seem to have some insight here. Fancy writing a counter-blast for us?

Regards

Tim
tim@spong.com