GCG Feature: 'Hot Jobs for Big Bucks in the Game Industry'

Author: by Beth A.

Getting Started section now includes exclusive stats from the 2006 print Game Career Guide on paying rates for programming, art, game design, and quality assurance jobs. Jill Duffy introduces the article in the following excerpt: "You’ve heard it all before: Jobs in game development are hard to come by. Competition is fierce. Personality counts (since team-structured environments are the norm). But what you might not have heard before is that the majority of game developers in the field aren’t doing what they’re doing for the money. The average game developer salary isn’t astronomical—it’s comfortable, but not astronomical. It’s about $70,000 per year. How much money game creators make is one of the biggest misconceptions students have about the working industry, says Professor John Small, a long-time industry professional (Criterion) and game development instructor at Savannah College of Art and Design. Another issue new recruits must tackle is to decide what job title they’re after. Designer or level designer? Rigger or animator? AI programmer or Java developer? These next few pages of 101 material are designed to give you a crash course in salary and job title expectations. We’ve mapped out some of the job titles that have been in greatest demand over the last few months with an emphasis on the ones that accept entry-level candidates. Knowing which positions game companies are recruiting most often these days will open up more opportunities for your success and decrease the length of time it takes you to start working." You can now read the full Game Career Guide feature to find out how much you could make in the game industry (no registration required, please feel free to link to this column from external websites).