The fact that I'm a college dropout has never been held against me in the games industry; it was in my pre-games programming jobs. It's not a matter of relative talent, either - in games I've been working with people as good or better than I; prior to that I was comfortably the best programmer around. (He said modestly.)
I came into games with a higher than normal starting salary based on my pre-games industry salary - and it was still a thirty percent pay cut. It wasn't timing for me - I spent two years after dropping out working a bad job, then nine years outside of the industry working as a programmer.
I suspect the industry has an easier time keeping talented people without a degree because of the industry culture; those with a degree have an easier time leaving it for more money. I'd like to see a correlation with years in the industry, and with the number of platform generations the person has worked through. I suspect that has more to do with salary than education.
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Date: 2009-04-09 05:37 pm (UTC)The fact that I'm a college dropout has never been held against me in the games industry; it was in my pre-games programming jobs. It's not a matter of relative talent, either - in games I've been working with people as good or better than I; prior to that I was comfortably the best programmer around. (He said modestly.)
I came into games with a higher than normal starting salary based on my pre-games industry salary - and it was still a thirty percent pay cut. It wasn't timing for me - I spent two years after dropping out working a bad job, then nine years outside of the industry working as a programmer.
I suspect the industry has an easier time keeping talented people without a degree because of the industry culture; those with a degree have an easier time leaving it for more money. I'd like to see a correlation with years in the industry, and with the number of platform generations the person has worked through. I suspect that has more to do with salary than education.