Thu, Feb 25, 2010 | 18:39 GMT
Study: A third of developers say salary does not cover COL
A study conducted by Develop has shown that one-third of game developers are unsatisfied with their current salaries, stating that the pay they receive does not cover the cost of living.
Surveying over 400 industry workers worldwide, it was discovered that the average salary for developers was around £31,964, with 36 percent of the 400 respondents claiming that their income didn’t cover living expenses.
The study also showed that salaries were on the rise, being up £1,500 over last year, and 60 percent expect a raise in 2010 – while one percent expect a decline in earnings.
Additionally, 63.5 percent said they get additional financial benefits from the company they work for, while at the same time, 58.3 percent have yet to take advantage of an offered retirement plan.
Breaking things down a bit, the lower-paying jobs ranged from Jr. Q&A at £15,000 ($22,839) – Junior Programmer at £21,000 ($31,976), which depending on the area of employment and spending habits could be a give and take as far as covering the cost of living – but that is still rather low for an area like the UK where COL is rather high.
Higher end jobs ranged from Lead Programmer at £51,000 ($77,663) – Studio Head & MD/CEO at £76,923 ($117,140) on the higher end of each positions pay scale.
These figures could still be considered “scraping by” if the jobs in question were stationed in New York City, or California and could also constitute as “struggling” if, as Joystiq put it, the exec had a “coke, hooker and ego habit”.
You can get the full survey results through here.
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Posted in: America, Development, Hot, Jobs, UK
Tags: develop salary survey, salary
6 comments
#1
Hunam
25/02/10, 6:42 pm
Overtime is king, it’s a shame that a lot of companies don’t pay for overtime too, if they did the staff at the bottom of the chain would be a bit better off.
#2
Stephany Nunneley
25/02/10, 6:54 pm
Over here, in my state, they have to by law (if not on salary) and others too – unless you live in a “right to work state” like Arkansas, but they’re backasswards anyway
#3
Gheritt White
25/02/10, 6:54 pm
This is why dev bonuses are key… and also why people shouldn’t pirate games, either.
#4
Hunam
25/02/10, 6:57 pm
In the UK, if you’re on salary then quite often that’s it. Who I used to test with paid in hourly wage though, so doing normal 9-5 hours yielded minimum wage, there was a fair amount of overtime so you could end earning a fair bit of cash for playing videogames all day
Was long hours but fuck man, it was awesome.
#5
Khanivor
25/02/10, 8:55 pm
If 32K doesn’t cover you cost of living then you need to stop living above your means.
#6
ianos
25/02/10, 9:57 pm
Yeah, ultimate sympathy for them and all, but I would kill for their lowest tier of pay.
KILL.