Josh, I interviewed with Activision in July for a data scientist job, they said the life is very chill, the work is laid back. Maybe that's how they trick people in coming in and take the job. PS Thank god! I didn't got the job.
Yes. They lack personality and the high turnover rates cause a lack of cohesion in the final product, making the products harder to maintain too. While long work hours will improve rate of implementation, quality will fall. Which is why they need new people over and over. In the end, the problem will resolve itself over time, but it will take a lot of time (as people realize it isn't worth it and prioritize private life).
If games have always been made that way, then we have reached a point where it should not be sustainable anymore. 25 years ago, one guy could sit up overnight passionately making a simple game that would be seen by the majority of the gaming community without great marketing. Now, it takes a big team to produce that, and it appears in the form of a boss telling people underneath to be passionate, i.e. work longer for less pay.
@@ChipsMcClive Stardew Valley was made by one single person- Eric Barone, and released in 2016. It does not take a team to produce a game, it takes a team to produce a "triple a" game. Those are the ones that suck.
@@WendyOryen Atari was cashing in on the sale of games back in the Atari 2600 days, but paying the developers very little. Caused many developers to leave and form Activision.
And now companies like Dreamhaven have been founded by disgruntled Blizzard employees that didn't like how they were treated at Activision. ...history does indeed rhyme!
I got a high paying corporate job, worked like a dog for 12 hours a day even tho its 9 to 5, later on I overworked myself and end up hospitalized, doc said I need atleast 1 month to recover. After the management found out about my situation, I literally got replaced in 3 days. The only reason why I am sick is because I worked like crazy, I spent more to recover than earned in the first place. Efforts I have put in the company are unnoticed, this is the reality dont go out there sacrificing yourself for the company that doesnt care about you.
Next time this happens contact a disability attorney on your way out of the doctors office. Keep showing up and doing your 9 to 5 while the lawyer works their magic. MAKE them pay for the damage they did, there is no other way to get what you earned.
I agree with you and others here saying the same thing. But. Problems are all those idiots out there going like " ah im so cool, look at me, I work 80 hours a week..." then they hit the wall and get all crippled. So now the company looks for someone that can work 85 hours a week.
Looks like I got myself Multiple Sclerosis, recovery is good, however I won't be able to work more than 8h/day anymore and have to take breaks periodically, I am basically mentally handicapped now, sad.
Ironically, it's the exact opposite. The games that are really good (GTA V or RDR2 for example) are the ones that were a nightmare to make for the developers. Search for stories about RDR2 development, it was probably the worst that will ever be for a game dev. If they would have developed these games at a normal pace, they wouldn't be nearly as good.
Every company treats you like a resource. That's why you get hired through human _resources_ . It used to be the _personnel_ department. You used to be a _person_ . Now it's the human resource department and you are a _resource_ .
@@mszigetihu Your conclusion is illogical. Game's "goodness" has no correlation to being overworked. Just set a schedule that doesn't demand crunch wat.
Working in Game development was a great learning experience. I watched my coworkers health begin to fail and I foolishly sacrificed a relationship with a woman who loved me with all her heart. In the end after the long hours, several months with no days off my entire studio was shutdown after shipping multiple profitable projects. I learned that regardless of where I worked or how much I sacrificed I was still expendable . I understand that the decision wasn't personal, just business but I vowed I would never put a company's needs before my own health or a loved ones happiness ever again.
@LateralRazor Well ... in this case, it isn't me who is mistaken. I spelt it correctly. Neighbour. Centre. Colour. I'll let you figure out what is going on.
I learned this the hard way. I spent almost half a year interviewing for a full stack software engineering position. It was rough. I took a test after a test. A frontend test. A backend test. A behavioral test. A cultural fit test. A personality test. And finally, after so much work, I got the job. I thought that the pain was over. Well, I was wrong. Three weeks later, my boss comes to my office that I rented because of the pandemic and told me that he feels that I am not fit. A part of me just want to .... But I just took my last check and moved on. I learned to never pour my heart out for a company. This is an ugly world full of sharks.
Most triple A games by EA, Blizzard, Activision, Ubisoft, are really bad, underdeveloped, and rushed out to make money. The quality has been declining for years now. I guess the reason for that is the management not knowing how to make a good game, and just forcing people to work harder but not compensating them enough, so people just do the bare minimum not the get fired.
games i have had most hours of fun playing are don't sarve and rogue leagacy, both under 20 usd and both still fun to play, also mount and blade with some mods is hundeds of hours of fun, indie games can be more fun, more infinite fun, and more cost effective fun.
Nah these companies make some of the best games I've played. All the work put in by the poor devs and others did produce great games. I do think it is disgusting that the management at these companies pay crap to the workers and basically profit off of unpaid labour hours. It would be great if the devs could form a union and demand normal working hours and paid overtime from these greedy companies. Sadly that's likely to never happen.
lol it's not that the managment don't know how to make good games, it's that they just want to make money, so they push something out in as minimal-cost way as possible, hyping it up as much as possible, then making as much money in the first week or so. They don't care about after the first week.
I'm sure it's intentionally written in that type of way to avoid agitating the stock price. They probably have people who specialize in knowing how to package some version of the real executive plan and coding it in that type of language.
Like Hoffa and Teamsters. Hoffa was able to make truckers and trucks stop. If trucks stops America stops. Those are words of Hoffa. If programmers stop, America and whole world will stop. Think about it...
I hated working at Activision. They treated people like dogs. No soul, no.. No soul... I hated working at Activision. They fired me because I didn't want to play games after work and drink beer, instead opting to train obsessively (working in 3D Studio for DOS there at Activision, I saw how we could save enormous amounts of time by learning and incorporating this new program called '3ds Max for windows'!) 30 years or so later, I'm glad I committed to learning everything about the tool! I have written Character Animation books using 3ds Max native tools. Now I train obsessively in Unreal Engine! LOL Yeah,. Activision sure sucked. *PRAXIS Filmworks?* _That was a cool company..._
Yeah, I mean our system is definitely messed up and needs reform but at the same time, see it from their perspective, they are only paying you money because they expect a ROI of more money than you cost. It's not a school or college community where they are there to nuture people. They are there to nuture the money people invested in their operations. So if there's a way they can make money more effeciently than you, they are bieng paid money to optimize that effeciency. And if they don't maximally optimize their competitor will and beat them out. We can't expect companies (ie money growth machines) to care about taking care of society. That should be the role of the people through democracy. The problem is American rightists/conservatives have been dupped into believing the machinery of the market should be the ultimate arbiter of society's welfare and interests. Sad, but therein lies the modern imperfection of democracy. Interesting though how they like the components of socialism when they don't have to pay the police for coming out to a frivolous call on an innocent Black person. Socialism and capitalism aren't mutually exclusive. They're not even complete entities that could exist in isolated and distilled forms. They're really more themes that we have to try to coordinate in the best researched, most strategic, and hopefully empathetic way we can to create the most good for the most people.
@@lolpantsification Literally any time you quote someone, you are repeating what they literally said. Thanks for figuring that out all on your own and sharing with us.
in China ,we have this IT culture,its called 996-ICU ,MEANS you work 9:00am to 9:00pm ,6day a week ,until you went ICU,there is some case in HUAWEI like a engineer dead by encephalitis on job
@@benaissaelbestani5041 China is more like capitalistic totalitarian right now. But at the same time, the Chinese government has been taking big corporations recently for the gain of the bureaucrats.
@@benaissaelbestani5041 China is far from socialist. China is more capitalist authoritarian. A good example of a socialist country with democratic values would be the Nordic countries of Sweden, Norway, etc.
Worked 2 year as a game dev. I was a passionate gamer since school and was into modding and stuff. In those 2 years i didn't even want to play games.... finally switched to web. I am at peace now.
Okay im scared of being an gamedev now..... Kinda want to make a living with gamedev. Do you think its still relevant? I have psikolog degree and im self taught with C#. I have couple of sertifikate and boothcamp.
@@realfbi don't do it bro. You can find much better companies doing anything else, web dev is good and if you like game dev then you might like backend or full stack work. If you want to make games, you can do it on your own time or even start your own company
I worked on Playstation 2 @ Sony. We used to work 85 hours a week. One of the hardest jobs I've ever had. Sometimes we even slept under our desks. I worked 9AM-3AM most every day. 6 hours sleep. 2 years was the most I could take. Once they shipped, they laid us all off.
I worked at a major oil company for ten years. I met some senior executives during my global travels but I can tell you now and those executives told me. We are numbers in a HR database. Not people but numbers who needs to be culled from time to time to keep shareholders happy. I have a Vice President's award among my other awards, I worked from 6am to 8pm and sometimes for weeks one end without break, but when my time was up along with my colleagues we had to go: We were paid two years salary and bonuses in advance so I am thankful for that. I am at a new company but won't be surprised if we get called in again in a few years or months even. Now I do the minimum and no more. Not worth the mental stress and broken relationships.
Remember when you were a kid and "video game maker" was like the ultimate dream job? Now, after years of hearing what it's like to make a game for Rockstar or EA, then seeing this bullshit, that is the last coding job I'd ever apply to.
By most accounts EA is actually pretty alright to work for. Their consumer facing rep is way worse than their reputation among devs. My knowledge is anecdotal since the only people I know (and trust) that have had involvement with them was someone in a senior QA position and a technical animator. They both only had good things to say. Whether life is different on other teams (they were both on a specific team under the EA banner) I can't say, but certainly better to work for than Blizzard. Fuck Blizzard, that much I can say from experience.
Working for greedy companies will never make for a good work enviroment hence if you want to make games it's probably better to work in a small team or go solo
Don't let it totally dissuade you from pursuing what you want to do. Some game companies are pretty decent. Idk where you're at, but American Gaming Systems is a company I can personally say cares about employee satisfaction, and they hire newbies. 4.7/5 on Glassdoor with 170 reviews (I know GD isn't the end all, just saying). Places like that aren't easy to find, but good game dev jobs exist.
Remember that CEO's have a fiduciary duty to maximize stockholder return. That means they have a fiduciary duty to fully exploit each and every employee. And, if they don't do that, they get fired by the Board of Directors. The answer of course is to be your own boss. That's the only way you have control over your destiny, as well as the visibility to your future.
Or work for a company that hasn't sold its soul to shareholders. Those types of bosses typically care a lot more about thier workers and will let profits drop if it means their workplace is better and they can still break even.
the actual answer is to implement better worker protection laws, unionize, or better yet, include regular employees on the board of directors so they get a say in how much they are paid and how things are run.
But that's a shortsighted view of how to run a business. SAS has shown that keeping your developers happy is the true fiducially responsible way to run a company. Developers are less productive in stressful 12 hour days than they are in a happy 6 hour day. And you have less overhead in the costs associated with hiring employees and training new employees.
@@Minastir1 Only if you're a start up. If actually looked at the expenses of these AAA games the profits they made from the game would be enough to fund the next one. This is just greed.
Being able to fund the next game with profit doesn’t necessarily mean that your total profits are rising overtime which is what stock market investors want
@@Minastir1 Companies start to go downhill after they go public or sell out to a publicly traded company and become a subsidiary. They become forced to attempt to grow profits, often destroying the business in the long run. Many could make good, steady profits over decades or longer simply by staying in their niche and doing that well instead of trying to step outside of that in order to make more money.
Unfortunately, this is capitalism personified; Company needs to make more profit or have to cut losses from a merger/acquisition? They will most likely have to cut their losses and fire people who have helped the company become what it is. It's sad that many people will see this and think nothing wrong of the current system
The people I know that worked for google said that it’s full of yes-men that pretend to work and never do anything new or profitable for the company because no one wants to rock the boat and risk getting hated by the higher up’s
You could try it, just refuse at all cost the overtime. You will learn this and that, but mostly how NOT to do stuff, there are too many anti patterns in such companies. You can make some friends and probably comrades for your own hobby game.
@@gorkyd7912 there is a talent shortage because its very easy to get a degree in programing while being terrible at it. Most people who are any good at programing go else where really quickly
Oslier this is the overall market trend outside of just game dev, for example many MSFT business units are either moving or laying off all manual testers. They are instead rehiring software engineers that specialize in automated testing. Traditional manual QA is too inconsistent, costly, and time consuming. Automation enables continuous integration and deployment, with the byproduct of rendering old jobs outdated.
@@Michael-ob7wz Not necessarily. The whole point is to develop the games in your own time. You could get a job and do it also... If you are lucky you can do freelance work. Once you are up and running you obviously need a bit of luck too... But if everything works out you won't need to be a slave anymore...
Just become a Software Engineer if you are not one already and find a job which doesn't spend your energy too much so that you can go home and make games as a hobby. Software Engineers still make good money and benefits.
I was always too smart to go into it. I knew I needed to raise the capital myself. Unfortunately, that means I haven't gotten anywhere near making my game, but fortunately, I'm building up a real estate micro-empire. I remember seeing all those good devs get devoured by EA. I wasn't about to become one of those stories. Plus, the age of throwing some sprites on a screen and selling a million copies from Best Buy's shelves are over. That's how it was done in the 90s, not now. Oversaturated market space, now.
manictiger it’s not over saturated. In fact ppl are yearning for a game that pushes boundaries instead of boring eye candy bullshit that games are nowadays. It’s a great time for indie devs
Yeah i remember it being a dream up until I was almost through college; then I looked into it and decided I didn't want to work on someone elses vision only to get axed after I make them a ton of sales. If I'm doing game dev, its either for a small studio or for myself.
@@32gigs96 Yeah, well, that takes time, effort, skill and money. There's a reason most games are not much evolved past what we had in the 90s. It's easier to just reskin it and make it prettier. Same controls. Same gameplay. Same ideas. The games I want to make are all hard as hell to implement and even harder to fund. So, it remains an idea in my head while I continue to expand my networth. I expect my game to suck 10 million out of my bank account and return nothing. I expect to make it mostly for my own satisfaction. Dan Lok calls it the 4th S, "significance". I'm not quite there, yet. I'm still securing the third S, "success".
I work in Human Resources for a major Retail Corporation; and I can tell you that we have these types of calls and information sent out to us regularly. In fact, I am currently dealing with the major downsizing of a massive Supervisor position within the Company because they have increased the job duties of a lower paying position to include a lot of the same duties as said Supervisor position without a pay increase. They call it "empowering" the lower paid position, but in reality it's to further increase the already $Billions going into their pockets while further ruining the lives of those they are supposed to be "trickling" down to as we are told. It can be a morally trying position to have to do this job that is for sure.
you do realize HR is known for seeing what there people post on-line. Why would you divulge such info. Yes, you didn't reveal that much, but there usually zealots and as you should know better than anyone dont talk about this stuff on-line. Unless we have a contract, which most of us dont are we not employee at will. That should be the first thing to get legislated
Ah this exact situation just happened to me. Record profits, but making staff redundant and outsourcing them to India and combining 4 people's jobs into one... It's nice to feel appreciated 😅...
Game design grad from 2019 here, Joshua's advice about going indie is basically what I did, I started job hunting at the beginning of the year, while I got a solid amount of interviews, I just couldn't find it in me to pass them and I was just terrible at coding interviews (still am, I never practiced them so that's on me.) Luckily a few weeks ago I started work in IT (I'm a big tech geek) and at this point I have plans to get rid of any little loans I have, but on top of that, the indie game dev company I interned for allow me to work for them for a portion of the sales on the games I make. I cannot underestimate how lucky I am with how things turned out after college and I'd recommend others who are currently studying for game development to have backup plans.
Don't worry. I'm working (not in gamedev exactly, tho) for how many years and the longer I work the more I'm terrible at those interviews. Most of the are bullshiitte.
@@omemester6985 I work in an IT company, we offer IT services to whatever clients we pick up, and sometimes (usually) we go to client sites for various projects (desktop deployment, email migrations etc), for me this is awesome because for me I'll never end up bored because there's something different around the corner. My position is basically a help desk technician and while qualifications aren't always clear cut because of differnt types of software similar to programming, the main things you want to look into are certifications (Comptia A+) and Customer Service experience is extremely invaluable especially since you will be in communication with users trying to understand problems. My company does also have a software branch, so the possibility of me switching back to that is there also my only gripe is the amount of hours I do, but then again they pay me well and they pay for travel expenses.
Sadly that's what bad indie companies do, instead of paying you, they pay you in hopes and dreams.... which is basically the same as being exploited for working at "your dream job"
The mistake we make is believing that corporate cares. You must go in knowing what it is; that you are a commodity which drives or protects revenue. Empathy becomes a weakness and is grounds for dismissal. It's them or you.
The irony is that the guy reeling off the financial and strategic update is just another disposable commodity. They could eventually replace him with an AI bot that has access to real time financial data. Hardly anyone would notice the difference because the reporter already sounds like a robot.
@@cybersphere that's so true, they could easily replace him with Amazon Polly , they can just give it the script to read and click a button when it's time for it to read it.
@@crisisjack "I really hope that guy loses his job, im sure his favorite part of the week is telling people they are fired" come on now, THAT guy has a wife and kids too ya know.
As someone who went to school for making games and grew up DREAMING of working at a AAA game company, I'm sadly comfortable at a cubicle job due to fear of shit like this ... watching your view points on the corporate world has changed my view and lit a fire under my ass lately. Thanks, Josh Seriously
This is because most programmers are socially awkward spineless creatures. I have looked people in the eye and told them "you want me to work extra, pay me extra." And you know what happened? They did.
According to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) you should be paid overtime. Those who are exempt include: Professional workers must work in a recognized creative field (like music, writing, the graphic arts and acting) or work in a field requiring advanced knowledge (like law, medicine and education) and earn at least $455 per workweek. I believe that law needs to be expanded upon, because that may be the loophole employers are using. I believe now is the time to act. Truck drivers, pilots had to have laws enacted to protect them. Why not software developers.
I was once fired through a text message. It wasn't even a text from the company, but my friend who also worked there. The company was outsourcing and cutting 90% of staff. Their way of firing people was to let them come to work only to find their key cards not working, then a security guard would bring a box with your stuff in it to the door.
This is a general issue for high achievers. A lot of people are high achievers because they're good at following instructions. They make great developer foot soldiers. Hard workers who don't stand up for themselves. A corporations dream resource.
They cant really stand up for themselves if their skills arent exceptionally good, otherwise they would just get replaced in a blink of an eye. And becoming indie dev isnt for everyone, because thats just as realistic as everyone becoming a succesfull entrepeneur. Anyways to me it looks like game dev industry is oversaturated with skilled workers and because of that higher ups get the power that they have.
I learned the hard truth about 'working hard' for corporate gradually over an extended period of years. It basically made me jaded about hard work. Maybe I had an idealized or romanticized view of the value of working hard for a company; which I probably learned from the previous generation's attitudes. I eventually cut ties with companies in that I started working contracts for agencies and therefore could take time off and 'walk' when I wanted (and faced those consequences), and also freelancing, which is one of my ultimate goals. It's not a perfect alternative, but I don't think I could work hard for a company ever again.
@@TinyMaths that's what's happening all across the board. while we prance around and do company instruction on sexual harassment and kindergarten bullshit, asia is over there with higher IQ's and doing work that's meaningful. this nation is so beyond dead in the water it's not even funny. it'll be a while before the inmates figure it out.
This reminds me of the 3 years I worked as a Store Manager for SANITY music Australia - horrible, horrible company who exploits their entire workforce until they burn out and leave!!! Store Managers are paid minimum award wage with no overtime. Had to arrive at work 30-60 minutes before official opening and many nights I stayed 3-5 hours after closing during busy holiday periods. At Christmas time my young part time employees were earning more money than me and working less than half the amount of time. I stopped going to the gym, because I had no time and no energy. Companies who exploit their workers are hopefully getting 1000 years of bad karma and will re-incarnate as factory chickens.
Finally the Type of RUclipsr I have been looking for who addresses reality like no other!!! Keep it up man and keep on punching them hard in their corporate balls.
That 's the reason why I stopped to work in big companies and began to work with startups. At least there you're part of something, at least there you're more than a mere 'resource'. Love your content, keep on it.
Until the company gets big, the company gets sold, the owner gets a new boat and you get a pat on the back in exchange for your 120 hours of work a week
@@conoroflanagan2908 "I'm against being treated as a tool by my superiors, unless I'm the superior treating others as tools." That's really what this #grindreel culture is about, isn't it.
Yep. My last job this past year was great until new management. I was "let go" because they supposedly couldn't afford me and told I was getting a severence of 2 weeks at the beginning of December last year. This was after I was told by my original manager that I was going to get a raise (literally a week later I was let go). Get a call a few days afer I was let go and they said they wanted to hire me back on after the holidays (and so I stopped my job search since I did like working there till they started firing everyone). They did hire me back and said they'd try to find a spot for me. Well they had me doing all of the grunt work for the next 3 weeks until they decided to shift my role. They let me do that for a day and decided they wanted me to do something else. Rinse and repeat 2 more times and I'm observably fed up at work stating I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing anymore because they keep changing my job responsibilities. Asked my new manager about the severence I was promised and he said that them hiring me back was the severence. Come in one day and asked to come into the office and he fired me on the spot because I wasn't performing up to their standards.. never missed a day, never late, the guy that did all the extra stuff like taking out the trash, the guy that worked several days without pay. Fired. Done. Buh bye, we don't care. This was a smaller corporation too they are all trash.
This happened to me. 3 people were hired one week, then 30 people were made redundant in the Monday morning meeting, including the three they had hired.
I heard the same jargon and terminology outside the game dev world. I do a lot of mobile development and they do the same thing for web and mobile dev. Every CS major wants to go into game dev is why they can treat people this way. You are starting see the same thing in mobile dev and web dev as more people are trying to break in the industry.
i'm going into web dev, is it seriously starting to become like this? i really hope not. I really like what i'm doing, it'd be sad to know that it's going downhill.
@@shahrikamin4699 Entirely dependent on the company, but increasingly common in web from my experience (I'm a mobile dev of 7+ years). In your interviews, do as Josh says and interview THEM, find out what they're really like so you can reduce the chance of getting into a situation you don't want to be in.
@@kennygunderman lmao I've been following this dude for a while. I was scrolling through the comments and saw your's. Figured I'd give a shout out to my old dawg, Kenjamin! Miss you, buddy! Hope you're doin well!
Blizzard went from being a family company with awesome games that I remember fondly from my childhood and early adolescence to selling out to Activision corporatism. They are a big evil empire that uses their employees and their customers for profit. They don't make games for their customers, they make games for their shareholders. In a way you could say that the thirst for money by people like Bobby Kotick turned took a good game making company and sucked the soul out of it for profit. Today you have the bare skeleton left (Activision Blizzard) and they are trying to milk their customers and their employees for all their worth. Stay away from their games, stay away from these companies. They will suck you dry till there is nothing left.
What is your problem with the word "resource"? I've never sat in a single business management lecture, but even I understand that this term is not dismissive or insulting in the least.
I've shifted a majority of my gaming budget to indie games. The few AAA games i want to get are quickly dropped from the wish list when I hear of active use of crunch for extended time. Good code and good art is only consistently made when you're having fun and getting enough time for decompression between tasks. Headcount/butts in seat management is so imensely unproductive.
They don't realize that a programmer has to take time to acclimate to the job, the code, the procedures, the rules, etc. of the company. That alone has value. If you fire a programmer, you are throwing away someone with all that knowledge. Now when you hire a replacement (which you will probably have to do), they will be starting from square one. And most likely they will make mistakes and introduce bugs into the code, because it's all new to them and they don't know it.
"We want smart employees, driven employees, ...... fewer employees. ..." If anything that company preso was better than most. When I worked in the Telco industry as an IT specialist there were staff that did not even get the courtesy of a presentation. They received a FedEx package detailing their termination and a prepaid return envelope for their badge, keys and corp cell phone. I have given rules of IT, here some that apply to this video: Do not let your career drift far from what makes the cash register ring in your enterprise. The farther you are removed from that source the sooner you are terminated.
My mother had to work after hours, yes, when the shift was over they ask hwo wants to stay. Really didnt say 'you have to', but they told how many ppl need. And my mother always was the first for it(it was not paid) just bc she knew ter co-workers have little kids and kindergarden close before they can go home. But yes, they take you only for a few months so that you scared and you feel obligatet. Bc she worked so many overtime she get sick bc of too much work and she needed operacion, and then she was never called back to work... And all this for minimum paycheck.
I made the decision long ago that I would be an indie game Dev. Partially due to all the horror stories I kept hearing about the AAA industry, and because working on other people stuff is hell to me. It’s things like this that really helps to solidify my decision. Dope vid
Whatever you do, have your 3-6 months expenses in savings lined up. Before you do ANYTHING else or buy ANY nice things, food, etc. Get your 3-6 saved up. Once you have this, focus on building skill and experience. Be clear on what skills you develop. And don't ever forget, NO JOB is secure. The only security you have is your bank balance and your marketplace skills.
I'll add, that one should not take a job that one can't walk away from. The old adage "always have an exit strategy" applies for jobs as much as they apply for burning buildings. If the culture sucks, or the boss sucks, or the traffic sucks, you need to be able to leave without fear.
Because there always is that one dickhead that ruins it for everyone else cause they want to play the corporate game and work those hours in hopes of getting into management.
Actually I worked as part of a team on a software development project about 20 years ago now. I never have had the same experience since. We were under pressure and deadlines to finish the development but we actually did all take some time as a group. Typically it was a 3 day weekend or take an afternoon off to do something we wanted. We actually named it even and called it our skip day. I have worked in other teams since where that would have never happened. We actually finished every phase of the project on time as well.
This is a symptom of the last decade or so hiring practices at the top. Literally every high level executive at all major companies are either an accounting or business major. Nobody who worked up the ranks is there, just know nothing business majors who's only expertise is handing down impossible goals to people who are paid less. Cutting employees is literally the easiest (short term) solution there is. Just slash them and hope your reputation/product lasts long enough to make your millions so you can get out and go destroy the next company.
A key take-away is this: be a contractor! Get that three, six, one year contract with a video game company and set your own hours, knowing that you won't get re-upped for that company. Get the experience, the pay, and the ability to flip them off when you don't get re-hired for another contract.
on the surface that sounds like a good idea....but if you continually do that, won't it be harder to land new contract work when you can't get a good reference from your previous employers (whom you were flipping off as you walked out their door)
@@adminlazybearsoftware6510 actively making enemies of every client is a bad move. But some deserve it, and funny enough, other clients will usually know the bad client and understand why you didn't get a good reference. That said: references are rarely checked, except in finance and government (where I do most of my work, so no flipping of for me ;))
Sad thing is, I've sat in meetings like this in the Finance sector - the first half hour they boast that there is so much profit this quarter and the stocks are at an all time high. The last 10 mins announced a large number of my colleagues were made redundant... Corporate companies are all the same
@@heartsfear9216 the anime and manga scene in Japan I think is even worse then game dev's. Especially the manga scene where there are few places to put your work and countless people fighting for it. The only thing that is good is that if you make a breakout like my hero academy or one piece you are set.
It's literally called 'Human Resources'. I remember how this term irritated me when I first heard it. Nowadays I just go with it since everyone seems to accept it.
I think your advice applies to most workplaces even outside the game industry! You want to work for an employer who realize that they actually profit more if they take care of their employees (= not wasting resources 😃). Of course you have to crunch at times to meet deadlines, but this is only an effective method if it isn't the norm. I would expect people working as much as you describe, to be way less productive than people working more 'normal' work weeks. I cannot imagine that pressing your employees like that is a good way to get quality work out of them.
These problems that you talk about are industry-wide. And, I think it's great that you're talking about them. I think we need to see a re-emergence of labor unions to help get this under control. Whatever the case, clearly something has to be done.
i also worked in a company that use the burn you out and then hire a new person then when that people worked to the bone and cant stand more abuse they fire that person and hire another one.... this is very common in most companies, you cant talk about the people that were fired, or why, or what happened, many times the people that get fired are the more talented only the people that have no backbone or morals get ahead, any person that have any decent personality will get full attention to get fired as they want dociles slaves that dont question and do whatever is told to them.... again even if thats the case people will get fired and they will repeat the cycle and get new ones..... is like a fukin slaugther house for human souls.....
I am really glad that there is a dev channel out there, which doesn't only show the shiny parts of being a developer. But don't you think that making videos about this on a weekly basis for quite some time is a bit of an overkill? I personnally got your point that no one should give up their personal life and health for their jobs and that you should always be aware of the fact that companies try to instrumentalise you for their needs. Just trying to spread a bit more positivity out here ;) Nervertheless: Great videos and high quality content!
Not likely to happen. Big problem is that unions depend on enough people being scarce (plumbers etc) with game devs, every programmer that I know, wanted to be a game dev and has at least some experience in game dev. So youd need every single programmer in America to sign a union agreement. Then youd work about h1 visas. So youd need everyone who can program in every country to sign the same agreement.
I'm a senior game programmer, been in the industry for 15 years, the one thing I learned, was to say no to bullshit. It's been 4 years since I made any overtime. Sadly can't be said for my colleagues, but I knew they would not fire me, the peer pressure bullshit stopped to work. When you are fed the same thing over and over again, you know it taste like shit, so you stop eating it.
@@hepthegreat4005 Hard to say from personal experience since I quit AAA game development 3 years ago to go indie, best move I made in my life. I also stopped doing any overtime 2 years before I quit, because I had enough of this bullshit and being a senior, they would not fire me. If I ever lose my current job because we run out of money and I go back to AAA, I intend to keep that "no overtime or fire me but I know you wont" policy. Sadly, probably a luxury a junior doesn't have.
This is the exact same thing that happens in the movie industry (mainly post production). "Crunch time" is almost always present, people slept on two chairs because there was no point in going home anyway and by the end of any given project, most of the "resource" was laid off. Saddest part is, when the new projects came along, a lot of the resource that was basically left to die, got a call and came back crawling to get tormented again. I didn't and I am glad I escaped this hellhole. Great job on the videos - keep the corporate cringe coming! Greetings from Bulgaria.
_Hello Peter. What's happening? Um, I'm gonna need you go ahead and come in tomorrow. So if you could be here around nine, that would be great. (starts to walk away) Oh, oh, yea…I forgot. I'm gonna also need you to come in Sunday too. We, uh, lost some people this week and we need to sorta catch up. Thanks._
how tf is it legal to not provide OverTime? Like isn't that the whole point of overtime hours, as a DRAWBACK for the employer forcing employees to work longer hours?
37 year old 2D animation desk jockey here. I can confirm that going independent for a couple years was the best thing I'd ever done even though I was only barely able to keep my head above water. I learned what my limits are, what my time is worth, what my demands are from a company, how to identify bad clients (aka; bosses) and attained a fearlessness as I know I'll be just fine if I'm fired from my current company for not doing the overtime that was foisted upon us. Pay for my time and allow me to say no to when I'm going to work if it's too much. You demand that either one of those aren't met, then I'll show myself the door and pick up private business again.
Hey Josh, I turned down a job at Electronic arts years ago because they first told me it would be about making websites for the soccer leagues in the UK to inspire children to play more soccer. Then during my final round of interviews, the CTO told me the job was actually about integrating their gaming consoles with the soccer websites, so that they can make their consoles more popular, or in other words, to get the kids to play and buy more video games. Needless to say, I apologized for wasting the time of so many people because I could simply not take on a job that has to potential to make kids more obese and more sick than they already are. Here is are two quick tips for people who don't want to be a victim of the corporate language you play in your video: - Start your own company, design games, write the corporate rules and make sure they are fair - Work for company that does educational games and consoles, like LeapFrog - Change your mentality and do something that is not related to games at all, or uses gamification principles to improve people's lives - there are many examples - And if you are truly passionate about how things should changes, try to re-engineer society; I've seen some interesting ideas that so far have not gotten much traction but you might find some more - take a look at the Venus Project and what Jacque Fresco says about society. I don't think you and I will be alive to see this happen but may be our grandkids will. Best of luck and thanks again for the video.
Interesting Content Josh that is a real shame. I have been in IT for years now starting on Helpdesk and now an Network Engineer and know that the Developers, Scripters, Coders and Automation Specialists are any company's bread and butter. You all are the back-bone and every time learning a new language or dialect of one fast to meet deadlines. Having done some basic scripting and automation it takes time and patience and then debugging constantly. Thank You for what you do and offer to our up and coming developers out there! #100REALTALK #DEVELOPERSAREHEROS
@@RadenWA It's not an effect of overpopulation, but one of overproductiveness. One person is enough to do the job of hundreds thanks to automation and other things that let you work more effectively than in the past. Not only that, but workers are being exploited working more hours than needed, thus basically taking away potential jobs from others by doing a job that could have employed more than one person, just to maximize profit of your bosses. Many jobs have become redundant. Most current jobs are redundant bullshit anyway with which we could do without, but they exist to keep the money flowing and our economic system alive. For companies it is great that there are more and more people on this world, because that means more and more customers. Money is made by selling stuff. It's thanks to that that you have a job. The problem is that not all of them can get jobs to pay for all the shit that is being produced. There can only be that many jobs. If population went down, but productivity stayed high or got even higher, then you wouldn't make more money as demand would also decrease. Everybody dreams about selling his shit to everybody, but if you are the one to sell your shit to everybody, then everybody won't see any need to buy shit from somebody else as their demand will be met by you alone.You'd become rich and everybody else would be fucked.
Ironic, isn't it? You say we need more "real good" workers, but the better they are, the less worker will be needed. Our current system actually demands a mass of "mediocre" workers doing menial job so they can be the consumer, because if they are "real good", then they will make their own thing, which will then be a competitor for the consumer base of the other "good workers".
Companies are a tool. Use them like they use you.
Yeah bro EXACTLY
Keep exposing these companies, they are NEVER on our side.
Josh, I interviewed with Activision in July for a data scientist job, they said the life is very chill, the work is laid back. Maybe that's how they trick people in coming in and take the job. PS Thank god! I didn't got the job.
@@PreritAnwekar why would they say anything otherwise?
Word
Once again for everyone in the back: "A company is not a family."
Stop romanticizing employment, be critical, think for yourself.
The only thing you owe your boss is a hard day's work. And maybe 2 weeks notice when you leave.
@@buffymcmuffin5361 Both of those are optional.
@@buffymcmuffin5361 If they don't let you know 2 weeks before firing you. Then you don't need to give them 2 weeks before leaving.
@@buffymcmuffin5361 not even that. If all my needs are met, then that would be an option
I've had jobs where I had really good friends I was sad to see leave or sad when I left. I never felt coworkers were like family.
This management scheme is probably why most new games suck now.
Yes. They lack personality and the high turnover rates cause a lack of cohesion in the final product, making the products harder to maintain too.
While long work hours will improve rate of implementation, quality will fall. Which is why they need new people over and over.
In the end, the problem will resolve itself over time, but it will take a lot of time (as people realize it isn't worth it and prioritize private life).
Games have been made this way for a long time. You only remember the games that were good.
If games have always been made that way, then we have reached a point where it should not be sustainable anymore. 25 years ago, one guy could sit up overnight passionately making a simple game that would be seen by the majority of the gaming community without great marketing. Now, it takes a big team to produce that, and it appears in the form of a boss telling people underneath to be passionate, i.e. work longer for less pay.
*most western AAA games, also why indies are increasingly better than them
@@ChipsMcClive Stardew Valley was made by one single person- Eric Barone, and released in 2016. It does not take a team to produce a game, it takes a team to produce a "triple a" game.
Those are the ones that suck.
Dont think of it as being fired. Think of it as being promoted to customer
Lmao
Your comment made me laugh 💖
Okay, but do I still get paid?
@@alexander-jl6cs You get an exclusive privilege of paying them for your work.
If you’re always right and you tell them you have a job, then....???
And to think Activision was founded because developers weren't happy with how they were being treated at Atari...
Tell me about Atari
@@WendyOryen Atari was cashing in on the sale of games back in the Atari 2600 days, but paying the developers very little. Caused many developers to leave and form Activision.
@@RetroTechChris I didn’t know that and to think I looked at Atari as an entity that could do no wrong. No wonder it went away.
Its a public listed company ..... founding principals are long lost
And now companies like Dreamhaven have been founded by disgruntled Blizzard employees that didn't like how they were treated at Activision.
...history does indeed rhyme!
I got a high paying corporate job, worked like a dog for 12 hours a day even tho its 9 to 5, later on I overworked myself and end up hospitalized, doc said I need atleast 1 month to recover. After the management found out about my situation, I literally got replaced in 3 days. The only reason why I am sick is because I worked like crazy, I spent more to recover than earned in the first place. Efforts I have put in the company are unnoticed, this is the reality dont go out there sacrificing yourself for the company that doesnt care about you.
Wow man, have you recovered since?
Next time this happens contact a disability attorney on your way out of the doctors office. Keep showing up and doing your 9 to 5 while the lawyer works their magic. MAKE them pay for the damage they did, there is no other way to get what you earned.
I agree with you and others here saying the same thing. But. Problems are all those idiots out there going like " ah im so cool, look at me, I work 80 hours a week..." then they hit the wall and get all crippled. So now the company looks for someone that can work 85 hours a week.
Looks like I got myself Multiple Sclerosis, recovery is good, however I won't be able to work more than 8h/day anymore and have to take breaks periodically, I am basically mentally handicapped now, sad.
@@pulltogg I don't know anyone who has said anything close to "I'm so cool ... I work 80 hours a week."
I used to work at Activision and I can say that's exactly how they operate
Damn what a shitty company to work for.
Wow! When did u work there?
Vicarious Visions?
Either way F mate
Literally how ALL gigantic corporations work.
@TheEagle Magomedov true, we do not value our health until our 40s where we notice the cranking of our bad habits.
Shout out to all my "Resources" out there.
Ironically, it's the exact opposite. The games that are really good (GTA V or RDR2 for example) are the ones that were a nightmare to make for the developers. Search for stories about RDR2 development, it was probably the worst that will ever be for a game dev. If they would have developed these games at a normal pace, they wouldn't be nearly as good.
Every company treats you like a resource. That's why you get hired through human _resources_ .
It used to be the _personnel_ department. You used to be a _person_ . Now it's the human resource department and you are a _resource_ .
@@mszigetihu Your conclusion is illogical. Game's "goodness" has no correlation to being overworked. Just set a schedule that doesn't demand crunch wat.
They are basically paid slaves.
hahahahaah
Working in Game development was a great learning experience. I watched my coworkers health begin to fail and I foolishly sacrificed a relationship with a woman who loved me with all her heart. In the end after the long hours, several months with no days off my entire studio was shutdown after shipping multiple profitable projects. I learned that regardless of where I worked or how much I sacrificed I was still expendable . I understand that the decision wasn't personal, just business but I vowed I would never put a company's needs before my own health or a loved ones happiness ever again.
@P Mason it's sad. The human body was never really meant to take that kind of workload
💯 Health over anything. It doesn’t matter what other think, health over everything. Includes mental health.
Why do you need to experience this before you realise your lack of value? You can't be this naive. Do you fall for everything once?
@P Mason Hey! Evolution Studios?
@LateralRazor Well ... in this case, it isn't me who is mistaken. I spelt it correctly. Neighbour. Centre. Colour. I'll let you figure out what is going on.
I learned this the hard way. I spent almost half a year interviewing for a full stack software engineering position. It was rough. I took a test after a test. A frontend test. A backend test. A behavioral test. A cultural fit test. A personality test. And finally, after so much work, I got the job. I thought that the pain was over. Well, I was wrong. Three weeks later, my boss comes to my office that I rented because of the pandemic and told me that he feels that I am not fit. A part of me just want to .... But I just took my last check and moved on. I learned to never pour my heart out for a company. This is an ugly world full of sharks.
its much like a boot camp, they need to try and make you crack to make sure you dont shit yourself when the bombs start dropping for real
I'm so sorry for you brother...
@@buniesinfernal7979 I promise they don't put that much thought into it. They just straight up don't care about you.
It's all about productivity and profits
Yup ur right... Just don't care about them... Work for them get paid and move on....
Most triple A games by EA, Blizzard, Activision, Ubisoft, are really bad, underdeveloped, and rushed out to make money. The quality has been declining for years now. I guess the reason for that is the management not knowing how to make a good game, and just forcing people to work harder but not compensating them enough, so people just do the bare minimum not the get fired.
games i have had most hours of fun playing are don't sarve and rogue leagacy, both under 20 usd and both still fun to play, also mount and blade with some mods is hundeds of hours of fun, indie games can be more fun, more infinite fun, and more cost effective fun.
@@SebaCape55 how is that different from starting any other business ??? if you fail at a restaurant you failed
Nah these companies make some of the best games I've played. All the work put in by the poor devs and others did produce great games.
I do think it is disgusting that the management at these companies pay crap to the workers and basically profit off of unpaid labour hours. It would be great if the devs could form a union and demand normal working hours and paid overtime from these greedy companies. Sadly that's likely to never happen.
lol it's not that the managment don't know how to make good games, it's that they just want to make money, so they push something out in as minimal-cost way as possible, hyping it up as much as possible, then making as much money in the first week or so. They don't care about after the first week.
The amount of corporate buzzwords within a 10 second timeframe in that meeting is killing me lol.
Hell you could probably change that to a 2 second timeframe
@@woodbrettm Resources resourcers resourcers resourcers resourcers resourcers resourcers resourcers resourcers
Oh did i mention resources?
@@001VI Depersonalize, just like the army. That way hurting people is easier.
I'm sure it's intentionally written in that type of way to avoid agitating the stock price. They probably have people who specialize in knowing how to package some version of the real executive plan and coding it in that type of language.
@@ca8824 no, they really speak this way. Their brains get deformed after becoming a manager and they cannot articulate their thoughts in a human way.
Programmers should start a guild.
honestly, a developer union should be a real thing
Like Hoffa and Teamsters. Hoffa was able to make truckers and trucks stop. If trucks stops America stops. Those are words of Hoffa. If programmers stop, America and whole world will stop. Think about it...
Yasss Queen
www.gameworkersunite.org/
Lmao we dont need a guild... We have plenty of job options.
Be a IT contractor, then they encourage you to leave after an 8 hour day.
What's that?
I hated working at Activision. They treated people like dogs. No soul, no.. No soul... I hated working at Activision. They fired me because I didn't want to play games after work and drink beer, instead opting to train obsessively (working in 3D Studio for DOS there at Activision, I saw how we could save enormous amounts of time by learning and incorporating this new program called '3ds Max for windows'!) 30 years or so later, I'm glad I committed to learning everything about the tool! I have written Character Animation books using 3ds Max native tools. Now I train obsessively in Unreal Engine! LOL Yeah,. Activision sure sucked. *PRAXIS Filmworks?* _That was a cool company..._
Blizzard - We will cut 8% of our resources.
Also Blizzard - We will aggressively hire new resources (at lower wages and with more responsibilities).
That's literally what he said in the video, thanks for repeating it.
Yeah, I mean our system is definitely messed up and needs reform but at the same time, see it from their perspective, they are only paying you money because they expect a ROI of more money than you cost. It's not a school or college community where they are there to nuture people. They are there to nuture the money people invested in their operations. So if there's a way they can make money more effeciently than you, they are bieng paid money to optimize that effeciency. And if they don't maximally optimize their competitor will and beat them out. We can't expect companies (ie money growth machines) to care about taking care of society. That should be the role of the people through democracy. The problem is American rightists/conservatives have been dupped into believing the machinery of the market should be the ultimate
arbiter of society's welfare and interests. Sad, but therein lies the modern imperfection of democracy. Interesting though how they like the components of socialism when they don't have to pay the police for coming out to a frivolous call on an innocent Black person. Socialism and capitalism aren't mutually exclusive. They're not even complete entities that could exist in isolated and distilled forms. They're really more themes that we have to try to coordinate in the best researched, most strategic, and hopefully empathetic way we can to create the most good for the most people.
C A if you pay taxes then you pay for the police
Also people: Ohh damn,How I would love to be a resource for Blizzard!
Sad...
@@lolpantsification Literally any time you quote someone, you are repeating what they literally said. Thanks for figuring that out all on your own and sharing with us.
in China ,we have this IT culture,its called 996-ICU ,MEANS you work 9:00am to 9:00pm ,6day a week ,until you went ICU,there is some case in HUAWEI like a engineer dead by encephalitis on job
Basically modern day serfdom.
Is it legal? Is China not supposed to be a socialist country?
@@benaissaelbestani5041 China is more like capitalistic totalitarian right now. But at the same time, the Chinese government has been taking big corporations recently for the gain of the bureaucrats.
@@benaissaelbestani5041 China is far from socialist. China is more capitalist authoritarian. A good example of a socialist country with democratic values would be the Nordic countries of Sweden, Norway, etc.
@@Mr_Squarepeg Na, I would say Venezuela is THE socialist country
Worked 2 year as a game dev. I was a passionate gamer since school and was into modding and stuff. In those 2 years i didn't even want to play games.... finally switched to web. I am at peace now.
Okay im scared of being an gamedev now..... Kinda want to make a living with gamedev. Do you think its still relevant?
I have psikolog degree and im self taught with C#. I have couple of sertifikate and boothcamp.
@@realfbi if you know c#, learn unity and try to make a game or two for playstore.... You'll find out yourself...
Same here
@@realfbi don't do it bro. You can find much better companies doing anything else, web dev is good and if you like game dev then you might like backend or full stack work. If you want to make games, you can do it on your own time or even start your own company
@@PolatokJajabor so what languange did you use to be a web dev? I been searching and i found that you can make website with C#
I worked on Playstation 2 @ Sony. We used to work 85 hours a week. One of the hardest jobs I've ever had. Sometimes we even slept under our desks. I worked 9AM-3AM most every day. 6 hours sleep. 2 years was the most I could take. Once they shipped, they laid us all off.
Holy crap, that sounds crazy!
wtf
@@empnadajhhh9469 Whats your argument here?
Is there any proof or evidence of this?
@@empnadajhhh9469 He doesn't say if he got over time pay so it's entierly possible he didn't in which case he got exploited.
I worked at a major oil company for ten years. I met some senior executives during my global travels but I can tell you now and those executives told me. We are numbers in a HR database. Not people but numbers who needs to be culled from time to time to keep shareholders happy. I have a Vice President's award among my other awards, I worked from 6am to 8pm and sometimes for weeks one end without break, but when my time was up along with my colleagues we had to go: We were paid two years salary and bonuses in advance so I am thankful for that. I am at a new company but won't be surprised if we get called in again in a few years or months even. Now I do the minimum and no more. Not worth the mental stress and broken relationships.
Remember when you were a kid and "video game maker" was like the ultimate dream job? Now, after years of hearing what it's like to make a game for Rockstar or EA, then seeing this bullshit, that is the last coding job I'd ever apply to.
By most accounts EA is actually pretty alright to work for. Their consumer facing rep is way worse than their reputation among devs. My knowledge is anecdotal since the only people I know (and trust) that have had involvement with them was someone in a senior QA position and a technical animator. They both only had good things to say. Whether life is different on other teams (they were both on a specific team under the EA banner) I can't say, but certainly better to work for than Blizzard. Fuck Blizzard, that much I can say from experience.
Working for greedy companies will never make for a good work enviroment hence if you want to make games it's probably better to work in a small team or go solo
Don't let it totally dissuade you from pursuing what you want to do. Some game companies are pretty decent. Idk where you're at, but American Gaming Systems is a company I can personally say cares about employee satisfaction, and they hire newbies. 4.7/5 on Glassdoor with 170 reviews (I know GD isn't the end all, just saying). Places like that aren't easy to find, but good game dev jobs exist.
I was like almost done with a game degree when I realized this. Left me fukd
Then start you own.
Remember that CEO's have a fiduciary duty to maximize stockholder return. That means they have a fiduciary duty to fully exploit each and every employee. And, if they don't do that, they get fired by the Board of Directors.
The answer of course is to be your own boss. That's the only way you have control over your destiny, as well as the visibility to your future.
Or work for a company that hasn't sold its soul to shareholders. Those types of bosses typically care a lot more about thier workers and will let profits drop if it means their workplace is better and they can still break even.
@@Darth_Insidious private company dude, I work one and it's ok, work 40h on a product made by the company
the actual answer is to implement better worker protection laws, unionize, or better yet, include regular employees on the board of directors so they get a say in how much they are paid and how things are run.
But that's a shortsighted view of how to run a business. SAS has shown that keeping your developers happy is the true fiducially responsible way to run a company. Developers are less productive in stressful 12 hour days than they are in a happy 6 hour day. And you have less overhead in the costs associated with hiring employees and training new employees.
- Activision Blizzard is firing 800 people
- Why?
- Our CEO needs a bigger paycheck
More like we lose our funding if we don't keep growing our profits. Welcome to the world of stock market funding.
@@Minastir1 Only if you're a start up. If actually looked at the expenses of these AAA games the profits they made from the game would be enough to fund the next one. This is just greed.
Being able to fund the next game with profit doesn’t necessarily mean that your total profits are rising overtime which is what stock market investors want
@@Minastir1 Companies start to go downhill after they go public or sell out to a publicly traded company and become a subsidiary. They become forced to attempt to grow profits, often destroying the business in the long run. Many could make good, steady profits over decades or longer simply by staying in their niche and doing that well instead of trying to step outside of that in order to make more money.
Unfortunately, this is capitalism personified; Company needs to make more profit or have to cut losses from a merger/acquisition? They will most likely have to cut their losses and fire people who have helped the company become what it is. It's sad that many people will see this and think nothing wrong of the current system
It's not only game dev industry. Google is becoming like that as well.
Always have been. Reason for which I kept the distance.
All corporation are doing this. Money over people.
Google also removed don't be evil from there motto or slogan.
The people I know that worked for google said that it’s full of yes-men that pretend to work and never do anything new or profitable for the company because no one wants to rock the boat and risk getting hated by the higher up’s
This video has inspired me to abandon my interest in corporate gamedev.
You could try it, just refuse at all cost the overtime. You will learn this and that, but mostly how NOT to do stuff, there are too many anti patterns in such companies. You can make some friends and probably comrades for your own hobby game.
Good. It's a childish career choice.
Just go indie
The Corporate Speak makes me ill.
Then they wonder why there’s a talent shortage & no employee loyalty.
You reap what you sow.
Listening to the way they speak during this conference call makes me sick of corporate greed 🤮
There's only a talent shortage because there is high demand. There's only high demand because people get addicted to video games.
@@gorkyd7912 There's a shortage across software.
@@gorkyd7912 there is a talent shortage because its very easy to get a degree in programing while being terrible at it. Most people who are any good at programing go else where really quickly
Actiblizz: fires 800 qa to save money
Gamers: cancel sub because new patch is full of bug.
Actiblizz: surprised pikachu.
Oslier this is the overall market trend outside of just game dev, for example many MSFT business units are either moving or laying off all manual testers. They are instead rehiring software engineers that specialize in automated testing. Traditional manual QA is too inconsistent, costly, and time consuming. Automation enables continuous integration and deployment, with the byproduct of rendering old jobs outdated.
Looks like they're adopting the Bethesda model which is, "our customers are our beta testers. And we still won't listen to their feedback."
BazookaTroopaz literally me rn
@@KneelB4Bacon i thought the Bethesda customers were also the devs seeing as that is who makes the mods that make the games good
SHOUT OUT TO QUALITY CONTROLLERS OUT THERE 🙌
Joshua fluke, a hero for the people
Tesla Skeptic a realist that embraces practicality rather than bullshit corporatism.
Me: I want to become a game programmer
youtube: time to scare the living shit out of this guy
Life hack: Go indy...
@@Paltheus And starve to death because no one buys your game and you're swimming in debt.
@@Michael-ob7wz Not necessarily. The whole point is to develop the games in your own time. You could get a job and do it also... If you are lucky you can do freelance work. Once you are up and running you obviously need a bit of luck too... But if everything works out you won't need to be a slave anymore...
Just become a Software Engineer if you are not one already and find a job which doesn't spend your energy too much so that you can go home and make games as a hobby. Software Engineers still make good money and benefits.
Reality: "hold my beer"
Everyone one getting MBAs and all of their education reduces to firing people.
word
Pretty much why I stopped wanting to be a game dev
I was always too smart to go into it. I knew I needed to raise the capital myself. Unfortunately, that means I haven't gotten anywhere near making my game, but fortunately, I'm building up a real estate micro-empire.
I remember seeing all those good devs get devoured by EA. I wasn't about to become one of those stories. Plus, the age of throwing some sprites on a screen and selling a million copies from Best Buy's shelves are over. That's how it was done in the 90s, not now. Oversaturated market space, now.
manictiger it’s not over saturated. In fact ppl are yearning for a game that pushes boundaries instead of boring eye candy bullshit that games are nowadays. It’s a great time for indie devs
Yeah i remember it being a dream up until I was almost through college; then I looked into it and decided I didn't want to work on someone elses vision only to get axed after I make them a ton of sales. If I'm doing game dev, its either for a small studio or for myself.
@@32gigs96
Yeah, well, that takes time, effort, skill and money. There's a reason most games are not much evolved past what we had in the 90s. It's easier to just reskin it and make it prettier. Same controls. Same gameplay. Same ideas.
The games I want to make are all hard as hell to implement and even harder to fund. So, it remains an idea in my head while I continue to expand my networth. I expect my game to suck 10 million out of my bank account and return nothing. I expect to make it mostly for my own satisfaction. Dan Lok calls it the 4th S, "significance". I'm not quite there, yet. I'm still securing the third S, "success".
Indie dev is the move bro.
I work in Human Resources for a major Retail Corporation; and I can tell you that we have these types of calls and information sent out to us regularly. In fact, I am currently dealing with the major downsizing of a massive Supervisor position within the Company because they have increased the job duties of a lower paying position to include a lot of the same duties as said Supervisor position without a pay increase. They call it "empowering" the lower paid position, but in reality it's to further increase the already $Billions going into their pockets while further ruining the lives of those they are supposed to be "trickling" down to as we are told. It can be a morally trying position to have to do this job that is for sure.
you do realize HR is known for seeing what there people post on-line. Why would you divulge such info. Yes, you didn't reveal that much, but there usually zealots and as you should know better than anyone dont talk about this stuff on-line. Unless we have a contract, which most of us dont are we not employee at will. That should be the first thing to get legislated
This is why I make games for fun on my own.
True or fork and mod one.
Please make them open source! I'll start making games be myself to in the future!
To add "insult to injury" they had reported record high earnings that year:)
Ah this exact situation just happened to me. Record profits, but making staff redundant and outsourcing them to India and combining 4 people's jobs into one... It's nice to feel appreciated 😅...
Which company was that so I can never buy their products for my kids?
Game design grad from 2019 here, Joshua's advice about going indie is basically what I did, I started job hunting at the beginning of the year, while I got a solid amount of interviews, I just couldn't find it in me to pass them and I was just terrible at coding interviews (still am, I never practiced them so that's on me.) Luckily a few weeks ago I started work in IT (I'm a big tech geek) and at this point I have plans to get rid of any little loans I have, but on top of that, the indie game dev company I interned for allow me to work for them for a portion of the sales on the games I make.
I cannot underestimate how lucky I am with how things turned out after college and I'd recommend others who are currently studying for game development to have backup plans.
Don't worry. I'm working (not in gamedev exactly, tho) for how many years and the longer I work the more I'm terrible at those interviews. Most of the are bullshiitte.
Do you work in the IT department of a company? What qualifications are needed to land a job in it?
I developed for android in the early days and it was good pocket money but I think it kinda went to shit these days with google play market.
@@omemester6985 I work in an IT company, we offer IT services to whatever clients we pick up, and sometimes (usually) we go to client sites for various projects (desktop deployment, email migrations etc), for me this is awesome because for me I'll never end up bored because there's something different around the corner.
My position is basically a help desk technician and while qualifications aren't always clear cut because of differnt types of software similar to programming, the main things you want to look into are certifications (Comptia A+) and Customer Service experience is extremely invaluable especially since you will be in communication with users trying to understand problems.
My company does also have a software branch, so the possibility of me switching back to that is there also my only gripe is the amount of hours I do, but then again they pay me well and they pay for travel expenses.
Sadly that's what bad indie companies do, instead of paying you, they pay you in hopes and dreams.... which is basically the same as being exploited for working at "your dream job"
The mistake we make is believing that corporate cares. You must go in knowing what it is; that you are a commodity which drives or protects revenue. Empathy becomes a weakness and is grounds for dismissal.
It's them or you.
slavery never ended, it just evolved into corporations and employees. workers are nothing more than slaves to most companies
The irony is that the guy reeling off the financial and strategic update is just another disposable commodity. They could eventually replace him with an AI bot that has access to real time financial data. Hardly anyone would notice the difference because the reporter already sounds like a robot.
@@cybersphere that's so true, they could easily replace him with Amazon Polly , they can just give it the script to read and click a button when it's time for it to read it.
@@mikeha I really hope someone with power at these game dev sites sees this lmao
@@crisisjack "I really hope that guy loses his job, im sure his favorite part of the week is telling people they are fired" come on now, THAT guy has a wife and kids too ya know.
CEO should take a pay cut, they make around 20mil a year...
That's exactly the way call center customer services treat people! It is sickening how workers are treated every where now.
It’s not just now. The difference is that now people can vent online.
Goodness! With all those work hrs, Game Devs can create their own business and have way less stress!
This. Holy hell. It seems to easy since they recycle so much of their talent
GameDev-HR: "Don't think of it as a lay-off, think of it as NewJob+"
Alex bro wat??!? LOOOOOOOOOOL
if they could, they would charge you a premium add-on feature for firing you. 15% of your last check for paperwork, etc.
They just 10x'd their jobs.
Just remember that resources are exploited until they're exhausted.
As someone who went to school for making games and grew up DREAMING of working at a AAA game company, I'm sadly comfortable at a cubicle job due to fear of shit like this ...
watching your view points on the corporate world has changed my view and lit a fire under my ass lately.
Thanks, Josh
Seriously
This is because most programmers are socially awkward spineless creatures.
I have looked people in the eye and told them "you want me to work extra, pay me extra."
And you know what happened? They did.
well if they dint your lawyer would have an easy time bending them over a barrel
bunies infernal for what? Denying a raise lol?
@@kylerowland1227 not paying overtime hours is illigal
@@buniesinfernal7979 Yeah, i'm also confused as to how that happened, but this was back in 2003 so maybe laws have changed since then.
According to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) you should be paid overtime. Those who are exempt include: Professional workers must work in a recognized creative field (like music, writing, the graphic arts and acting) or work in a field requiring advanced knowledge (like law, medicine and education) and earn at least $455 per workweek.
I believe that law needs to be expanded upon, because that may be the loophole employers are using. I believe now is the time to act. Truck drivers, pilots had to have laws enacted to protect them. Why not software developers.
I was once fired through a text message. It wasn't even a text from the company, but my friend who also worked there. The company was outsourcing and cutting 90% of staff. Their way of firing people was to let them come to work only to find their key cards not working, then a security guard would bring a box with your stuff in it to the door.
This is a general issue for high achievers. A lot of people are high achievers because they're good at following instructions. They make great developer foot soldiers. Hard workers who don't stand up for themselves. A corporations dream resource.
Plenty of willing worker drones out there.
They cant really stand up for themselves if their skills arent exceptionally good, otherwise they would just get replaced in a blink of an eye. And becoming indie dev isnt for everyone, because thats just as realistic as everyone becoming a succesfull entrepeneur. Anyways to me it looks like game dev industry is oversaturated with skilled workers and because of that higher ups get the power that they have.
I learned the hard truth about 'working hard' for corporate gradually over an extended period of years. It basically made me jaded about hard work. Maybe I had an idealized or romanticized view of the value of working hard for a company; which I probably learned from the previous generation's attitudes. I eventually cut ties with companies in that I started working contracts for agencies and therefore could take time off and 'walk' when I wanted (and faced those consequences), and also freelancing, which is one of my ultimate goals. It's not a perfect alternative, but I don't think I could work hard for a company ever again.
@@TinyMaths that's what's happening all across the board. while we prance around and do company instruction on sexual harassment and kindergarten bullshit, asia is over there with higher IQ's and doing work that's meaningful. this nation is so beyond dead in the water it's not even funny. it'll be a while before the inmates figure it out.
In one breath they will talk about peoples pronouns and identities to "treat people with dignity"
In the next breath they call people resources
Both ideas has always been the same.
its just a face they put on to impress public optics, they don't care about us, they just want money and promotions
Wait until you find out what HR stands for in the phrase “HR department.” 😂
@@cortholiopezorama8879 HR - human resources
*Negan from the walking dead*: humans are a resource
They're the same picture 😿
the geth why not just slack off for the contract then move onto the next job
This reminds me of the 3 years I worked as a Store Manager for SANITY music Australia - horrible, horrible company who exploits their entire workforce until they burn out and leave!!!
Store Managers are paid minimum award wage with no overtime. Had to arrive at work 30-60 minutes before official opening and many nights I stayed 3-5 hours after closing during busy holiday periods. At Christmas time my young part time employees were earning more money than me and working less than half the amount of time. I stopped going to the gym, because I had no time and no energy. Companies who exploit their workers are hopefully getting 1000 years of bad karma and will re-incarnate as factory chickens.
Sanity Music, huh. Ironic name for such a company.
The game industry has stagnated and I'm glad I'm not a part of it
Finally the Type of RUclipsr I have been looking for who addresses reality like no other!!! Keep it up man and keep on punching them hard in their corporate balls.
If you need 80 hours a week to prove yourself, either you're bad at proving yourself or your company is exploiting you.
That 's the reason why I stopped to work in big companies and began to work with startups. At least there you're part of something, at least there you're more than a mere 'resource'.
Love your content, keep on it.
Until the company gets big, the company gets sold, the owner gets a new boat and you get a pat on the back in exchange for your 120 hours of work a week
@@jastat You can't really win working for anyone else. Can you?
@@AB-pr4uc ye you can, try rise up to a position in a big Corp where you don't need to do much, pick up the paycheck.
@@conoroflanagan2908 Which would thus continue the cycle by becoming another corporate nemesis using employees as tools.
@@conoroflanagan2908 "I'm against being treated as a tool by my superiors, unless I'm the superior treating others as tools." That's really what this #grindreel culture is about, isn't it.
Yep. My last job this past year was great until new management. I was "let go" because they supposedly couldn't afford me and told I was getting a severence of 2 weeks at the beginning of December last year. This was after I was told by my original manager that I was going to get a raise (literally a week later I was let go). Get a call a few days afer I was let go and they said they wanted to hire me back on after the holidays (and so I stopped my job search since I did like working there till they started firing everyone). They did hire me back and said they'd try to find a spot for me. Well they had me doing all of the grunt work for the next 3 weeks until they decided to shift my role. They let me do that for a day and decided they wanted me to do something else. Rinse and repeat 2 more times and I'm observably fed up at work stating I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing anymore because they keep changing my job responsibilities. Asked my new manager about the severence I was promised and he said that them hiring me back was the severence. Come in one day and asked to come into the office and he fired me on the spot because I wasn't performing up to their standards.. never missed a day, never late, the guy that did all the extra stuff like taking out the trash, the guy that worked several days without pay. Fired. Done. Buh bye, we don't care. This was a smaller corporation too they are all trash.
Damn they playing with people's lives
Name and shame the company. What are they called?
@@rezvlt9285 any avEnue for the real severance package?
This happened to me. 3 people were hired one week, then 30 people were made redundant in the Monday morning meeting, including the three they had hired.
Joshua, you're the realest programmer in the RUclips universe. 👍👍
That's not how you treat your "family"
You spelled resources wrong.
Now I feel good about only playing indie games these days.
i feel good pirating
@@CariagaXIII well don't pirate indie games, they're the ones who need support. pirate the shitty AAA games
@@matth3601 yes you are truly an intellectual
Terraria, Astroneer, Heroes & Generals :D
@@6or7breadsticks Noita, Dead Cells :)
I left my job 3 months ago for same reasons.I am from a middle class family in India.Its good to see you .We need more people like this.
what job u left and what are u doing now
@@pranavforyou695 scamming ppl lol
IRS scam calls
Can you please share more? What are your experiences in the industry?
Edited: to all the game devs, I thank you for your hard work & hope you have a blessed day
Unfortunately, this corporate mentality applies across all industries
I heard the same jargon and terminology outside the game dev world. I do a lot of mobile development and they do the same thing for web and mobile dev. Every CS major wants to go into game dev is why they can treat people this way. You are starting see the same thing in mobile dev and web dev as more people are trying to break in the industry.
i'm going into web dev, is it seriously starting to become like this? i really hope not. I really like what i'm doing, it'd be sad to know that it's going downhill.
@@shahrikamin4699 Entirely dependent on the company, but increasingly common in web from my experience (I'm a mobile dev of 7+ years). In your interviews, do as Josh says and interview THEM, find out what they're really like so you can reduce the chance of getting into a situation you don't want to be in.
@@lunathal Thank you, I appreciate it.
luckily such thing does not happen in germany
I’m about to start school for Web Dev.. Should I Continue or just study something else?
"Net head count reduction" sounds like "time to thin the herd for the baron's celebratory feast"
Damn, this makes me never want to play a Activison/Blizzard/Epic game again. So sick.
For real, dawg.
@@dilloncooper1806 Yo how'd you get here lmao
@@kennygunderman lmao I've been following this dude for a while. I was scrolling through the comments and saw your's. Figured I'd give a shout out to my old dawg, Kenjamin! Miss you, buddy! Hope you're doin well!
Dillon Cooper yo that’s wild lmao, yeah he has some pretty solid tech/job vids. Doing good mane 😆 hope things are treating you well at ole TMT
It's all American corporate...it's about capitalism.
Reminds me of Fightclub and the reference to passengers as 'self-loading-cargo' 😂
Blizzard went from being a family company with awesome games that I remember fondly from my childhood and early adolescence to selling out to Activision corporatism. They are a big evil empire that uses their employees and their customers for profit. They don't make games for their customers, they make games for their shareholders.
In a way you could say that the thirst for money by people like Bobby Kotick turned took a good game making company and sucked the soul out of it for profit. Today you have the bare skeleton left (Activision Blizzard) and they are trying to milk their customers and their employees for all their worth.
Stay away from their games, stay away from these companies. They will suck you dry till there is nothing left.
Drinking game: take a shot every time the Blizzard executive says “resources”
Scott Maday a death wish
Idk why but I read your comment in that mans voice of your profile pic
Not enough alcohol in my country, Tai.
What is your problem with the word "resource"? I've never sat in a single business management lecture, but even I understand that this term is not dismissive or insulting in the least.
(Sarcastic)Thanks. Now I'm an alcoholic.
I've shifted a majority of my gaming budget to indie games.
The few AAA games i want to get are quickly dropped from the wish list when I hear of active use of crunch for extended time.
Good code and good art is only consistently made when you're having fun and getting enough time for decompression between tasks.
Headcount/butts in seat management is so imensely unproductive.
They don't realize that a programmer has to take time to acclimate to the job, the code, the procedures, the rules, etc. of the company. That alone has value. If you fire a programmer, you are throwing away someone with all that knowledge. Now when you hire a replacement (which you will probably have to do), they will be starting from square one. And most likely they will make mistakes and introduce bugs into the code, because it's all new to them and they don't know it.
It is a huge company, they'll be fine with some mistakes.
"We want smart employees, driven employees, ...... fewer employees. ..." If anything that company preso was better than most. When I worked in the Telco industry as an IT specialist there were staff that did not even get the courtesy of a presentation. They received a FedEx package detailing their termination and a prepaid return envelope for their badge, keys and corp cell phone.
I have given rules of IT, here some that apply to this video:
Do not let your career drift far from what makes the cash register ring in your enterprise. The farther you are removed from that source the sooner you are terminated.
My mother had to work after hours, yes, when the shift was over they ask hwo wants to stay. Really didnt say 'you have to', but they told how many ppl need. And my mother always was the first for it(it was not paid) just bc she knew ter co-workers have little kids and kindergarden close before they can go home. But yes, they take you only for a few months so that you scared and you feel obligatet. Bc she worked so many overtime she get sick bc of too much work and she needed operacion, and then she was never called back to work... And all this for minimum paycheck.
People like her are saint, so unfortunate the world doesn't appreciate them
I made the decision long ago that I would be an indie game Dev. Partially due to all the horror stories I kept hearing about the AAA industry, and because working on other people stuff is hell to me. It’s things like this that really helps to solidify my decision. Dope vid
Mikeroe Games You’re a genius.
How is working as an indie game dev working out for you financially?
Whatever you do, have your 3-6 months expenses in savings lined up. Before you do ANYTHING else or buy ANY nice things, food, etc. Get your 3-6 saved up. Once you have this, focus on building skill and experience. Be clear on what skills you develop. And don't ever forget, NO JOB is secure. The only security you have is your bank balance and your marketplace skills.
I'll add, that one should not take a job that one can't walk away from. The old adage "always have an exit strategy" applies for jobs as much as they apply for burning buildings. If the culture sucks, or the boss sucks, or the traffic sucks, you need to be able to leave without fear.
Strange how you are a "TEAM" player when you have to stay overtime unpaid, but never the "TEAM" decides to walk out after 8 hours, AS A TEAM.
Because there always is that one dickhead that ruins it for everyone else cause they want to play the corporate game and work those hours in hopes of getting into management.
Actually I worked as part of a team on a software development project about 20 years ago now. I never have had the same experience since. We were under pressure and deadlines to finish the development but we actually did all take some time as a group. Typically it was a 3 day weekend or take an afternoon off to do something we wanted. We actually named it even and called it our skip day. I have worked in other teams since where that would have never happened. We actually finished every phase of the project on time as well.
@@KevinW3278 A happy worker is a more productive worker.
This is a symptom of the last decade or so hiring practices at the top. Literally every high level executive at all major companies are either an accounting or business major. Nobody who worked up the ranks is there, just know nothing business majors who's only expertise is handing down impossible goals to people who are paid less.
Cutting employees is literally the easiest (short term) solution there is. Just slash them and hope your reputation/product lasts long enough to make your millions so you can get out and go destroy the next company.
I've seen the exact same thing in other industries. This is no exaggeration. This is how lots of corporations work.
A key take-away is this: be a contractor! Get that three, six, one year contract with a video game company and set your own hours, knowing that you won't get re-upped for that company. Get the experience, the pay, and the ability to flip them off when you don't get re-hired for another contract.
contract is the key!
on the surface that sounds like a good idea....but if you continually do that, won't it be harder to land new contract work when you can't get a good reference from your previous employers (whom you were flipping off as you walked out their door)
@@adminlazybearsoftware6510 actively making enemies of every client is a bad move. But some deserve it, and funny enough, other clients will usually know the bad client and understand why you didn't get a good reference.
That said: references are rarely checked, except in finance and government (where I do most of my work, so no flipping of for me ;))
Sad thing is, I've sat in meetings like this in the Finance sector - the first half hour they boast that there is so much profit this quarter and the stocks are at an all time high.
The last 10 mins announced a large number of my colleagues were made redundant...
Corporate companies are all the same
The higher ups definitely take advantage of the fact that gamedevs have a lot of passion for their products so working 50+ hours seems to be the norm
try 100 hours a week
@@jastat 100+ hours a week is insane. you aren't overexaggerating right?
@@heartsfear9216 I think it really counts for anything that is "creative" to some extent and especially in the Entertainment industry.
@@jastat that would be 14 hours per day :O
@@heartsfear9216 the anime and manga scene in Japan I think is even worse then game dev's. Especially the manga scene where there are few places to put your work and countless people fighting for it. The only thing that is good is that if you make a breakout like my hero academy or one piece you are set.
Josh I appreciate the realism. Keep up the good content!
It's literally called 'Human Resources'. I remember how this term irritated me when I first heard it.
Nowadays I just go with it since everyone seems to accept it.
I think your advice applies to most workplaces even outside the game industry! You want to work for an employer who realize that they actually profit more if they take care of their employees (= not wasting resources 😃).
Of course you have to crunch at times to meet deadlines, but this is only an effective method if it isn't the norm. I would expect people working as much as you describe, to be way less productive than people working more 'normal' work weeks. I cannot imagine that pressing your employees like that is a good way to get quality work out of them.
Im a doctor in SEA, being a game dev sounds like being a doctor lol. After your 12 hour day you can leave but youre obliged to stay
Imagine all these and trying to be a mom to a 2 year old...it's tough..
Pretty much why there is not a lot of women in the industry. If you cannot crunch, you're dead meat to them.
These problems that you talk about are industry-wide. And, I think it's great that you're talking about them. I think we need to see a re-emergence of labor unions to help get this under control. Whatever the case, clearly something has to be done.
More people in the games industry need to see this.
i also worked in a company that use the burn you out and then hire a new person then when that people worked to the bone and cant stand more abuse they fire that person and hire another one.... this is very common in most companies, you cant talk about the people that were fired, or why, or what happened, many times the people that get fired are the more talented only the people that have no backbone or morals get ahead, any person that have any decent personality will get full attention to get fired as they want dociles slaves that dont question and do whatever is told to them.... again even if thats the case people will get fired and they will repeat the cycle and get new ones..... is like a fukin slaugther house for human souls.....
what company was that
Hi.
You fully described my last job.
It was game dev job, est Europe, racing game.
I am really glad that there is a dev channel out there, which doesn't only show the shiny parts of being a developer. But don't you think that making videos about this on a weekly basis for quite some time is a bit of an overkill? I personnally got your point that no one should give up their personal life and health for their jobs and that you should always be aware of the fact that companies try to instrumentalise you for their needs.
Just trying to spread a bit more positivity out here ;)
Nervertheless: Great videos and high quality content!
Treating employees in this manner is exactly what caused unions to form in the first place. Game developers world wide need to form a union.
Not likely to happen. Big problem is that unions depend on enough people being scarce (plumbers etc) with game devs, every programmer that I know, wanted to be a game dev and has at least some experience in game dev. So youd need every single programmer in America to sign a union agreement. Then youd work about h1 visas. So youd need everyone who can program in every country to sign the same agreement.
I'm a senior game programmer, been in the industry for 15 years, the one thing I learned, was to say no to bullshit. It's been 4 years since I made any overtime. Sadly can't be said for my colleagues, but I knew they would not fire me, the peer pressure bullshit stopped to work. When you are fed the same thing over and over again, you know it taste like shit, so you stop eating it.
@@hepthegreat4005
No, unions formed specifically amongst "unskilled" workers.
@@randomrandom450 I worked in game dev for a while. You get tired of the crunch hours and low pay. I've heard it's gotten worse since I've left.
@@hepthegreat4005 Hard to say from personal experience since I quit AAA game development 3 years ago to go indie, best move I made in my life. I also stopped doing any overtime 2 years before I quit, because I had enough of this bullshit and being a senior, they would not fire me.
If I ever lose my current job because we run out of money and I go back to AAA, I intend to keep that "no overtime or fire me but I know you wont" policy. Sadly, probably a luxury a junior doesn't have.
"Let the bodies hit the floor" - Game Development, Drowning Pool
This is the exact same thing that happens in the movie industry (mainly post production). "Crunch time" is almost always present, people slept on two chairs because there was no point in going home anyway and by the end of any given project, most of the "resource" was laid off. Saddest part is, when the new projects came along, a lot of the resource that was basically left to die, got a call and came back crawling to get tormented again. I didn't and I am glad I escaped this hellhole.
Great job on the videos - keep the corporate cringe coming! Greetings from Bulgaria.
_Hello Peter. What's happening? Um, I'm gonna need you go ahead and come
in tomorrow. So if you could be here around nine, that would be great.
(starts to walk away) Oh, oh, yea…I forgot. I'm gonna also need you to
come in Sunday too. We, uh, lost some people this week and we need to
sorta catch up. Thanks._
Lmao.....'yeah, thats great, did you get the memo?'
And why don't you go ahead get me one of those TPS reports.
Yeah, that would be great!
how tf is it legal to not provide OverTime? Like isn't that the whole point of overtime hours, as a DRAWBACK for the employer forcing employees to work longer hours?
I´m surprised you remembered the EA spouse scandal, and also glad you did.
“They don’t care about you” sums it up 👍
37 year old 2D animation desk jockey here. I can confirm that going independent for a couple years was the best thing I'd ever done even though I was only barely able to keep my head above water. I learned what my limits are, what my time is worth, what my demands are from a company, how to identify bad clients (aka; bosses) and attained a fearlessness as I know I'll be just fine if I'm fired from my current company for not doing the overtime that was foisted upon us.
Pay for my time and allow me to say no to when I'm going to work if it's too much. You demand that either one of those aren't met, then I'll show myself the door and pick up private business again.
The need for constant overtime is a symptom of incompetent management.
Exactly man - no company in this world cares about people - all they care about is their profits - I use my work to learn not to earn :)
Hey Josh, I turned down a job at Electronic arts years ago because they first told me it would be about making websites for the soccer leagues in the UK to inspire children to play more soccer. Then during my final round of interviews, the CTO told me the job was actually about integrating their gaming consoles with the soccer websites, so that they can make their consoles more popular, or in other words, to get the kids to play and buy more video games. Needless to say, I apologized for wasting the time of so many people because I could simply not take on a job that has to potential to make kids more obese and more sick than they already are.
Here is are two quick tips for people who don't want to be a victim of the corporate language you play in your video:
- Start your own company, design games, write the corporate rules and make sure they are fair
- Work for company that does educational games and consoles, like LeapFrog
- Change your mentality and do something that is not related to games at all, or uses gamification principles to improve people's lives - there are many examples
- And if you are truly passionate about how things should changes, try to re-engineer society; I've seen some interesting ideas that so far have not gotten much traction but you might find some more - take a look at the Venus Project and what Jacque Fresco says about society. I don't think you and I will be alive to see this happen but may be our grandkids will.
Best of luck and thanks again for the video.
Interesting Content Josh that is a real shame. I have been in IT for years now starting on Helpdesk and now an Network Engineer and know that the Developers, Scripters, Coders and Automation Specialists are any company's bread and butter. You all are the back-bone and every time learning a new language or dialect of one fast to meet deadlines. Having done some basic scripting and automation it takes time and patience and then debugging constantly. Thank You for what you do and offer to our up and coming developers out there! #100REALTALK #DEVELOPERSAREHEROS
I am starting to think that the job market is oversaturated with programmers...
I worry about this too...
@@nitroyetevn It is...but not more so than any other activity. 21th century is competitive as hell.
_Every_ job market is oversaturated. It's just the effect of overpopulation. Get Thanos right here.
@@RadenWA It's not an effect of overpopulation, but one of overproductiveness. One person is enough to do the job of hundreds thanks to automation and other things that let you work more effectively than in the past. Not only that, but workers are being exploited working more hours than needed, thus basically taking away potential jobs from others by doing a job that could have employed more than one person, just to maximize profit of your bosses. Many jobs have become redundant. Most current jobs are redundant bullshit anyway with which we could do without, but they exist to keep the money flowing and our economic system alive.
For companies it is great that there are more and more people on this world, because that means more and more customers. Money is made by selling stuff. It's thanks to that that you have a job. The problem is that not all of them can get jobs to pay for all the shit that is being produced.
There can only be that many jobs. If population went down, but productivity stayed high or got even higher, then you wouldn't make more money as demand would also decrease.
Everybody dreams about selling his shit to everybody, but if you are the one to sell your shit to everybody, then everybody won't see any need to buy shit from somebody else as their demand will be met by you alone.You'd become rich and everybody else would be fucked.
Ironic, isn't it? You say we need more "real good" workers, but the better they are, the less worker will be needed. Our current system actually demands a mass of "mediocre" workers doing menial job so they can be the consumer, because if they are "real good", then they will make their own thing, which will then be a competitor for the consumer base of the other "good workers".