You heard me right. It's not good to work at a popular gaming company. It used to be great, because you were respected. However, for those looking to enter the "industry", I suggest you examine a few things before you proceed.
1. You will be blamed for EVERYTHING.
I used to work for Electronic Arts. After a year with the company, I started to leave out that I worked for EA (yeah, I work as programmer for a gaming company). After 18 months, I left out that I worked for a gaming company (I'm a programmer. I do code for automation). The reason being is that, without fail, I would meet someone who has experienced a bug in some game that I have: A. Not touched, B. Don't work on.
Biggest example, I worked at EA Tiburon. Yes, we built almost all of the sports titles, or at least worked on at least one part of it. However, when I played Dead Space 2 Multiplayer, people would ask about the lag, and when they plan on releasing the DLC, and why they weren't able to access X thing in some Need for Speed title. My response to all of these: I don't know.
From a friend perspective, it doesn't seem like a big deal, but, in the programming industry, you will encounter new employers in the programming industry that also have played games that your company has produced. Unfortunately, gamers are very fickle about who they hire, and, if you encounter someone interviewing you, and they ask about a gaming company specifically that you put on your resume, you might want to be wary. They might just be slapping a big "You worked on this game that had 4000 bugs in it that I found." It can be a hassle. It, by no means, is a complete dealbreaker.
2. You will be required to work long hours, sometimes with no extra compensation.
While this is nothing special, gaming companies are rated based on gross money made minus development costs. In a gaming company, its all about bringing costs down and profits up, most of the time. You will be scrutinized for every hour you work, and you may be required to work late nights, even weekends at the end of a gaming cycle. When I was QA Tester in EA, I worked 32 out of 48 hours at the end of a project, and this was a common occurrence. Since I was an hourly worker (paid according to how many hours worked), I got compensation, and overtime, but most developers are salary based, and usually do not receive any kind of extra compensation for their devotion.
Its actually been an issue. Gaming companies overwork their employees and provide nothing extra. Electronic Arts used to be a big hardass on providing anyone anything extra for their time.
3. It will ruin you to your game.
Working on World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Skyrim or whatever may sound like a good idea. It may sound like a dream come true, but its not. It absolutely will not be. I can provide all of the reasons why:
A. You will see every bug that you found, or had to work on, or created a workaround for. It will stand out like a purple dinosaur sitting in a white room.
B. You will know exactly what to do, and what to expect. The wonderment of experiencing a new game will be completely lost.
C. You will be tired of it. The thing is, when you have seen a line of dialogue twice, its no big deal, but, I can show you exactly what will happen if you get into the gaming industry with your favorite game. Play the opening sequence of your game every day for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 25 straight weeks. More than likely, you will have logged about 3000 times of hearing the same thing. You will hate it, or at least, be annoyed by it.
Developers have their own "environments" they have set up that will bypass the opening sequence when hitting F5 and go right to whatever they work on. The reason being isn't that they are trying to get their work done, its that they are tired of the game. When you have done the same thing over and over again, you just don't want to see the opening sequence again for the Nth time.
4. It rewires your brain.
While I can't give any scientific papers that say "becoming a developer rewires your brain", I can tell you that it changes your perspective towards gaming. You will have to catch yourself doing the following things during games:
A. Backing out and entering a screen "just to see what happens."
B. Looking close at the screen to see that "tearing" you see about a half a mile down the scenery.
C. Jumping and hitting every button at the same time on the controller to see if the game will freak out.
D. Just listening to some minuscule sound just to find out if it is supposed to be there or not.
E. Clicking in places which don't have any controls to see if it does anything.
F. Trying developer/debug cheats first.
G. Walking up to walls to test their physics.
H. Watching an explosion and noting where all of the debris later, then reaching for your notepad (or using notepad.exe) to note if there is a physics issue.
There's a lot of things that I, and many people I have interacted with in the gaming industry have experienced. Its a very observable change, because you will get new guys that will join in on "programmer gaming nights" and you will see veterans do things that the new guys don't.
5. It will make you bitter.
When you've moved the couch for the 28th time because some designer thinks its in the wrong place again, you get bitter. You treat every bug like its an attack on you. You won't show it, but it will spill over to your general life, even if it only happens once in a while, it can be an issue.
---------------
On the flip side, working for a gaming industry can be very rewarding. While you will generally not get any direct "awesome job on X", where X is a great game, you develop a family in the studio that no other programming job can really boast very well. Since you have been through thick and thin, everyone understands each other. You will complain together, and reminisce about the weirdest bugs you've found/fixed. You will eat together, and laugh as you get discounts, then complain about other games you play.
If you can get past the issues that may come up from it, you can still get into the gaming industry. It will require some work. The gaming industry is very well established. New startups are risky (you could lose your job), but are easier to get into. Older companies are harder to get into, but, if you do your job well, its harder to lose your job.
1. You will be blamed for EVERYTHING.
I used to work for Electronic Arts. After a year with the company, I started to leave out that I worked for EA (yeah, I work as programmer for a gaming company). After 18 months, I left out that I worked for a gaming company (I'm a programmer. I do code for automation). The reason being is that, without fail, I would meet someone who has experienced a bug in some game that I have: A. Not touched, B. Don't work on.
Biggest example, I worked at EA Tiburon. Yes, we built almost all of the sports titles, or at least worked on at least one part of it. However, when I played Dead Space 2 Multiplayer, people would ask about the lag, and when they plan on releasing the DLC, and why they weren't able to access X thing in some Need for Speed title. My response to all of these: I don't know.
From a friend perspective, it doesn't seem like a big deal, but, in the programming industry, you will encounter new employers in the programming industry that also have played games that your company has produced. Unfortunately, gamers are very fickle about who they hire, and, if you encounter someone interviewing you, and they ask about a gaming company specifically that you put on your resume, you might want to be wary. They might just be slapping a big "You worked on this game that had 4000 bugs in it that I found." It can be a hassle. It, by no means, is a complete dealbreaker.
2. You will be required to work long hours, sometimes with no extra compensation.
While this is nothing special, gaming companies are rated based on gross money made minus development costs. In a gaming company, its all about bringing costs down and profits up, most of the time. You will be scrutinized for every hour you work, and you may be required to work late nights, even weekends at the end of a gaming cycle. When I was QA Tester in EA, I worked 32 out of 48 hours at the end of a project, and this was a common occurrence. Since I was an hourly worker (paid according to how many hours worked), I got compensation, and overtime, but most developers are salary based, and usually do not receive any kind of extra compensation for their devotion.
Its actually been an issue. Gaming companies overwork their employees and provide nothing extra. Electronic Arts used to be a big hardass on providing anyone anything extra for their time.
3. It will ruin you to your game.
Working on World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Skyrim or whatever may sound like a good idea. It may sound like a dream come true, but its not. It absolutely will not be. I can provide all of the reasons why:
A. You will see every bug that you found, or had to work on, or created a workaround for. It will stand out like a purple dinosaur sitting in a white room.
B. You will know exactly what to do, and what to expect. The wonderment of experiencing a new game will be completely lost.
C. You will be tired of it. The thing is, when you have seen a line of dialogue twice, its no big deal, but, I can show you exactly what will happen if you get into the gaming industry with your favorite game. Play the opening sequence of your game every day for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 25 straight weeks. More than likely, you will have logged about 3000 times of hearing the same thing. You will hate it, or at least, be annoyed by it.
Developers have their own "environments" they have set up that will bypass the opening sequence when hitting F5 and go right to whatever they work on. The reason being isn't that they are trying to get their work done, its that they are tired of the game. When you have done the same thing over and over again, you just don't want to see the opening sequence again for the Nth time.
4. It rewires your brain.
While I can't give any scientific papers that say "becoming a developer rewires your brain", I can tell you that it changes your perspective towards gaming. You will have to catch yourself doing the following things during games:
A. Backing out and entering a screen "just to see what happens."
B. Looking close at the screen to see that "tearing" you see about a half a mile down the scenery.
C. Jumping and hitting every button at the same time on the controller to see if the game will freak out.
D. Just listening to some minuscule sound just to find out if it is supposed to be there or not.
E. Clicking in places which don't have any controls to see if it does anything.
F. Trying developer/debug cheats first.
G. Walking up to walls to test their physics.
H. Watching an explosion and noting where all of the debris later, then reaching for your notepad (or using notepad.exe) to note if there is a physics issue.
There's a lot of things that I, and many people I have interacted with in the gaming industry have experienced. Its a very observable change, because you will get new guys that will join in on "programmer gaming nights" and you will see veterans do things that the new guys don't.
5. It will make you bitter.
When you've moved the couch for the 28th time because some designer thinks its in the wrong place again, you get bitter. You treat every bug like its an attack on you. You won't show it, but it will spill over to your general life, even if it only happens once in a while, it can be an issue.
---------------
On the flip side, working for a gaming industry can be very rewarding. While you will generally not get any direct "awesome job on X", where X is a great game, you develop a family in the studio that no other programming job can really boast very well. Since you have been through thick and thin, everyone understands each other. You will complain together, and reminisce about the weirdest bugs you've found/fixed. You will eat together, and laugh as you get discounts, then complain about other games you play.
If you can get past the issues that may come up from it, you can still get into the gaming industry. It will require some work. The gaming industry is very well established. New startups are risky (you could lose your job), but are easier to get into. Older companies are harder to get into, but, if you do your job well, its harder to lose your job.
