India
Yesterday
517
Why is Modi spewing so much hate on Muslims to win elections?
World Conflicts
8h
210
Noam Chomsky's Take on Hamas
World Conflicts
Yesterday
659
I don’t understand Israel/Jewish problems
Tech Industry
5d
44251
GOOG will be destroyed on Monday.
2024 Presidential Election
2d
42137
There’s going to be an emergency shut down
I’m senior 2d artist in gambling industry with 10 years of experience. My TC is around 100k which seems pretty generous especially since I live in one of the non-tech states and cost of living is lower. My dream job as I imagine it would be working as concept artist or illustrator for Warcraft or Hearthstone. But I don’t think I’ll qualify for middle position with my experience. I would most likely start as a junior (if that’s even a possibility for 30yo person and not fresh graduate) I have tickets for lightbox expo this year and I have solid plan of expanding my network and getting portfolio reviews from Hi-rez, Blizzard, and Riot. I’m working hard on my portfolio right now but I’m unsure if I’m ready to switch. Current TC and benefits are great and I’m not sure I would want to relocate unless I’m getting big bump on the salary side. At the same time I hate what I’m doing especially with management shoving AI down our throats. My coworkers and management barely appreciate art. I’m just spending my free time improving my skills as much as I can but I crave an environment that would help me grow artistically and professionally. Any thoughts? #gaming #art
10 Yoe of experience @ 100k can be considered low*. Age and AI isn't specifically relevant [At least in AAA games, I mean we use some AI for concept roughing only and that's it, nothing for actual production]. I switched from Film VFX and Feature Animation work at age 40 and went to Riot, Sony, etc and my knowledge/skillset ported over pretty easily, [it helped I was able to show some real-time work in Unreal Engine, some film guys are really lazy about jumping into real time]. I'd aim for work where you get a good base salary + bonus/bonus multiplier based on performance and some form of profit participation, stock RSU's of some sort, etc. You'll want to target AAA games and get a title or two under your belt ASAP which helps on the compensation side. As someone else stated, the salary playing field is leveled a bit with people working from home for some companies, their salaries have to be competitive with HCOL locations/California. So to answer your question, yeah chase big companies which are profitable and have big production budgets. These days I don't touch a job unless there's some form of profit participation/RSU structure. *- I'll expand on this, If you are in the midwest or something and it's really LCOL factoring in all taxes/costs etc, Then you have to factor that stuff in with the new job. I've had friends make the trip to Texas for game dev work until the COL ramped up over covid and they wound up moving back to California or just going elsewhere with a new gig to break out of the "we don't have to pay as much because you are in a LCOL area" trap.
I think you should switch just because you hate what you’re doing
I don't see any reason for you to not apply. What's the worst that could happen? I applied to a bunch of roles before I got hired. Also your age won't be a factor in whether you're jr, mid, or sr... So I would encourage you to apply for whatever role(s) suits you best. In terms of relocating and salary, I think they're still offering some remote positions, but that might be dependent on the team, so just check the JD or talk to a recruiter. Idk where you're at, but in CA we have this pay transparency situation, so for the Irvine and Santa Monica campus they have to disclose the salary range in the JD (not sure about Austin and Albany though). And if relocating is something you would consider then Blizzard will relocate you. Also, idk if it would be feasible for you, but Blizzcon is literally a couple days after lightbox expo, so if you can extend your trip, it might be cool to check that out. Also if you need a referral, lmk
At least for blizzard, leveling can sometimes change depending on finding the right fit for the role. Pm if you need a referral
Few things for you: - 100k at 10 yoe isn’t generous even for LCOL, always aim for more - Apply directly to roles online and DM hiring manager on LinkedIn (don’t assume you’re not qualified, tons of ppl in studios get 5+ yoe roles when they have 0-1 yoe. I’ve seen it first hand, and it’s fine - pc and console games industry is great, come on over - feel free to DM any questions
Wow thanks! It’s not what I expected, I thought people would be like yeah, stay where you are :D I might reach out with questions later on. Thanks again!