The Official "How Much I Earn/What Job I Do" Information Thread

Moses said:
Aren't your living costs ridiculously low, being in the RAF?
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I pay £75 a month rent on a large 3 bed house in oxfordshire which is nice, We dont pay water rates, council tax is slightly lower as well.

You also get free medical and dental.

Although when you come to leave real world costs are a bit of a shock....:eek: as i,m finding out now..
 
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Bleek said:
Quite often the more expendable money you make that isn't tied to debt, bills and cost of living becomes harder to spend as you amass it. It's easy to throw a 'few hundred' at something but when you start thinking about depleting thousands that you've accrued all of a sudden a sense of prudence takes over.

Some of the richest people are the tightest people! :)
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Yeah, I agree with this. I generally spend money as if I was still earning £35k. Still drive cars that are 6 and 10 years old....just cant bring myself to blow 10's of thousands on things that will depreciate like a stone.

My only real extravagance is we have a lot more expensive meals and weekend breaks etc. I guess its partly because when you've earned it all yourself and have it as cash in the bank, you're a bit more protective of it than if you were to spend the same amount on finance. Also when you're responsible for employing people and paying their mortgages too you like to see a big reserve of cash there in case something did go wrong.

My 'richest' friend is 38, earns about £200K as an actuary and partner for KPMG and drives around in a 5 year old Audi A4 2.0 diesel. Cars and 'stuff' just aren't important to him....he does have an amazing house though
 
mac1st3 said:
Degree in computer games technology, focussed mainly on art, modelling and animation, but as a broad degree, it covered project management, soundtrack making, programming and other things, so theoretically it's quite useful, but there's roughly 0 jobs in the gaming industry at the moment for junior artists/modellers, had a brief stint as a tester, but didn't get put int he credits for the game I worked on, so I'm back to square one lol
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The problem you have is you're not specialised enough. If you're an artist, you don't need to know about the audio or programming aspects of making games, you need to be GOOD at art and have some kind of technical knowledge, so you're not overwhelmed with the -- often poor -- tools you'll be using.

Do you have a portfolio? Where were you a tester and was it in the development or publishing side of games?
 
Castiel said:
People live to their financial means.
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That's exactly the expression I was trying to say. Thanks matey. :)

It's hard not to, though I don't spend much on luxuries (to my standards at any rate) and still have to put a little money aside for holidays etc...

I think everyone starts to live to their means to a certain extent - it takes a lot of control not to - it sort of just happens doesn't it?
 
22-25, £15,001-£20,000, "Assistant Development Manager", Level 4 (Quit uni but got diploma cert), 35 hours, East Lancs.

I have very little self confidence really. I could probably earn more working elsewhere but my job is very realxed in a great environment very close to home (rural area). I also started here when there were only 5/6 employees and the company is moving forward as I have, started here on 12.5k and I'm on 19k with a review this month. We've won plenty of awards during this time and we seem to be doing very well. We all have good free shares in the company so if it's ever floated there could be some good gains from the product we've all helped to develop, most of us from day one. I've had a few personal issues during this time which has brought me down a lot so my work has suffered so I feel fortunate to still be here, but we're like family really and it's a great team to work with.

However I have lost a lot of my creative side since I started here 5 years ago, was really into 3D modelling etc and a contact I made through the GTA forums said I could have easily got a job at R* games at the bottom doing 3D modelling but obviously there's career options from there. I should really have gone to uni to do that sort of this as opposed to my web and multimedia course that I hated and quit. I do feel a bit like I;ve let myself down but living here is very restrictive. I had a mortgage for 3 years but my ex cheated more than once (and cried rape) so I told her she's paying for the mortgager and I'm now living back with my parents living cheap and keeping my head down. Will be debt free on pay day (aside from the mortgage, but she's applying to take it over with her new bloke this month) and it's a forward look from there.

So looking at this thread is a little depressing, although I only need a modest life the desire for more is always there. Hopefully I can apply myself this year as 2010 is one to easily forget, I suppose I just lack inspiration (and qualifications!).
 
Freefaller said:
That's exactly the expression I was trying to say. Thanks matey. :)

It's hard not to, though I don't spend much on luxuries (to my standards at any rate) and still have to put a little money aside for holidays etc...

I think everyone starts to live to their means to a certain extent - it takes a lot of control not to - it sort of just happens doesn't it?
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It certainly does, you buy a slightly more expensive car, a bigger Tv and so on, you go to Jamaica instead of Margate and eat out more often, buy more expensive food etc...

It is a natural thing and I doubt anyone really realises they are doing it unless they sit down and really think about it like we have just done.
 
Dup said:
22-25, £15,001-£20,000, "Assistant Development Manager", Level 4 (Quit uni but got diploma cert), 35 hours, East Lancs.

I have very little self confidence really. I could probably earn more working elsewhere but my job is very realxed in a great environment very close to home (rural area). I also started here when there were only 5/6 employees and the company is moving forward as I have, started here on 12.5k and I'm on 19k with a review this month. We've won plenty of awards during this time and we seem to be doing very well. We all have good free shares in the company so if it's ever floated there could be some good gains from the product we've all helped to develop, most of us from day one. I've had a few personal issues during this time which has brought me down a lot so my work has suffered so I feel fortunate to still be here, but we're like family really and it's a great team to work with.

However I have lost a lot of my creative side since I started here 5 years ago, was really into 3D modelling etc and a contact I made through the GTA forums said I could have easily got a job at R* games at the bottom doing 3D modelling but obviously there's career options from there. I should really have gone to uni to do that sort of this as opposed to my web and multimedia course that I hated and quit. I do feel a bit like I;ve let myself down but living here is very restrictive. I had a mortgage for 3 years but my ex cheated more than once (and cried rape) so I told her she's paying for the mortgager and I'm now living back with my parents living cheap and keeping my head down. Will be debt free on pay day (aside from the mortgage, but she's applying to take it over with her new bloke this month) and it's a forward look from there.

So looking at this thread is a little depressing, although I only need a modest life the desire for more is always there. Hopefully I can apply myself this year as 2010 is one to easily forget, I suppose I just lack inspiration (and qualifications!).
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You don't need any higher education qualifications to get a Job as an artist in the games industry, I say artist as you will rarely get a job doing just 3D modelling now as you expected to be able to texture at least especially at Rockstar.

My house mate quit Uni in his first year and got a job easily, its all portfolio.

If you want any more information give me a shout because you sound like you had a rough time as did I before I finally broke into the industry.
 
It would be interesting/useful for people to say if they are full time employed or contractor as that will make the thread more useful.

I am full time employed and if I put my salary most people wouldn't bat an eyelid in comparison to some here. However my total package amount paid (benefits) is a lot higher and so cant be compared to a contractor.

Examples are,

Holidays (I get 36 paid holidays a year)
Pension (4k a year paid into)
Education (around 4k a year towards this as well as internal training)
Sharesave
Discount on products
Life insurance
Death in service
Private Medical

etc etc.
 
qbazdz said:
Has anyone been doing statistics of some sort?
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I really hope not, if they are that person has way too much time on their hands. There's also a fair few difficulties in comparing on a useful basis as people aren't always giving information based on the same criteria - one of the banes of my life is incomplete data and trying to work out a way to compare it.
 
19 - 21 - <£10000 - Family electrical & College - Level 3 & 2 - about 34 hours incl college and working.

It's actually quite depressing as I want to be working on an apprenteship (currently the only way to get an electrical NVQ3 qual) but I'm only able to do my level 3.

Fed up of a crap wage currently.

if anyone knows of any electricians or electrical based careers or apprenteships or even experience give me a bell :D. (In Cheshire or commutable distance)
 
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