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I-smel
Hey look man, my name's "I-smel". What I lack in smarts, I at least pay back in honesty. Boink!
Tom Brien @I-smel

Age 33, Male

England, MAN-CHESTer

Joined on 3/2/06

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Week 2 of working in the games industry

Posted by I-smel - August 29th, 2009

I'm at a conflict:

A couple weeks ago I started workin at [yknow what I should probably remove the name], an independant studio made up of a very small team. They needed an animator, an that's me. I can't say what they're workin on cos y'know- contracts n shit. It's great for me to be here allready cos I came straight out of college without spendin 3 years on a degree. The people there are fab, and I can do the job.

Here's where things get messy though: My contractual hours are 10 til 6:30 Monday to Friday, but I actually work from 10 til 8 or 9, and I just got a phone call asking why I didn't show up today (Saturday).
I get paid £50 a week (that's about a quid an hour) and my boss had a meeting with me to see if he could get it any lower. I make a lot more than that by sitting at home making my own games.
I'd guess that they don't have a lot of money, but right as I started work they bought a £300 statue of Big Boss to decorate the office, and it stands right next to me. That's my wages for the next 6 weeks.

Considering I've got zero work experience, I've got a lot of work to do in a fucking short amount of time. I can't say exactly what I do there, but they've needed an animator for a while. If I left, they'd have to get someone new in immediately.

Now don't get me wrong; I like working there. I work in a small team where everyone knows each other, and I've met people who've worked in games for decades. Oddly enough though, my parents hate that I have this job. They hate me getting home from work at 9 or 10 every night, they hate that I spend my wages on getting to work, hate that people are phoning me askin where I am on weekends, and basically think I'm an idiot for putting up with it. If I don't quit soon enough, my dad is gonna walk in there and get me fired one way or another.

So I might actually quit.
Everyone comment on this, cos I need pushing over to one side o the fence. My brother's first job was an absolute joke, they basically hired a load of fresh-faced graduates just so they could take advantage. Leaving that place ended up workin out great for him- That was a few years ago.

Haven't made any progress on any new stuff by the way, for obvious reasons.

Comments

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craftycraftsman666

that sux dude

I-smel

I don't know if it does or not.

bloodandgore

Well man, if you're not making as much money as doing something you've been doing at home, I say leave.

I-smel

I'm gonna be doing this as a job eventually though.

Save-A-Seal

You're definitely not making a living wage, the hours seem excessive. If this seems like what the rest of the team is going through, and what other possible jobs for you will be like, then it might be safest to stay.

Otherwise, leave, because it sounds terrible.

I-smel

This is all true, except I know people who get paid more than me, and I don't know what it'd be like if I got a job somewhere else.
Like WOULD I get a job somewhere else? and would it just be exactly the same? I don't know.

I expect that if I left, the boss would have a bad word to say to any other employers.

TheBoob

Man, thats a difficult situation. I think it really comes down to learning and experience. If you feel you are meeting good people, and making good long term connections, and hell, if you feel your learning a lot every day, then even thought he wage sucks, and your parents arn't super happy, i would stay.

But if every day, you go in, and they say "draw this" and you draw it, then you dont get any more exposure. Then it might be worth it to leave.

I think the most important thing about any intro level job, is to get the experience and exposure you need, so that some day you can get a real awsome job.

Good luck, and whatever choice you make, just make sure you are happy with it!

I-smel

This is the exact reason I'm thinkin about staying, thanks for defining that.

Sairex

If they need an animator so bad, tell them about how you feel and they'll probably realise that raising your salary is cheaper than finding someone new.

I-smel

I've definately heard "If we didn't have you, I could get a mate to do it for free." which I find insulting and kind of hard to believe.

FrozenFire

I would say don't bother with it if they aren't paying you enough.

There are more stable companies out there so when you do this as a job eventually, just make sure they can sustain your economic needs.

I-smel

I don't think I'm good enough to be hired by a more stable company yet.

ma-d

How much do the other people in the team get payed for similar hours? I mean, it sounds like a nice job IF you were getting payed reasonably.

I-smel (Updated )

I don't know.
There's a guy there who works the same as me with the promise that he'll get a permanent position eventually. I'm now starting to wonder how long he's bin in that position.

PIED3

Wow this is tricky... I guess suicide is the only option left. :'(

...

Nah im kiddin just quit the job and get a new one

LazyMuffin

Isn't there some minimum wage kind of thing over there?
Cause that does seem like not much at all for the time you're putting in.
It doesn't make sense to me that minimum wage here in Israel, a country poorer than England, has better minimum wage than over there.

And if they're not paying you minimum wage, fuck them. They basically took you cause they assumed they could get away with this kind of SHENANIGANS.

I-smel (Updated )

I think minimum wage is about £5 an hour or something, but I know some people who get a bit less than that. Those people do work in McDonalds and Burger King though.

HolyPeanuts

They are paying as much as a damn paperboy, with insane hours. Leave.

I-smel (Updated )

Thanks, that's a good way of putting it.

Sairex

So they mistreet you and disrespect your position...just quit.

FATSHARK

Hmm.

If it was me, i'd give it a little more time.
Atleast TRY and see if it really is worth it for you.

FATSHARK

Oh and minimum wage for an 18 year old is just on or is £5, it goes up to about £5.75 eventually, i think that when your 20 or 22...

Either way it's not much.

You need to establish what you and the team are making and there is no way what so ever they can misguide it as you being a twat.

You're entitled to fair work right and a good work eniroment and it obviously sounds like you don't want to be there due to your own judgements of the team.

Establish some information from your 'fellow emplyees' so you can find some piece of mind and try and come up to a better decision.

Perry

I think, if your playing a big enough part of the team you may want to stick around, if you have a xbla game or whatever on your resume then I think that may be worth the extra several weeks of sticking around, because your skipping college and getting something that you can put on an application for an job you will ultimately get paid well and love doing then I think you should stick with it. Atleast until you see your name in the credits, then make like a tree and get the fuck out of there.

I-smel

Now I'm starting to think about wether this game will make it through to it's ideal release or not.

Blackharrier32

Work is hard to find. What are your other options?

And I know this is off your point, but a statue of Big Boss sounds pretty awesome.

I-smel

My other option is to keep making games and look for a job somewhere else.

And yeah it's like 7 foot and really cool.

itsjms

Hell no, 50 a week? fuck that. I make more money in retail. Youd be better off freelancing.

Wholyish

It sounds like they're basically scamming you. You have little to no professional experience in the industry and haven't had any pay from such a company before. So, they feel they can pay you less than they would have to pay someone who has been in a similar profession, say, 5 years. They're taking advantage of you, simple as that. You need to stand up and say, hey, if you can get someone else to do it for free, great, but I'm not going to work for this little. Especially if you expect overtime.

Vincoid

If the money doesn't matter to you and you like working there, then by all means stay. Your parents seem to be the biggest problem here as they have problems with what you're doing, but what you should do is make clear to them why you work there, why you want to work there and why it's important that they do not interfere.

Sure, it might not be an ideal job when it comes to making money and having good hours, but work experience (having to work in a team) will eventually prove more valuable than the money you could've been making.

Whatever it is you choose to do, remember that is no wrong choice. Every choice you can make will come with it's own opportunities and will offer a different kind of profit. What's most important is what you make of those opportunities, so if you choose to stay, make sure people know about your choice and respect that that's what you've chosen. And if you decide to quit, make sure to work hard to either improve by yourself or to find something else that suits you.
Whatever the choice you make, commit to doing what makes you happy.

I-smel

Every time someone convinces me to quit, someone else comes up with something that makes me want to stay D:

VicBiss

Iffy situation. Atleast you can out that you've had SOME experience on your resumes now >.>

Troppus

£50 for a week?! You're 18, you should be earning hundreds more than that.

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