Hi
I will discuss job offer with a game company soon. Please post how
much I should bargain for.
Good luck, and congrats. This would be many people's dream job.
-job title: port engineer (j2me, Brew phone games)
-at San Francisco
Ok - the very best thing you can do is ask friends who graduated the
year before with your major and grades what they are getting. They may
tell, they may not.
Why your major and your grades? Because many companies will determine
what they pay based on what they think they can get you for. If you
came out with a physics degree, as I did, then they are going to rightly
assume that you are less inundated with job offers than the engineering
students down the hall. You can often work around that, but it is darn
good to know what salary is being paid to people who look like you do to
a recruiter.
Then, try to guess whether the company is about the norm for the
industry, or perhaps a bit cash starved, or perhaps flush. A good way
to tell is to scan the desks of the people you interview with. Is the
equipment reasonably up to date? Do they have lots of reference books?
Ask about conferences people have gone to? At most places I consult
for, ref books are common, only senior people go to conferences, and two
year old equipment is still in very active use.
Assuming about the norm, then try looking up salary surveys. They tend
to be a bit unreliable, as the categories are often a bit screwy, but
they might help. For example, at many companies, an analyst gets paid
more than a programmer, as analysts design, while programmers implement
methods given an exact spec. At others, they have the job title, but
there is little meaning to it.
Me:
-fresh out of college
In all honesty, you are going to learn so much in the first two years
that it almost does not matter what you make, as long as it is
reasonable for the industry, and they are doing something that can be
applied to the next job. That next job may be with the same people, or
with different ones.
Thus, try to make something reasonable compared with your compatriots,
but concentrate on the tools, the techniques, and whether the job and
the people sound like a good fit.
Whatever you do, though, get any extra cookies in writing, like "I will
get 5% raise in six months if my code meets objective performance
criteria negotiated in the first two weeks. This is seperate from my
annual review." or "I will be sent to JavaOne each year on company time
and money." or "I will be given unpaid leave to go to JavaOne each year
without counting against my vacation and sick time." Again, negotiate
for what matters, but try to make it really clear just what you expect,
and what you provide.
-I think they hired me because I made an impressive 3D engine in Java.
But because '3d engine programmer' pays more than people who ports,
they will still offer the job to me as a port engineer.
Also, until you have proven yourself on their code base, they may want
their own engine guy to keep an eye on you. Many who have written great
code do a terrible job on a team.
-If there is info on '3d engine programmer' for phones please provide
it.
Do be aware - that platform is inexpensive, so the bucks rarely roll in.
On the plus side, a company can sell a lot of different products rather
than one massive one. Try to find out how many projects you are going
to be working on, how long they last, and how they are reviewed. This
goes a long way towards keeping you sane.
Scott