Rate your profession (fund, degree, visa, paycheck)
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[quote=jobaba;32735635]I thought it might be helpful to create a thread to help some kids who are deciding which profession to enter or career changers. Rate your profession on:
-Job Securityforget it, layoffs constant
-Stress levelvaries, pretty high near the end of a project
-Paycan be good
-Employee perpersonalities Engineers have personalities?
-Whatever else you can think of, positives and negatives, biggest complaints
Demand varies, sometimes everyone wants you, other times you are a total pariah. Usually just get to work on small part of large project. Constant need to get continuing education.
Video Game Sound Designer (though this info can very well apply to other disciplines in game development, especially the creative roles - designer, art)
Job Security - Horrific. Constant Layoffs. Most work contractual. Very few positions and insane competition. I'm even personally doing a career change right now for this very reason.
Stress Levels - Just work-wise, Low stress. Sure there is crunch sometimes, but the work environment is casual and flexible. You get to make something you are passionate about. Lots of perks and benefits working at a game studio. However, it can be high stress if you worry about the constant instability of the field though. Singles seem happiest in the field because they don't have to worry about supporting a family, wanting a home and kids, plus they are generally more willing to travel around, etc.
Pay - Good, at least in my opinion. Positions in game audio typically start 40-45K, 50-70k for 5-7 years experience, 80-150k after 7+ years experience.
Employee Personalities - Very clicky (we either love you or hate you), almost club-like, a bit too much for me because of the small high school like circles that form. On the plus side, lots of people that share a similar passion as you.
Biggest Pros - Getting to work on making games, super casual and flexible work environment, tons of perks, parties, company events (company food, kitchens, employee days out doing cool stuff, parties, swag, drinks, etc)
Biggest Cons - Easy to get burned out, too hard to hold consistent work (you WILL get laid off), even harder to find new work, depending on company management style you can easily feel like a production worker in a factory line just making some generic game instead of being able to creatively put the game together.
Last edited by the_grimace; 12-24-2013 at 06:48 PM..
-Job Security: Lukewarm. When the work is there, you could be working as many hours as you like. During normal times, OT is generally available for those who want it. During recessions, skilled staff are usually the first ones to see the pink slips though. Makes sense, because we are paid to do... Other employers may try to scoop up talent at a discount during these times.
-Stress level: Can be stressful in some places. We work with parts that can be worth over 10K easily. One mistake and it's garbage, and probably your job. Other places are less stressful, but the jobs sometimes pay peanuts. When I start working on parts, they've usually had about 10-20 hours of work put into them... So if I screw something up, it's a big problem. Attention to detail will save you a lot of that potential for stress. If something does not seem right, stop immediately.
-Pay: Can be crappy at some places. Other places may pay $30/hr and up. Depends on skill level, experience, and the type of work the company is doing. We make parts for the food, research, medical, automotive and aerospace industries. A good mix of security with hourly rate potential. We're paid enough to do well financially, but not getting rich (who is?). At the same time, we are always busy, even when others are laying off.
-Employee personalities: Many places hire the worst forms of human life for unskilled labor jobs. I've had tools stolen, lunches eaten, and I've been verbally threatened on the job. Where I work is much more pleasant though.
-Whatever else you can think of, positives and negatives, biggest complaints
Where this profession really shines is the job satisfaction. If you enjoy producing something of physical/tangible wealth, this profession is great. If you enjoy using your brain and creativity to solve problems and get the job done, this profession has a lot to offer. I love what I do, and I have a lot of pride in the work I do. You have to if you want to succeed in this profession. Every day, I am creating something that will serve a purpose and satisfy a need. Some of the medical parts I work on are saving lives every day. That is something that gives me purpose, and pushes me to excel. If that element of the job didn't exist, I would likely find something else to do with my life. They call that "the itch". The desire to make and create.
Position: Director of Communications for a not-for-profit organization
- Job Security: Strong. People are rarely fired. My predecessor left to open a B&B in Vermont.
- Stress level: Fluctuates but generally moderate/manageable. Right now, it is high due to a significant number of events this season that we are holding that requires extended availability beyond business hours.
-Pay: Low six figures.
-Culture: Very cool people. Friendly, accomplished, engaged. Really, just a plain likable bunch. However, slackers need not apply. While the atmosphere is very warm, high-level performance is expected. That's not a hardship though when everyone seems to love what they do.
-Job Security
I would say pretty high once I get through the 6 month probation period. Right now it is very good. No worries.
-Stress level
Very low to none. But I am comparing this to my last job which was very high stress.
-Pay
I am comfortable with what I make. It is lot more than I used to make and has a lot of potential fr growth. Probably not what most people would consider great though.
-Employee personalities
I really like everyone I work with. We are a really good match and mesh well as a team.
-Whatever else you can think of, positives and negatives, biggest complaints
I have only been at this job for two months and have no complaints. Getting up at 5 am and the long commute are mild annoyances but I like my job so much that just don't mind. It does have some down sides but these are a part of the job and I accepted that when I applied for the job. It has far more up sides and the benefits and perks are pretty amazing. for instance at the moment I am off work paid until January 2nd.
- Job Security: Very strong, I hold the company license to do business in a variety of states.
I hold a Level IV certification which is the highest level to obtain which requires a long, long meaning taking several days, written test, written recommendation by a licensed professional engineer or senior level technician and a minimum of 10 years verifiable experience. They carefully check experience and the quickest way for a professional engineer or senior level technician to lose their license/certification is to lie on a recommendation form which is something we just won't do.
Among projects I am specifically called to do is this one and this one.
I checked the registry and on November 22, 2013 there were 1,273 Level IV'S for an average of less than 26 per state. For example California has only 42 so it isn't like I ever run into a lot of competition.
- Stress level: Not stressful because nobody else knows my job or how to do it.
-Pay: Good and the 2010 industry salary survey is pretty accurate from what I know
Entry level is $30,000 without any experience.
-Culture: You do your job and you do it right because if you don't there is nobody else around who can fix it and you can't blame someone else when statute dictates you have sole responsibility. I don't bust my butt for productivity but I NEVER make a mistake and every bullet I shoot hits the bulls eye. A company can not afford me to be wrong.
Chemist
-Job Security Very Poor Layoffs are the order of the day, especially in pharma. R&D seems to be the first thing cut when budgets are tight. Also many companies are using temp agencies to staff their labs.
-Stress level Generally low to moderate. When things aren't working and you are on a deadline it can get stressful otherwise it isn't too bad.
-Pay Exceptionally Terrible especially considering the difficult educational prerequisites. $15-20 no benefits often.The takeover of jobs in my profession by temp agencies has exacerbated an already bad situation with companies off-shoring jobs and calling for an h1b free for all it is only going to get worse. I am seeing jobs for $10-12 an hour with no benefits.
-Employee personalities Highly variable but normally you are dealing with very intelligent individuals in the private sector so there is less crap. In academia though you can end up with psychologically dysfunctional individuals with tenure or total sociopaths. The main problem is the poor pay and job security and lack of worker development and career progression leads to extensive worker disengagement and active disengagement and some can act out their misery on their coworkers.
-Whatever else you can think of, positives and negatives, biggest complaints
Positives the job can be interesting, and you work with complex and varied equipment. Unfortunately the extremely poor pay is insulting, it slowly kills your interest in the field, and leads to extensive worker disengagement and misery. I would definitely not recommend the profession to others. Anyone with the intelligence for the field can do infinitely better elsewhere.
-Job Security- Very high. Not only do I have tenure, it would be incredibly hard to replace me due to the course I teach. Very few people have the specific combination of certs, and degrees necessary to meet our articulation agreements.
-Stress level-High, small number of students but they produce massive amounts of work. Handful of parents who are unbearable, they are why I will leave in a few years.
-Pay- moderate for a teacher, low considering the credentials needed to hold this position.
-Employee personalities- other teachers? I never see them. My students are bright, driven, and hard working overall. A few panic because my class is not like others they have taken.
Research Scientist paid thru grants
-Job Security-Theoretically low but my area of research, invasive species Eco is a hot button item lately. I have had a grant every year for the last eight.
-Stress level- Moderate. I am my own boss, but field work is field work and can be stressful. Especially since all grants need to result in at least one publication.
-Pay-Moderate compared to other research jobs, great compared to teacher pay.
-Employee personalities-Scientists can be an odd bunch but I only work with a handful of people and they are uniformly awesome.
-Whatever else you can think of, positives and negatives, biggest complaints
No complaints here, love it.
A customer comes to my boss and says lets make this dumahickey sometimes its literally a crude drawing with missing dimensions on a piece of paper. My boss says sure I can make that for you, then he hands it to me and says make this now monkey! Most the time I draw the part in Solidworks then tool it up in Mastercam, or I skip Solidworks or sometimes its so simple I just type the G code.
I then attempt to make the part in one shot perfectly the first time and in under a few hours. 9 times out of 10 no matter how many times I double check my work the first part is junk; some dimension is off or I made a mistake with feeds and speeds and the finish is undesirable. But on the second try I get it just right then after the program is proven I hand the program off to an machinist/ machine operator (depending on the parts complexity) who makes a couple more of the random doohickeys. I'm not the only one who does this, there are 3 more guys with a similar skill set but they aren't quite as good as I am.
-Job Security For me it's good because I am a jack of all trades, for now. But, if the boss decided to outsource modeling or Mastercam work I'd be out of a job or much poorer.
-Stress level Sometimes I want to hid in the bathroom and kick my own ass so I can go home (ala Jim Carey in Liar Liar). Deadlines are tight, there are a lot of things to remember, a lot of calculations to be made. It's very easy to make a mistake that takes hours to fix. The software is finicky; Sometimes the CNC controller and CAM software butt heads and you just have to pray you can find a work around. Oh, and you can destroy a $300,000 dollar machine before you can yell "oh shhhi" if you didn't do something right. It's not idiot proof in any way, shape or form.
-Pay My pay is good for Portland, Or. Around 75k, but mostly more. My boss gave us nice bonuses this year because we did a huge amount of very profitable work for the oil and mining industries. My boss keeps the company under 24 employees so we have no benefits. I pay for my own medical insurance.
-Employee personalities We're mostly blue collar morons, we talk about football, harleys, cars, places to vacation, internet stuffs, machining, guns, machining guns, shooting guns, rebuilding guns, buying guns, hiding guns from the feds, selling guns, gun magazines. (I get really sick of talking about guns, some people are way too into guns) The shop is very republican, very anti-obama, anti-gay, racist, pro Jesus, Pro capitalist, Fox news and brietbart following, former vets, bleeding red, white, and blue Murcia! Oh and I'm really sick of talking about Duck Dynasty, the show was funny for a few episodes, let it go.
We also talk about the crap we make at home with our small lathes and self built CNC mills and our desires to get new equipment or better controllers and then the conversation ends "but the wife says no."
Diversity?: 14 chubby, bearded white guys wearing carhartts. 3 white fitness Nazi former marines with bald heads who have no personality, 2 normal white guys (myself included), A ukranian, 2 mien Chinese guys that barely speak English but are always oddly happy . 2 Mexicans and 2 older white women.
-Whatever else you can think of, positives and negatives, biggest complaints
positives- hmmm pay, indoors climate controlled (when the boss isn't being cheap). Really immature stupid people always telling jokes and playing pranks. Generally good-natured people.
negatives -Stress, security, lack of benefits, megalomaniac boss.
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Engineering blows
