Jonathan Blow

I think you're underestimating the types of jobs out there. Very few people need a game engine written from scratch vs trying to wrangle some crappily performing Javascript app. For smaller companies at least, they're fine with less technical prowess and more wrangling skill.

I mean, I know how much tech leads make at AAA game companies, and it is a lot. You don't get that job if you just do C# in Unity.

Agreed, but the reality is that a more significant portion of the "games industry" isn't AAA at all. Its small/medium firms servicing all sorts of fields, especially around certain parts of the UK. I suspect it's true for many parts of the world too.

and then again, I make more than a AAA company tech lead just doing wanky boring Java code in another industry altogether. So there is that, too.

'principal programmer' at activision earns $165,000. prob bonuses too. Snr software engineer at valve earns $152-470,000, according to this: https://www.loveforgames.com/salary/results.php …

The half million figure is ... doubtful. Otherwise, reckon I'm on a par with the Activision one. And I do 36hrs a week, period, and take 30 days holiday a year. There's a reason I've never been so daft as to want to be in the games industry for real.

In the UK, an experienced developer isn’t going to make that much as an engine coder, I went from engine coding to Unity freelance and boosted monthly income x5. Personally I think that’s nuts but it’s the way it is. Graduates aren’t likely to get engine coding jobs over here.

I know it’s different in the US as I’ve had more than a few US based companies try to hire me and the salary levels over there are vastly higher than here.

I was floored to see how low developer salaries are over there! Even in Germany (a lower CoL country than England) salaries for developers are higher.