Does the industry undervalue producers?

Game Tycoon's David Edery recently spoke to a few MIT undergrads who are about to join the workforce. What he discovered is that those applying for engineering jobs in the games industry were only offered $70,000/year salaries, while other industries were giving offers around $10,000 more per year to work for them. This disparity, Edery observes, has narrowed to only a 14% difference, indicating an upwards trend in the entry-level salaries of gaming engineers. Which is good, since we're sure those entering the work force at $70,000/year are slumming it right now.

The major point Edery wants to make, however, is how much the game industry pays entry-level producers, which he estimated "in the 30s." While he opines and laments that this wage gap shows a possibly skewed priority ("it's no wonder so many games run over schedule and over budget!"), maybe there's a point to be made here. Engineering is a specialized degree, very precise and exacting, while producing requires one to be a jack-of-all-trades team leader. A producer has to keep everything moving and everyone as content as possible, and many of those skills cannot be learned in an academic environment. A producer has the potential (however rare it may be) to earn more than any engineering position, but that takes a lot of on-the-job experience.

Then again, a 30K salary is nothing to scoff at--any thoughts from those in the industry?

[Note: the complementing image is that of Trip Hawkins, who Wikipedia credits as one of the first in the industry to call himself a 'game producer.'

[via Addicting Entertainment]