Aion

Montreal, in 'La belle Province'
Game Developper.

I've been in the game industry for 2 years now, as a game programmer.

I'm not convinced about the usefulness of a 'gaming degree'. A normal computer science degree will help you get some good programming knowledge, and on the side, work on personal game projects. Because in the end, that's what companies are interested in, a concrete proof of what you can do.

After graduating, I worked as a programmer in a telecom firm for a year, working on side projects and gaining game programming abilities, which eventually helped me gain a position inside a small private game company. A year later, I moved to a bigger company, but avoided the 2 bigs one in Montreal (EA/Ubisoft) since I do care about my personal life enought to not see it burned away.

Hmm, it's all fine and dandy, the notion that we should just ask for less money, but dunno if you ever looked at the current cost of living...

Kinda hard to earn less than 20k and afford basic necessities, let alone raise a family. Western world has a high living standard that's true, but there's a limit to how much you can lower wages.

Wages haven't even followed inflation rates since the 60ies, we're getting poorer while the Ceo/shareholders are reaping the profits.