Paizo recent job listings and salaries.

[evildmguy]

One of the most deceptive things about cost of living is the fact most households are dual income now. Sure, on your own 42K sounds tough in Redmond, but add another 42K to that and its more manageable. I believe this is why there isnt a lot more frustration out there than there ought to be around cost of housing.

Another thought on Paizo salary and a gig in the gaming industry. A good pal of mine was working for a printing company as a graphic artist. Made ok money and likely had a decent career path. He asked his wife how she felt about him taking a little bit of a pay dip to do something he loved. She was down for it and encouraged him to career change. He went to work for Fantasy Flight and is still loving it. On his own, he likely would not have made the trade.

I think I'm glad that I don't live in the required remote states or the Test Engineer would be more tempting to work for Paizo. That is currently what I'm doing, testing web pages using Selenium (although in Visual Studio but I have used their IDE), Jira, and more. It would also mean a 50% paycut for me. I do have twenty give years experience, five as a test, twenty as a developer, and maybe this is more a entry level position. I do agree that it is very interesting that they posted salary. I agree more companies should do that and be open about it.

Thanks for the discussion!

 

[John R Davis]

The average American earns quite a bit more than me, then.

Yeah, was thinking that. Clearly US is either expensive to live in OR you have loads disposable income to spend on gaming!

 

[Guest 7034872]

Yeah, was thinking that. Clearly US is either expensive to live in OR you have loads disposable income to spend on gaming!

^^ That's the one, though admittedly exchange rates also make a difference.

 

[Emirikol]

The average American earns quite a bit more than me, then.

I just had to hire a high school dropout for a receptionist position for$22/hr..but thats Denver--one of the most expensive places to live in the states.

 

[jolt]

Also too, many people mistake what "average" means. A lot of people look at it as a sort of midpoint where 50% will make more than 53k/year and 50% will make less. Unfortunately, it's far worse than that. The large majority of Americans will never ever see that "average" pay. To keep that average intact, anyone making just over 100k is potentially getting balanced by another person being completely penniless. Make that 200k and you need 3 penniless people. You need 18 penniless people to balance out a person making a million. And a person making a billion a year needs almost 19,000 penniless people to keep the average intact. That's insane.

 

[pogre]

They clearly need to find someone who really wants to work in gaming.

Similar to teaching - you have to accept your pay is going to be lower than most of private industry to do a job you love. Not saying that is morally right - just that is how it is.

BTW - the starting teaching salary in Seattle is $41,000.00

 

[Ixal]

^^ That's the one, though admittedly exchange rates also make a difference.

Also, many expenses which in other countries are financed by taxes like health care, education, ect. have to be paid directly out of your own pocket in the US, and with how medicine prices and school tituition is in the states that often ends up being more expensive than the tax based systems.

 

[aramis erak]

Also, many expenses which in other countries are financed by taxes like health care, education, ect. have to be paid directly out of your own pocket in the US, and with how medicine prices and school tituition is in the states that often ends up being more expensive than the tax based systems.

The US public education system has major flaws, but it is free for almost all until secondary graduation or age 21. (I only worked in education 15 years...)

Elementary to secondary education is free in public schools (usually town or county level government funded, but some areas it's a separate overlapping tax authority) to age twelve or completion of grade 6 (whichever is first), and to all able to benefit through high-school graduation or age 21 (whichever is first). Pre-K is free in some places, pay in others, private only in the majority of urban areas, and absent in most rural areas. Federal law provides much of the funding, but not all. Majority in some districts, small chunk in others.

If you're paying for textbooks and tuition, you're in a private school or a charter school. Charter school varies too much to be worth explicating here. Private schools are not federally regulated, varying by state.

Once one gets to post-secondary (college or technical schools), it's not free. Nor is it in any way guaranteed. But many do indeed get federal grants for post-secondary.

Public funded health care exists under federal law for low-income persons, tho' administered by the separate states. Hawaii has public funded health care for all permanent residents last I checked (just now: Hawaii's near-universal health insurance--lessons learned - PubMed ), and is the sole state doing so at the moment, tho' several states fund higher income levels than federal funds provide grants for.

BTW - the starting teaching salary in Seattle is $41,000.00

Anchorage starts at $52k for a Bachelors with cert, almost $58k for masters with cert at start. ASD hiring policies when I last worked there required a masters for new hires, or a pre-NCLB Alaska teaching license and a bachelor's. So, in practice, $58k.

 

[Maxperson]

Yeah, was thinking that. Clearly US is either expensive to live in OR you have loads disposable income to spend on gaming!

Depends on where you live. In Los Angeles the cost of living for 1 person is about $4,500 a month before you including anything but the rent, utilities, food and transportation. That's for a 1 bedroom at the median price. If you want to live in a bad neighborhood and/or live in a studio apartment, you can save some money.

 

[darjr]

Reminder that we're hiring! I, specifically, am looking for a developer or three.

https://paizo.com/paizo/careers