Sean K Reynolds on working at Paizo (and other companies)

[payn]

Even then, probably not. I live in Portland, which is only slightly cheaper than Seattle.

One thing I haven't seen brought up is that apartments won't even rent to you unless your gross wage is 3x the rent. So if the average apt is $2000 a month, you have to show how you're making $6K a month, or $72K a year. I'm not aware of any RPG job that pays that much unless you're an executive of a larger company.

Even a tiny 1 bed apt, unless you're living in the ghetto, is around $1400 a month. so $4200 gross, or around $50K a year?

In Minneapolis there is a number of opposite places where you cant make over 45K to live there. Not terrible places either some are attractive locations. I was bummed years ago when I couldn't get in cause I made 46K at the time.

 

[TheSword]

Wow. I don’t think the question is why aren’t people payed enough in Seattle. But why is Seattle such a rip off. $2000 dollars for a basic 1 bedroom apartment?

I live in a nice two bedroom apartment in a notoriously expensive town in England for £825 a month. ($1150) before that I lived in an even more expensive city for £1,000 a month $1350. I’m struggling to comprehend how anyone other than an exec could live in Seattle. Those are comparable with apartments in notoriously expensive London!

 

[Scribe]

One thing I haven't seen brought up is that apartments won't even rent to you unless your gross wage is 3x the rent. So if the average apt is $2000 a month, you have to show how you're making $6K a month, or $72K a year. I'm not aware of any RPG job that pays that much unless you're an executive of a larger company.

I ran through a few sites looking up prices as part of this discussion, and that 3x rent question came up on several sites, which just kind of seals it for me.

Its just too expensive, or you dont make enough.

 

[Scribe]

Wow. I don’t think the question is why aren’t people payed enough in Seattle. But why is Seattle such a rip off. $2000 dollars for a basic 1 bedroom apartment?

I live in a nice two bedroom apartment in a notoriously expensive town in England for £825 a month. ($1150) before that I lived in an even more expensive city for £1,000 a month $1350. I’m struggling to comprehend how anyone other than an exec could live in Seattle. Those are comparable with apartments in notoriously expensive London!

Yeah, the cost of living in many places, is out of control.

You absolutely will not own a home in Vancouver, unless you are making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Tear downs sell for a million.

 

[payn]

Wow. I don’t think the question is why aren’t people payed enough in Seattle. But why is Seattle such a rip off. $2000 dollars for a basic 1 bedroom apartment?

I live in a nice two bedroom apartment in a notoriously expensive town in England for £825 a month. ($1150) before that I lived in an even more expensive city for £1,000 a month $1350. I’m struggling to comprehend how anyone other than an exec could live in Seattle. Those are comparable with apartments in notoriously expensive London!

Thats seems inline with most cities in the U.S. Some though, are just cray cray expensive.

 

[Riley]

Thats seems inline with most cities in the U.S. Some though, are just cray cray expensive.

Yes; I briefly contemplated graduate school in Boston, but after I saw the cost of an apartment, I chose Baltimore instead (for a comparably reputable program).

A good 3 bedroom house in Baltimore was cheaper than a room in Boston.

 

[ReshiIRE]

Somewhat relevant, somewhat not, but the price of rent is the exact reason I am buying an apartment, not renting, in Ireland.

Where I want to live, to get a place similiar to what I'm getting in the centre of the city, close to where my workplace is, could cost two times to two and a half times more than what my mortgage repayments will be; I'm a pretty well off software engineer, and it will be somewhat tight with my income (I can certainly save every month, long as I don't have too much going on).

Long as I do get the place I am looking at... I will have been extraordinarily lucky.

After nearly three years of consistently saving nearly my full income every year; after two raises in the two and a half years of working; after living at home through the entirity of university; after two and a half years of searching for a place.

Fun fact: I originally was going to try to get into the game industry, and we do actually have a relatively competitive place and decent wages about for that here.

I stopped that dream as I realised I won't be good enough or able to handle the strain, and because I originally didn't get the place I wanted.

Now? Maybe that was a good thing, because if I did go into it, my life would probably have bene on hold for another few years.

And people wonder why unions are forming, the Great Resignation is happening, and why so many are looking at the economic system of the world as broken.

Because it is broken.

 

[darjr]

Oh! MCDM is another with several full time folks that treat freelancers well and they are growing.

In fact they’re growing Arcadia as well.

D&D 5E - MCDM Arcadia patreon to increases to $10

Specifically the current $5 tier will be retired and folks who remain in that tier granded into that tier and price. A new $10 tier will be introduced in order to get Arcadia. All new patrons will have to take that new tier. This starts Dec 1st so you might still be able to lock in at the $5...

www.enworld.org

 

[payn]

Yes; I briefly contemplated graduate school in Boston, but after I saw the cost of an apartment, I chose Baltimore instead (for a comparably reputable program).

A good 3 bedroom house in Baltimore was cheaper than a room in Boston.

Well...it is B-more.

 

[Mordhau]

Yes...ish. Look, there are different factors that go into this. As you point out later, what we are willing to do when we are young and what we can put up with when we're old (NOT KIDS ON OUR LAWNS) is very different.

There's also the issue of where does writing rpgs take you?

If it's enough money to live on when you are young, but not when you have a family, then there really needs to be some kind of career path or skills development that will allow you to progess to where you will have enough money to raise a family.

As far as I can see that progression in Rpgs seems to be to move on to the computer game industry at some point, which I would assume pays better.