Hello - I've been dealing with these questions for a few years now, but I've never really gotten any insight from people in the industry, so I hope you guys and gals could help me out a bit, it would mean a lot to me - Just about me to let you know where I'm coming from - I'm a 25 year old with a BS in Computer Science from the University of New Hampshire. My career so far has been a mix of network administration and programming - my title and duties are network administration, but I've also written a number of inhouse and contracted client/server applications, databases, utilities, etc. I am a very competent software engineer and computer scientist, I have done a large amount of work in the emulation of biological neural networks and other computational neuroengineering. I am starting to build up a portfolio of smaller 3d games and demos to demonstrate my abilities in those areas. Bottom line is, I love every aspect of games more than I can describe, not just playing them, but thinking about them, reading about them, studying algorithms, the math behind it, everything about them, and I know I can do the work. My two main questions are - one, going into the gaming industry from a non-gaming programming/network administration managerial level with a BS in CS - can I reasonably expect (region dependent) to make at least 45-50k? Or is that total pipe dream and coming from outside the industry would require me to start much lower? I want to get in more than anything, but I also can't survive with too large pay cut. Two - are all the jobs pretty much on the West Coast, especially CA and WA? I'm an East Coast kid and hesitant to move. Is this something I'm going to have to do if I really want to do it? (I would rather live West Coast than Texas, but if New York were an option that would be great. I'm currently about an hour outside of Boston). I really want to do this, but I have to weigh how much of a change to my life it would be to do it. Thanks for your time and insight.

Most of the people who make games love a lot about them. However, a lot of the people I have talked to and worked with are burned out by the industry. They are sour, bitter, and resentful of the way the larger companies have treated them. So, if you are happy doing what you are doing now I would be very hesitatnt to change to an industry you love; you may end up loving it a whole lot less.

If you AREN'T happy doing what you are doing now... well, your pay range isn't unreasonable. It all depends on the company, the task, and the benefits. It may take you longer to find a job in that pay bracket, but they are definately out there and you don't seem to be in much of a rush.

Further, there are east coast companies; some in New York, some in North Carolina, and some in Florida (im sure there are a couple in other states as well).

I just moved from Florida to Oregon- best decision I made :) It has nothing to do with east vs. west but everything to do with the community you move from and move TO. For instance in Florida I talked to ONE of my neighbors twice in two years and the others I never saw. In Oregon my neighbors baked us cookies for christmas and, about once a week, come chat with us on our lawn while we are doing yard work (or we go to them while they are). Oregon is, in general, nicer than florida... but I am sure if we moved to Portland there would have been no difference from Florida, other than the weather.

So, back to life changes: Working in games has been different for me because I run my own company. I have noticed I like games a lot LESS now; my attention span for them has become rediculous. I get 2-3 games a DAY currently and I can't play a single game for more than a week before I am tired of it. It's a little depressing at times :)

Sincerely,

Joe Lieberman
Owner, VGSmart Marketing
www.vgsmart.com
Video Game Marketing Book

You definitely can move from a non-game programming job to a game programming job at a similar level, especially if you have a demo or two.
If you have no professional programming experience it's going to be harder - it depends how much of your job is spent coding and if you can make it seem on your CV/resume that you are a programmer rather then a network manager.

No reason you can't make the switch but maybe it would be easier to take an intermediary step of moving to a full-time programming job NOT doing games first. Though being able to talk at length on useful algorithms would impress ME at least - showing you ahve extra skills than just coding.

Thanks vgsmart, dh000g, I appreciate your feedback. VGSmart - you make some good points about the job ruining the whole experience for you, I know I was much more keen on network administration before I had to deal with the crap that goes along with it for a number of years. Something to think about. Thanks again guys.