The only reason I'm posting this question to the GameDev community in particular is that I suspect there are some knowledgeable people here who might be able to offer some advice.

Right now I'm really looking to be able to apply my computer programming skills for money. I don't necessarily care whether or not I'm writing code for games specifically or not - my primary goal right now is to get a better job / income source. I also don't mind learning new languages. Basically, I'm willing to spend the time learning to do just about anything, as long as it allows me to utilize my programming talents. I'm wondering where I should be looking, specifically? If you were in my situation, would you pursue something like web development? Or should I just write an indie game, and try and get it on Steam? I mean, I have no idea what I should do here.

Work for a financial institution.

It'll probably be mind-numbingly boring, the hours will likely make you psychotic, and there will undoubtedly be lots of other disadvantages. But you can't beat the money.

Hehe... I appreciate the advice. =)

Yes. Financial systems, "enterprisy" places that use Java. Take a look at job listings on http://indeed.com for software developers sorted by salary.

Sharepoint and SAP developers make piles of money since nobody wants to do it.

Big insurance companies pay also on the top end. Quite a lot of my friends that work in the field of software development work for companies specialised in Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) projects and these usually pay pretty decent. Most of these companies also have a steady flow of contracts and new projects comming in which is quite nice in terms of job security.

This all sounds pretty interesting. I wonder how I'd develop the necessary skills / meet the necessary qualifications to be hired for any one of these jobs. Perhaps I should start making phone calls and asking for the qualifications that they look for in applicants?

If you're after money - the above.

Or if you don't wanna secure, stable, very well paid**, yet... boring corporate job you could try being a businessman. Statistically, you're quite likely to fail miserably, and you won't see an awful lot of money you're after (if any), the ride will be anything but boring though;)

** A lot of people are tempted into joining 'the biggest guys around', money is great, all's awesome, but then after some years you may start to think about stuff.. Basically, this sort of corporate positions normally offer salaries which are considered high (and even very high when you upgrade your drone status within organisation). You'd get some cool benefits too, a gym membership and food in the cantine will probably comply with some ISO standard too. That's absolutely brilliant... as long as you can accept to live a CAPPED life. Yep, even if someone offers you 200k per year, it's still 200k, a FIXED amount. And in case you want more, you'll have a lovely neat specs of how to get higher up the ladder. This is the best part - right away you'll be able to determine how far will you go, you'll know what you'll afford in 5 years, in 15 years, at the end of your days.. A life beautifully directed just for you. You may even like it that way, or it could even be some sort of dream of yours.

But what if? What if at some point you're gonna think 'I could have done way better than that!'? (financially and in general) As long as you're certain you won't think that, go for the enterprise.

Otherwise, you may consider taking a shot at getting the sort of money that no anonymous corporate.worker will ever get (regardless of what sort of anonymous director he becomes). Just bear in mind, you'll need to be this one guy out of 50k who doesn't fail.

even if someone offers you 200k per year[/quote]

If someone offers you 200k today, you take it.

Unless you do internship and get an offer out of it or have some good credentials on you, expect starting salary to be 30k or so. Long-term unpaid internships "for experience" are becoming the norm, so don't scoff too much at that.

In general, expect enterprise development jobs in development to plateau at some 100k. Plan on getting an MBA or Master's in economy/finance to have a slight chance of moving into management.

you may consider taking a shot at getting the sort of money that no anonymous corporate.worker will ever ge[/quote]

Buy a lottery ticket. You have 10 times higher chances of winning.
Or, run outside in a storm. You have 100 times higher chances of being struck by lightning.

Meanwhile, keep that corporate job. It won't be needed in 5 years anyway and company won't exist in 10, so save the salary and invest it, to keep your options open.

The last thing you want is to jump into business without any experience or training in it.

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If someone offers you 200k[/quote] Just an example, I did think that no one will think about this sort of money as an entry-level salary though;)

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Long-term unpaid internships "for experience" are becoming the norm[/quote] Tell me about it;) We may be looking for a few interns in the summer. I think it's a fair deal as long as there is an actual paid work opportunity for those who perform well.

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Buy a lottery ticket. You have 10 times higher chances of winning.

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Or, run outside in a storm. You have 100 times higher chances of being struck by lightning.

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Actually, I am genuinely happy that there are so many people who think that - it makes getting my money so much easier. Thanks to this common approach, there is less ambitious people trying to 'do it their way' in an already crowded, competitive market - good for me.

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Meanwhile, keep that corporate job. It won't be needed in 5 years anyway and company won't exist in 10, so save the salary and invest it, to keep your options open.

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The last thing you want is to jump into business without any experience or training in it.

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I agree you're gonna fail in business if you're clueless (no experience, etc.). Keeping a corporate job is a neat, cool option too. Just not the only one, and not the best one. There is no single best one - different stuff will work for different people, which is what I was trying to say

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(not very well apparently)

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.

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