Recruiting process vs salary

Quote from blackdog

Wow, that's some serious taxation Warby! Or you mean after paying off rent and other monthlies?

nope just tax

+mandatory retirment fund

+mandatory unemployment fund

+madatory health insurance

Quote from Warby

nope just tax

+mandatory retirment fund

+mandatory unemployment fund

+madatory health insurance

That's crazy man, I know that it will make you a nice retirement but damn, it's like half of your cash!?

I won't talk about my salary cuz I'm from PL and I'm shy, salary here is silly but life is way more cheaper than in DE or UK so it's not that bad. Still I get twice more than average salary in PL so I can't complain. For instance - I started with about $800 "on hand" but it changed pretty fast

Quote from PogoP

There's no way I'm ever gonna discuss my salary with anyone. I think I spoke to one guy at Frontier about how much we were on, back when I was still a graduate artist.. Luckily we were on the same amount. But it would have caused no end of problems if we'd have been on different salaries.

Though I would like to know what other people are on haha. Nosy bastard.

Yeah man. That was one of the first advices I got when I started in the industry and it has proven to be a very a good one.

Reasons why you should never talk about your own salary:

- It's highly dependent on several factors, not just "how good" or "how fast" you are. Each person is unique and you can't really compare yourself to others from their salaries alone.

- People get different raises and different bonuses, based not just on "how good they are" but as well as the manager's judgement, how well the company/team is doing, personal skills etc...

- It might lead to competition, even if subconsciously. This is a natural tendency among men and one that I try to avoid personally.

- It's very unprofessional.

It's not hard to find out how much people make at a company anyway. If you feel you are being paid less than others, you can always do some googling or ask people who have left the company how much they used to make.

Personally, I'd rather not know what my colleagues make or even which score they get in their annual reviews, as this often leads to uncomfortable situations. Ex: A friend who has been in the company for a few years was super happy when he finally got a good score and asked me what my score was. I congratulated him and changed subject immediately. My score was a bit higher and had I told him, he could probably take it as competition or even worse, feel like I was diminishing his accomplishment.

I'm with you guys that not talking about salaries openly only benefits the company... However, it's very risky and could go either way, to the point that if there is a large discrepancy, people can start to feel bitter. A friend of mine once said 'don't talk salary with friends, it only leads to bad things'.

However, over the years you hear things; amounts here, tax %s there (which can indicate salary level). You get pay-rises and move up different pay-scales yourself. So you (hopefully) do get a sense of your own worth. There are also places like GlassDoor.com (which are hopefully reasonably accurate) you can read up on.

Don't forget to do your research and take into account where you'll be living. The cost of renting a place in Amsterdam is much higher than the equivalent place in Budapest, so make sure your pay (after paying things like rent) reflects that.

Always try to negotiate based on Net (take-home, after Tax) pay. This seems to be more of a European thing, because the taxes are so high here (but we get health insurance, pension and relatively cheaper education for that money) so ask what your take home pay will be.

Finally, if you're moving somewhere else, you're looking for a step up, so don't be too timid. Don't go for 'equalizing' your salary, because a prospective company needs to equalize what you *could* get somewhere else, not what you're earning now. Don't ask for too much and look silly, do your research. But also don't ask for too little out of modesty, because it can be super hard to get a raise once you're in somewhere; the best way to get a raise is usually to move when you're at your peak.

Quote from knj

WUT?

SRUT

Quote from Sjonsson

Last time I checked Gamasutra they took Game Design and Level Design under the same category and to me it feels like it doesn't give me a good picture for what I can expect as a Level Designer.

Does anyone know how much different a Game Designer's salary is compared to Level Design? I'm very curious about this and I don't know where to turn but the salary lists from Gamasutra.

Edit:

It just struck me: why would you want to put Game Design and Level Design in the same category for wages? Aren't there more Level Designers than Game Designers overall on companies?

That's odd. I could have sworn back when it was in printed form they differentiated between the two.

Quote from Minos

Yeah man. That was one of the first advices I got when I started in the industry and it has proven to be a very a good one.

Reasons why you should never talk about your own salary:

- It's highly dependent on several factors, not just "how good" or "how fast" you are. Each person is unique and you can't really compare yourself to others from their salaries alone.

- People get different raises and different bonuses, based not just on "how good they are" but as well as the manager's judgement, how well the company/team is doing, personal skills etc...

- It might lead to competition, even if subconsciously. This is a natural tendency among men and one that I try to avoid personally.

- It's very unprofessional.

It's not hard to find out how much people make at a company anyway. If you feel you are being paid less than others, you can always do some googling or ask people who have left the company how much they used to make.

Personally, I'd rather not know what my colleagues make or even which score they get in their annual reviews, as this often leads to uncomfortable situations. Ex: A friend who has been in the company for a few years was super happy when he finally got a good score and asked me what my score was. I congratulated him and changed subject immediately. My score was a bit higher and had I told him, he could probably take it as competition or even worse, feel like I was diminishing his accomplishment.

Seems it wouldnt be an issue if people could control their ego's and look at the situation objectively.

Both solutions have major issues and are open to abuse.

Websites like glassdoor help prevent companies exploiting people who don't know any better.

Alf-Life's post is far more eloquent than mine.

Quote from Warby

nope just tax

+mandatory retirment fund

+mandatory unemployment fund

+madatory health insurance

Thanks, I always thought it was just in Italy we got such a high level of taxes to pay.

It's pretty similar in Canada too

Quote from blackdog

Thanks, I always thought it was just in Italy we got such a high level of taxes to pay.

As far as I know we also got pretty high taxes here in Sweden compared to other countries, it could be all wrong though - since I haven't lived anywhere else.

Denmark has like a 39% tax rate...

Seems high, I guess it goes towards useful things though. Then again, ours goes towards the same things and it's like half of that. Do you have to pay separate tax to your local council/area (approx. £100–£200 a month here) too? That goes towards city costs basically: cleaning, garbage, maintenance, police, etc.

That's actually higher than us Sentura, we have ~32%.

Thing is, if what you pay is effectively going to be in your future pocket, it's all good.

In Italy they are continuing to push the retirement date forward, I don't think anyone of my generation is confident they are getting a pension at all, or not comparable to what they have payed through work.

Here council tax is (of course) separate (and varies town to town). Garbage is an additional tax/service. Now in a big part of the country we have door to door differentiated garbage collection.

40% in Germany.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26327114

So, how much money are you guys on?

Quote from blackdog

Thing is, if what you pay is effectively going to be in your future pocket, it's all good.

In Italy they are continuing to push the retirement date forward, I don't think anyone of my generation is confident they are getting a pension at all, or not comparable to what they have payed through work.

Here council tax is (of course) separate (and varies town to town). Garbage is an additional tax/service. Now in a big part of the country we have door to door differentiated garbage collection.

So what you're saying is that young people have to think loooong ahead because the pension system is "defect"? That's bad, they could just as well remove it then.

That seems messy, I wonder how much resources that goes into administrating the whole door to door-thing. To me it sounds a bit like how some companies sending you analog reminder fees so low that the letter they send actually cost more than they earn on the fee.

Quote from Vilham

45% in Germany.

Damn, that's super high. Do you get high pension out of that? Where does it all go? Coffe cakes for the gov?

Quote from Sjonsson

That's actually higher than us Sentura, we have ~32%.

Are you all talking about the base rate? Cos it obviously goes way up if you earn more.

Quote from Chimeray

Are you all talking about the base rate? Cos it obviously goes way up if you earn more.

I chose between posting a ton of different rates or just take the base, so I took the base! Should've mentioned it though, thanks for pointing it out.