In the LostGarden article “The Joyful Life of the Lapsed Game Developer”, the author estimates (in a series of back-of-the-envelope calculations) that over 50,000 developers have left the industry in the past decade. It is no secret that our industry has a terrible retention rate, and because of this today we present a new feature at InnerBits, one which we hope will appear regularly: Interviews with former game developers. Today we are interviewing “Victor”, who wishes to remain anonymous.

We believe that in order to address the issues facing the games industry we must try to understand why so many developers leave the industry every year. The best way to do this of course is to ask them. While these interviews provide only anecdotal evidence, we expect that over a time (and a series of interviews with other former developers), a trend will emerge, and conclusions can be drawn.

As a final note, if you are a former developer (or a current one thinking of leaving the industry) and would like to share your opinions, please email us so we can set up an interview or post in the comments.

1. First off, the introduction. Who are you and what do you currently do? What is your background?

I create software for websites. This includes games (in flash) and back-end systems (in PHP and C++). I have my own, very small, company to provide these services. I also work with a training company to provide training to programmers.

My background is 15 years in software development, most of it as a freelancer working for companies both large and small, in teams of 1 to teams of 100.

2. How long did you work in the games industry? What position did you hold? What did your day to day duties entail?

I joined a development team of six as a software engineer and after two months took over as lead programmer in the team. We were building the front-end system for the game. Day to day I was planning and writing code, attending meetings, helping with scheduling, helping the other members of the team (and listening to their problems even though I wasn’t empowered to do anything to fix them) and trying to make things better in an environment that discouraged any attempts at improvement. I thought this would be the start of a career in the games industry. I only stayed for four months.

3. Why did you decide to leave?

Long hours and high pressure are obviously influential factors (regularly working 70 or more hours a week). But they were just symptoms in an organisation who had no respect for their employees and no leadership or management skills. The final straw was when the company admitted that they had no intention of keeping the promises they had made during negotiations over hiring me.

4. What did you enjoy about the industry?

I met some nice people.

5. What did you dislike?

Arrogance - games developers think they’re the best developers in the world (they’re not) with the hardest job in the world (it’s not).

The company I worked for don’t seem to care about their developers or their customers, they just care about the share price.

The worst management I have ever worked under in fifteen years of software engineering.

Adherence to programming practices that were superseded long ago in other software engineering industries.

6. Would you ever come back? Under what circumstances would you come back?

I’d never work for that company again. I would perhaps work for another company but I’d need to be shown that they could manage projects and staff well, that they cared about their staff, that they genuinely wanted to improve the way they work and that they care about their customers. I’d probably insist on starting as a freelancer until I have experience of the company and know whether I would be happy taking a full-time position there.

7. What do you think is the biggest obstacle facing the games industry?

The attitude that the games industry knows best and has nothing to learn from other areas of software engineering, entertainment industries or elsewhere.

8. What advice would you give to a young developer who has joined the industry?

Get out now. The longer you work in the games industry the harder it is to get work outside it, because very few industries have any respect for experience gained in the games industry. If you work elsewhere, you’ll work shorter hours for better pay in a more respectful environment where you learn more and gain confidence in your abilities.

If you don’t leave then take the initiative to learn more about good software engineering practices, and also about business and management. And employment law.

Being good at programming or design requires being able to shift focus between the big picture and the minute details. Learn to do this with your life too. Your job is just a part of your life, don’t spend all your effort on it and neglect the rest. (That’s like focusing all your attention on the graphics and neglecting the gameplay - looks good but it’s no fun). Remember you are a person, you deserve to be treated like one. And go join a union immediately (in the UK try BECTU).

It’s up to you to insist on something better. That’s why I suggest joining a union. Initially unions will provide the strength in numbers to force change. Later, the unions will take a backseat role, being a safety net in case things get out of hand again.

9. Do you have anything you would like to add? Specific anecdotes are very welcome.

I met a large number of people in the games industry who don’t work very hard. They work long hours but they are very unproductive. Much of this can be blamed on the long hours but if the hours get shorter you must accept the trade that means you will have to work harder. That means not playing games (even for research), surfing the internet, chatting to friends and generally messing around during working hours. That’s what the evenings and weekends are for.

I don’t think about the games industry much any more. I’m out and getting on with my life.

Posted by Raoul on Thursday, January 25th, 2007 at 12:16 pm.