Ugh, yes! THANK YOU! I asked one of my friends how much more he makes now that he was hired full-time from his internship last year (the same one I am finishing next week), and he refused to tell me. Awkwardly laughed it off and looked like I asked him to murder someone. And I asked the question politely! He was sure though to list off all the benefits they offer (What about the biggest benefit—a paycheck!?) which is nice, but benefits don't pay day to day bills. How am I supposed to even know if working at this company is a viable option for me? How am I supposed to make any long-term financial plans? How are we even supposed to want or apply to and for jobs and build careers when the most basic thing as compensation is so taboo to talk about? I can find out nearly everything else about the job except this. It's so frustrating to me! I actually want to enjoy my life outside of work.
And my school's slogan is 'Shattering the myth of the starving artist' yet we don't talk about dollars and cents unless it's maybe individual job pricing or the price of attending the school. It's also hard to research the industry standard for these things because no one talks about it online and some of the books are no longer relevant to changing markets, so thank you again for making this!
Why is encouraging kids to 'follow their dreams and passions' and make art that makes them happy and to spend exorbitant amounts of money on education okay, but how they'll actually live life afterward, day to day, week to week, or twenty years in the future is so scandalous?
I also think that talking about the cost of certain jobs is really relevant in this discussion, which you guys mentioned. I've heard how poorly game interns who returned to my school who worked at big companies like Blizzard and Riot were treated. Yes, they worked at a prestigious company on cool projects and learned a lot, but they were worked so hard and had to do ridiculous overtime and had no personal life or free time. That sounds unsustainable and miserable to me. They seemed pretty miserable to me. I think while everyone must pay their dues when starting out, you want to build a sustainable career that won't swallow you whole or burn you out. It really depends on the culture of the companies and industries you choose. My summer experience working at a big company has been amazing; I've worked on projects I enjoy and the company truly cherishes and lifts up its employees. They care about me as a person and don't treat me as just a number which I feel is, unfortunately, the case in some of the entry-level jobs in animation or games and the like because they are so highly competitive to the point of notoriety with a high turnover rate. This is what I've observed at school and from creators on social media, which has turned me off toward those industries, to be frank.
I think every commercial artist needs to realize the actual usefulness of their work, and the quality of life they desire overall, be it emotional or financial before randomly picking an industry just because it seems fun. I hope a day comes where me innocuously asking money questions doesn't seem mercenary, and people can actually find the information necessary to make a good living.
Again, thank you for this!!! Gonna bookmark it!