The life of a lapsed game developer
Lost Garden has an interesting post up which is useful reading for anyone thinking about a career in game development. As an ex-game developer, driven out by a cancelled project, bad project management and pay cuts, Danc has a list of reasons why lapsed game developers won't be going back to their jobs once they taste the forbidden fruit of a mainstream development job.
With an estimated 50,000 lapsed game developers out there -- people who've seen what real working conditions are like and prefer to stay away from the games industry -- it's an almost frightening outpouring of talent. On the other hand, many gamers and programmers are climbing over one another to get that vital entry-level job in the industry, to break in with fancy demos and showy code. Whether some developers care that they're losing people, when there are so many ready to replace them, is debatable -- but a high turnover and an unstable team can have their effects on products, which affects us as consumers too
