Path: chuka.playstation.co.uk!news From: Robert_Swan@scee.net (Robert Swan) Newsgroups: scee.yaroze.freetalk.english Subject: Re: Work in the UK. Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2000 09:44:33 GMT Organization: PlayStation Net Yaroze (SCEE) Lines: 86 Message-ID: <38b25941.2645299@www.netyaroze-europe.com> References: <38B1D4E9.1D8C059B@fulcrum.com.au> Reply-To: Robert_Swan@scee.net NNTP-Posting-Host: mailgate.scee.sony.co.uk X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.11/32.235 A bit of a warning - I haven't had any personal experience with using the specialised programmer agencies but a lot of people here have and it is quite common for them to either misrepresent you or basically to send out your cv to jobs you dont want - mind you thats probably a risk with every agency. :) On Tue, 22 Feb 2000 11:14:34 +1100, Toby Sargeant wrote: >Well, it's finally happened, Lisa and I have decided that it's time to spend >some time working abroad. We've decided on the UK, and as I've always wanted to >do some games programming work (the games programming industry is rather small >in Australia) this seems like an ideal opportunity to do just that. > >I'm a British national, so I don't think there'll be any bureaucratic issues to >cope with. > >Anyway, I was kind of hoping that some people could make some suggestions on a >few fronts. We really don't have all that much idea of what to expect from the >UK, so it would be good to get an idea of things like: > >* what kind of salaries are offered for games programmers? for first time? depends how much other industry work you've had. Graduates at Sony get around 18k to start with -after a few years probably expect about 21-22k (w/o bonuses). >* what a recommended minimum living wage is to support two people? >* where it would be best to consider living (both in terms of jobs, and in > terms of environment)? We've heard that London is very expensive, and > also rather polluted... it is polluted and I personally hate it but thats tough as I work here. Minimum wage to support two people - hmm probably about 26k at a real guess. Thats at a bout rent of £700 a month and theres travel and bills. >* which companies would people recommend as being fun & challenging places to > work? >* what is the IT (specifically games) job situation like in the UK at the moment? Sony may/ may not be better/ worse payers than other companies but Im assured they are pretty nice to work for. Im happy most of the time at least. Cant really say about others. Make sure you try to work at a secure place (ie not about to fold in 6 months) >Also, are there any online resources with useful information that we can >look at? You could do worse than buy edge magazine - has a few jobs and loads of adverts for agencies - dont know if they have online presence. >Hopefully by August, I'll be able to meet some real life yaroze members. :) Dont expect too much :) >Thanks heaps, > >Toby. > >(Just in case, here's a quick experience summary) > >* BSc > (major: comp sci) >* BComp hons > (thesis: constraint based graphic editor) >* MComp (completed by June) > (thesis: parallel logic programming extensions to java) >* competitions: > 1st, ACM south pacific regional programming contest > 5th, ACM international collegiate programming contest (Phoenix, Arizona) >* languages: > C/C++/Java/Python/Perl > x86/68k/MIPS assembler >* platform experience: > amiga,psx,unix,windows (Win32/DirectX) >* programming experience: > 3d/graphics/lowlevel OS&HW programming/networking/parsers/compilers/ > web&cgi/databases/numerical algorithms/constraint solving&optimisation/ Disclaimer: Anything I say has no direct relation to where I work (Sony), is not an official voice of where I work (Sony) and Sony doesn't even exist as far as I'm concerned.