A blog from a EA programmers wife...

[Alternex]

I used to work for Maxis (also part of EA) and yeah, the industry is pretty nuts. My buddy still works there and every time I see him online he's at work (ie 11 pm on sunday night) since he puts in 80 hrs a week (no exaggeration) every single week.

However it's not all bad - the environment is fun and you could play games and be calling it research. I remember playing Dune, Empire something a rather, in the middle of the day when all of a sudden my boss walks into my cube. I expected him to tell me to get back to work but he didn't care. I also remember having fun playing Diablo 2 with coworkers and some other bosses.

When I was making changes to the code base, I had to keep playing/testing Simsville/Sims 2/Simcity 4 to make sure I didn't break anything. That's one of the few times as a software developer when testing is actually fun.

Still, I'm very glad to be out of that industry. I have no stress, I make a lot more money, and I actually like working on my current project. Plus I now have time to play games more since I have normal hours.

 

[BFG10K]

As a general rule many commercial programmers tend to work long hours regardless of which company they work for.

 

[oogabooga]

yea, but man, that's brutal

i work as a painter when i'm not in school, and i don't even have to deal w/ sh!t like that.

Yea i had long hard hours, but i got compensated, and those hours were considered not "oh yea.. take time off.. if we let you"

 

[EpsiIon]

Originally posted by: notfred
Note to self: Don't work for EA.

 

[Bulldog13]

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey

Originally posted by: skace

Originally posted by: notfred
I didn't learn to program in school (although I did learn some programming concepts in school). It's entirely possible to learn to program outside of school.

Dedication, common sense, several good resources, and an idea of what you want to create is my favorite way to learn how to program

Or just being a big fricken' nerd.

:thumbsup::beer:

 

[warcrow]

-=Edit=-

Looks like another person is posting about their bad esperience with EA, but this time is a programmer who's not incognito.

Link!

 

[alm4rr]

OMG I submitted this story to /. and it actually got posted

 

[Coquito]

Why can't everyone be more like Firaxis? A damn shame Maxis is with EA now. That firm needs a major shake up.

 

That sucks....

 

[roninmagik1]

Wow, i'll never buy another ea game again!

 

[effee]

if the job sucks so much, look for a better one. problem solved.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
As a general rule many commercial programmers tend to work long hours regardless of which company they work for.

As a general rule, management is a bunch of idiots. The law of diminishing returns applies to hours worked. Your efficiency drops off quite a bit when you're working more than 40-50 hours a week, and when you get up around 80 hours a week you'd actually get more work done if you worked LESS hours. That is, if you do it consistently. An 80 hour week every couple of months is alright, doing it week after week is just stupid.

 

[Koing]

Sounds CRAZY.

BUT you can probably bet your life that there are 100'000's of other people out there WILLING to do that, for at least a project is completed, so no matter what they will get programmers, artists, designers etc easily.

Game company people work like mad.

Koing

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: BFG10K
As a general rule many commercial programmers tend to work long hours regardless of which company they work for.

As a general rule, management is a bunch of idiots. The law of diminishing returns applies to hours worked. Your efficiency drops off quite a bit when you're working more than 40-50 hours a week, and when you get up around 80 hours a week you'd actually get more work done if you worked LESS hours. That is, if you do it consistently. An 80 hour week every couple of months is alright, doing it week after week is just stupid.

Well said, and definitely true from my own experience. To solve problems quickly and well you need to have a decent amount of sleep and away time, not be a burned-out zombie.

80-hour weeks should not be routinely required of employess in any well-run company, especially not one with billions in revenue. And not paying overtime is both stupid and criminal, but so many people buy into the glamour of being a game developer there are always more suckers willing to sign up to work themselves into a stupor.

Edit: this is another good reason to keep a couple of months' living expenses in an INGDirect.com account. If my employer ever tried to pull garbage like that (which would never happen, it's a good company), I could cheerfully tell them to stuff it since I'm not living paycheck-to-paycheck.

 

[VIAN]

I will not be buying MOH: PA out of protest.

I expect long hours for these type of things, but 85 a week is ridiculous.

...Especially for the crap that they put out.

IGN review, first paragraph doesn't sound too fun even though game got a 7.8. AI cheats and repetitive gameplay and other little poop droplings that EA had to include.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/563/563838p1.html

 

[effee]

I like MOHPA alot..its good for playing while EQ2 servers are down

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

Originally posted by: notfred
Note to self: Don't work for EA.

 

[TwYsTeD]

wow...

 

[VIAN]

...plus, I just read that review and it seems like it's gonna be more frustrating crap from EA that makes no sense just like Breakthrough.

 

[erikistired]

i was gonna go pick up nfsu2 tomorrow too, i don't think i'll do that now. i'm sure there are other non-ea games i can just as happily spend my money on.

 

[erikistired]

Originally posted by: effee
if the job sucks so much, look for a better one. problem solved.

i guess if you're 18 that's not a problem. however if you're 30 and you have a wife and kids and car payments and a mortgage it's not really that easy.

 

[drag]

Originally posted by: fisher

Originally posted by: effee
if the job sucks so much, look for a better one. problem solved.

i guess if you're 18 that's not a problem. however if you're 30 and you have a wife and kids and car payments and a mortgage it's not really that easy.

Well what are you going to do when your 45-50 and die from a heart attack because your overworked, out of shape, health is shot, and stressed out?

How long is life insurance going to help them... or how long is a company that expects you to work 90 hours a week going to support you when you can't type worth a crap, can't think straight, and you have to spend 6 months in recovery because your body is shot.

Sell the house, get a apartment or a crappy house and at least work sane hours. I'd rather work as a plumber (they probably get paid better then the average disposable code monkey anyways.) and be able to spend time with my family then have a job like that for 10-20 years. I had a crappy job once, worked my rear end off (did a damn good job, too) and the entire time I was working I was looking for a better job. Took a few months and once I found it and knew I had it I was gone from my crappy job within days.

Nobody needs that, and there are plenty of people that are great programmers and are willing to work hard, why doesn't (if this stuff with EA is true, of course, which I have my doubts) EA just hire enough people to do the job?

 

[erikistired]

i totally agree with you drag, just trying to point out it's not always as easy as just quitting your job without having some other way to support your family, which is how these companies get away with treating people the way they do. also, it's an ~industry job~ so you get guys who don't have lives or familes and are willing to work themselves to death to work for the almightly EA or whatever.

 

[cchen]

those hours are terrible... you might as well go into investment banking which has less hours (roughly 80 a week) and you get paid a hell of a lot more...

 

[TheLonelyPhoenix]

As an EE also working on a comp sci minor, I can safely say that I know what its like to crunch in programming, and this programmer's wife is absolutely correct: after you've pushed in enough hours, additional hours do NOTHING to change your productivitity. For every error you fix, you'll make three more; for every three hours you put in over the wee hours of the morning, you'll get as much done as one hour after a shower and a good breakfast. These practices do nothing for the company; they merely wear down the programmers to their bitter ends. If I was in a situation like this, I'd leave in a heartbeat. Flipping burgers at McDonalds is a better alternative... Sanity > Pay.