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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-03-2009 @ 10:45AM
Dave said...
Okay, having personal experience in this BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR.
Blizzard underpays their industry jobs by a decent amount. Is that worth it to you? Maybe not right now, but 3 years down the road when you've realized it's just another desk job where you do the same thing you'd do anywhere else... that sort of thing starts to get to you.
I work in TV, I took a job (for less money) with a certain sports network where I thought "holy crap, I'm going to work for something I really like!!". Except they KNOW you have that sort of attitude and they abuse it significantly. You're putting a lot of your value in the reputation of a company, and it only lasts so long. They kinda treat people like crap with a "well, if you don't like working here, we've got a thousand people waiting to take your job!" and that's the truth. And it's demoralizing to say the least, which also helps to make the job and the rest around it revolving doors.
I would be absolutely unsurprised to see that the same thing happens at Blizzard, and from what we've seen with at least the public front... people don't last very long at all at Blizzard. It's roughly the same sort of standard I saw at my previous job, where a very small handful of people put up with it on a daily basis (or are in charge of it, which is slightly better) and the grunts put in a good effort but last maybe 3 years at the most. (the younger the person, the less they were willing to deal with it seemed). I don't know for sure, but it does definitely seem like maybe %25 of the people at Blizzard were around 4 years ago at launch and perhaps less than that were around for the development cycle prior to launch.
That says a lot about a company, and should be a huge red flag that you're not going to get the sort of experience you want there unless you're just looking for a big name on a resume. (and again, from personal experience it's nice... but not necessarily nice enough as feeling appreciated every day at work).
There are probably better places to work. There are probably worse places to work. I'd definitely say that if you're really wanting to work for Blizzard... be really sure that you want to take the sort of mental abuse that the job will deliver. It might not be overt abuse, but it's the kind of grind that will wear on you as you go and turn small annoyances into big deals.
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1-03-2009 @ 12:12PM
Kaphik said...
Where are you getting your information from? Perhaps the customer service experiences a huge turnover, as does the customer service at nearly every single company in the world experiences. Blizzard's headquarters in Irvine doesn't experience that.
And, if you think that working for Blizzard is bad, read this article from the OC register:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/employees-blizzard-company-2250480-sams-work
1-03-2009 @ 12:43PM
Dave said...
I'm getting my info from a former programmer for the now dead Blizzard North that was in the Bay Area but was demolished a while back. They were paying above market back in the Diablo days, but once they consolidated to Irvine... things turned a bit more coorporate.
Don't believe articles written for a PR fluff piece. It only serves to enhance the reputation that you're expected to swap salary and security for "perks". The place I used to work for did the same thing, despite expecting people to work 14hr days, 6 days a week. Yeah, they had a cafeteria with free food 24/7 and free parking and tickets to literally everything in the area... but that didn't make it all better! They'll still make you feel ultimately replaceable and say that they have the best place around to work for, so you should be lucky to have your job here. It's a much better feeling to hear that they appreciate the work you do and that they're lucky to have you as an employee personally. Especially when it's more or less standard practice for any decent job to have a significant amount of perks to the job. (every job gives out swag here, I personally have 8 t-shirts, 2 jackets, 4 hoodies, an engraved ipod, several booze cruises, open bar holiday parties, notebooks, pencils, screen cleaners, whatever, it's the standard thing for any company with a forward-facing presence to gear up employees so they walk around as a billboard for the company when they're around).
As for the turnover, just look at the CM's for a start. If I'm not off, only 2-3 of them have been there since launch. The rest are replacements or additions. If the job is that great, people don't quit. Period. My current job has had literally 2 people leave in almost 4 years. Astoundingly small turnover in a generally high turnover industry. On the backend side, how many of the actual programmers are still working on the WoW team? There have been quite a few companies started by former leads from the WoW team and I think almost all of the executives are at different companies too. To me, that's always a sign that things are not rosy on the inside. If a guy's in charge of a project and he still finds a reason to leave... you're not treating them right somehow.
I'm not saying it's a horrible place to work, but seriously don't get jacked up to work somewhere just because you enjoy using what they make. You're in for some disappointment almost guaranteed.
1-03-2009 @ 2:43PM
Cadychan said...
I do agree with you...to a point.
Any large company with that kind of rep will garner the bright-eyed, eager young space cadets who will be like 'OMG I WORK FOR _______!!' I know people who have worked at Rockstar (GTA, etc), and it's HELL. They demand mandatory 70 hour work weeks, and one guy almost couldn't get two days off for his own wedding.
Another great example - my office is a few blocks away from EA...any gamer knows about the horrors of working there, despite the gorgeous office, gym, catered meals, etc.
Customer service, no matter where you go, can be hell, or really rewarding.
But from a financial perspective, I wouldn't be surprised if Blizz was a little...unsatisfactory with their initial pay. But then again, many industry jobs are either - work for less for a job you love, or the soul-killing vice versa.
I guess in the end it's up to you. Would I want to work at Blizzard? Yes, yes I would. Just how much are you willing to sacrifice?
No job on earth is THAT good....There will always be romantics who will look at it through rose-coloured lenses, and they'll just have to try it and see for themselves.
1-03-2009 @ 3:07PM
rosencratz said...
I think you miss the point of working for a company liek Blizzard.
It is a massively recognised company, they might underpay but that's because they can afford too, people are clambering over each other to get jobs there. It'd be like paying $100 for a fallen leaf that you could've picked up off the lawn for free.
The point in working for such a company in such an industry is to do what you truelly want to do and to come out of it with both the relevant work experience in one of the currently most sucessful companies of it's market and to have "Blizzard" on your CV which is going to go a long way to your landing other jobs more succesfully.
If it's not what you really want to do, then it's not worth it, if it doesn't pay enough for you to gather the work experience, then it's not worth it.
Heh heh. "I'd give an arm and a leg but I wont work for you unless you give me competitive pay?"