Some Electronic Arts Programmers Unhappy

Posted on December 3, 2004

Recent articles on Salon.com and Slashdot.org report that some programmers at leading game publisher Electronic Arts are unhappy about their work environment. The workers complain about being overworked in an environment that demands 80 to 100 hours a week of their time. The news articles link to a Live Journal entry written by the spouse of an Electronic Arts employee who complains about the working conditions at the gaming firm. For the many college students and young programmers that yearn for a job at a company like Electronic Arts it probably is somewhat surprising for them to hear complaints from the actual game developers themselves. These game programmers have what they consider a dream job and yet they are unhappy?

Salon also reports that Electronic Arts is facing a class action lawsuit related to uncompensated overtime. Unfortunately for today's programmers and developers (and those in training for this kind of career) there is presently a level of disappointment that runs industry wide. A recent IDG Computerworld Salary Survey found that the "percentage of respondents reporting that they are feeling stress at work due to budget cuts and increased workloads is at an all time high at 88%."

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