Who makes more money, video game designer or the programmer? Which job is more competitive?

Question

I am thinking of working for a company like Bungie, Valve...

Answer 1

Programmer typically makes more money (longer term job) and the position is more competitive.

Answer 2

All jobs in the game industry are very competitive, particularly with top-tier studios like Bungie and Valve.  However, within the game industry, game designer is much more competitive than game programmer is.  Everyone wants to be the “idea guy”.  Additionally, all you need to do to learn to be a game programmer is get a standard Computer Science degree, whereas learning how to be a game designer is much more difficult, and currently only taught well at one or two colleges in the US.

But because designer is so much more desired and competitive, programmers typically get paid better than designers do.   There's a game industry salary survey from 2006 here: http://gamecareerguide.com/features/266/... that lists Programmers on page 2 and Designers on page 4.  Average starting salary for a designer is $43,000 per year, and average salary across all Designer titles and experience levels is $63,000.  For programmers average starting salary is $53,000, and average across all experience levels and titles for programmers is $82,000.  Keep in mind that those numbers are two years old now, and in an expensive state like California, you typically get paid a bit more.  But even still, game programmers almost always make more than game designers.

Answer 3

i would thing the programmer would make more money because you probably have to go to college  not something like DeVry. Try going to Salary.com and seeing how much both get paid where you live.