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Re: Need advice: move to LV for game development? (English o

Posted: 10 Apr 2018, 11:01
by zivs
Just a suggestion to moderators ... mute/ban that sam guy - useless and toxic cornhole.

Re: Need advice: move to LV for game development? (English o

Posted: 10 Apr 2018, 14:38
by bunkovskyyy
Amnvex wrote:Oh, and lastly, I'd like to add the issue with freelancing is when companies like Avalanche do this: http://avalanchestudios.com/careers/P_A ... BMDpUoT4k/
If you look, it says: "Local candidates only. This position will require to work in our Stockholm Studio as an independent contractor. This is a temporary role." -- I hope I *never* have this job opportunity. This is exactly what I want to avoid.
You do understand, that hiring 10s or 100s of people for art team and then dumping them/transferring them to another gamedev company is quite standard practice around the globe, right? (its not just for freelancers, its like that for everybody.)
It is because they need those people for art production, they make the art and then sometimes there is nothing left for them to do in some of the later stages of development.
The only companies that dont do that (do it less) are smaller indie dev companies, that are based around the idea of small and solid team.

People also hire pre-production art companies that are only involved in the development for first initial months and so on.

Re: Need advice: move to LV for game development? (English o

Posted: 10 Apr 2018, 16:32
by sam
Protams nav grūti iedomāties ja tevi uzaicināt Google us darba iespējām vispirms paskatītos ko tu raksti internetā.
Nav jau arī grūti aizdomāties ka kāds arī nāktu uz šādu forumu un skatītos vai arī postotu.

Vai atgreižoties mājas tev nekad nepārgāja sajūta ka kāds tev visulaik skatās pār pecu?

Re: Need advice: move to LV for game development? (English o

Posted: 10 Apr 2018, 20:59
by Amnvex
bunkovskyyy wrote:
Amnvex wrote:Oh, and lastly, I'd like to add the issue with freelancing is when companies like Avalanche do this: http://avalanchestudios.com/careers/P_A ... BMDpUoT4k/
If you look, it says: "Local candidates only. This position will require to work in our Stockholm Studio as an independent contractor. This is a temporary role." -- I hope I *never* have this job opportunity. This is exactly what I want to avoid.
You do understand, that hiring 10s or 100s of people for art team and then dumping them/transferring them to another gamedev company is quite standard practice around the globe, right? (its not just for freelancers, its like that for everybody.)
It is because they need those people for art production, they make the art and then sometimes there is nothing left for them to do in some of the later stages of development.
The only companies that dont do that (do it less) are smaller indie dev companies, that are based around the idea of small and solid team.

People also hire pre-production art companies that are only involved in the development for first initial months and so on.
Yes, I do, of course. I am not against picking up freelancing work when there's not enough production within a company. I simply don't want to be in that position eternally. I know what it is like to be a contractor (I am one right now) and it is an awful position. In the U.S., it's all about getting the lowest price for it (avoiding employer-side burden of paying taxes), and stalling payments for bullsh!t reasons (like "incomplete work" or "not to expectation" along with lawsuits for breach of contract).

There's also this self-employment "tax"--a tax on top of whatever normal taxes you pay--that you owe even if you have no taxes
Here's an example of how it works in the U.S:
Two people, one works and one doesn't. Say they're married. This is how it would look:
Contract income: $50,000.
Business expenses: $30,000 (can include mileage or business actual expenses).
After-expenses income: $20,000.
Personal exemption for both people: $8,000
Standard deduction for both people: $12,700
Actual taxable income: -$700
Self employment tax for being a contractor: 15.3% applied to $20,000. Why? Because the employer saved money by letting you pay it, but the government still requires someone to pay this special tax.
You end up owing about... ~$3000 (not including a deduction that would probably bring it down to about $2200 or so).
So... federal (government) tax is 0 because you are considered in the poverty level. BUT you still owe business tax. When $20k is barely enough to live on for two people, working as a contractor isn't worth it because you end up owing money. The only way this can work is if you are being paid an extraordinary rate per hour or per contract.

The worst part of it? If you're a green card holder or a citizen (doesn't matter which), you pay taxes to the U.S. on this income as well as to the country you live in. This country sucks you bone dry and leaves you to rot under a bridge. (Just to let you know: it wasn't my decision to come here or to stay here.)

I don't know if this is how it works in other countries, but if it does, that's another reason to avoid this sort of work. Maybe after I do the paperwork required to completely cut ties here can I do freelancing in the EU. It is not possible before this happens. There are people out there complaining that they owe almost $1000 in taxes on a $10k contract income. If that's your sole income and you got nothing else, you're in a dimension of financial pain because you need every coin and every bill you have in order to survive. You don't know the details behind my life which is why you don't understand why I don't like contract work, so it's understandable that you don't understand the aversion or rejection of such ideas from me. Now, I hope, I've made it more clear for you. Fun fact: I signed a contract with the company I am a contractor of that said I cannot sue them, only arbitrate. I didn't even know because they copy-and-pasted the same contract wording while adding a few extra lines that they didn't tell me about. Since the contract was long, it was difficult to figure out what was added. What a nice company, right? It was sign and keep working, or don't sign and be out of work. As a result, I have a certain "fear of contracts", if you want to call it that.

That being said, that's exactly why I'd hope to work with a small and solid team as you said. There are plenty of companies like that in the U.S., but they're out of my scope because I am really not interested in working any more in this environment. I have plenty of reasons for this decision. I mean, I've been here for close to 15 years now...

Re: Need advice: move to LV for game development? (English o

Posted: 10 Apr 2018, 22:29
by bunkovskyyy
Yea, i do agree that those taxes are crazy, i have not delved too deeply in reasearching US tax, but i have heard quite a few horror stories.
Fortunately here it's much simpler :D Its around 15% tax up to X eur per year (if you file to make small company/declare yourself as micro-freelancer), and if you earn more than that type of company/self emplyed tax type allows it switches to 20-30% (few factors). Of course its a bit more complicated than that, but its quite simple overall. + The basic health care is free and available to all, and if you want something more fancy or quick you go to private clinics, that are somewhat reasonably priced. + rent in city center is like 200-600eur for a good apartament.

Either way - best of luck with you search for the perfect employee, you can swing by LV once you find your base job somewhere in europe :D

Re: Need advice: move to LV for game development? (English o

Posted: 10 Apr 2018, 23:37
by Amnvex
bunkovskyyy wrote:Yea, i do agree that those taxes are crazy, i have not delved too deeply in reasearching US tax, but i have heard quite a few horror stories.
Fortunately here it's much simpler :D Its around 15% tax up to X eur per year (if you file to make small company/declare yourself as micro-freelancer), and if you earn more than that type of company/self emplyed tax type allows it switches to 20-30% (few factors). Of course its a bit more complicated than that, but its quite simple overall. + The basic health care is free and available to all, and if you want something more fancy or quick you go to private clinics, that are somewhat reasonably priced. + rent in city center is like 200-600eur for a good apartament.

Either way - best of luck with you search for the perfect employee, you can swing by LV once you find your base job somewhere in europe :D
Yes, big difference. The tax system is much better in EU, then. I knew it was "better", but I wasn't aware of how much better it was until you explained. It's many times more complicated here--enough that you're not able to file your own taxes and have to go to an accountant.

I'm not sure if the price you gave me for the apartments is in LV, but if it's like that all around the EU then it sounds wonderful. I am looking forward to it. I will undoubtedly go to LV at some point, regardless of work.

Thanks; I am happy to have your answer.

Re: Need advice: move to LV for game development? (English o

Posted: 11 Apr 2018, 00:33
by bunkovskyyy
Naa, those are rent prices in LV/Riga. To be fair 200eur apartament would be quite tiny, and the popular range for comfortable ones is 260-400. In UK or Sweden/Norway/Finland (especially bigger cities) you would pay muuuuch more for rent. There is the salary equalization - you pay much more for services which we have for much cheaper.

Re: Need advice: move to LV for game development? (English o

Posted: 11 Apr 2018, 00:56
by Amnvex
bunkovskyyy wrote:Naa, those are rent prices in LV/Riga. To be fair 200eur apartament would be quite tiny, and the popular range for comfortable ones is 260-400. In UK or Sweden/Norway/Finland (especially bigger cities) you would pay muuuuch more for rent. There is the salary equalization - you pay much more for services which we have for much cheaper.
Wow, ok. That's crazy inexpensive :o

Good to know!