Pros
When I first joined this program, I turned down other offers that paid slightly more—about $15,000 USD higher—because I believed this would be a strong learning opportunity that would set me up as a solid mid-level engineer after the 21 months. The learning itself was decent, but a lot of your experience depends on how lucky you get with your studio or team, which I suppose is true at most companies. The bigger issue was that throughout my rotations, I was never treated like a full-time engineer and was instead treated more like an intern. That’s understandable during the first rotation, but it becomes frustrating when you’re two months away from finishing the program, have nearly two years of professional experience, and are being contacted by recruiters on LinkedIn for mid-level roles. After completing the 21 months, I received a full-time offer that was only $10,000 USD more than what I made when I first started two years earlier. Had I accepted the offers I declined out of college, I would likely be earning significantly more today. Those companies weren’t Google or Facebook, but engineers with two years of experience there are earning roughly $60,000 USD more than what I was being offered here. I understand that compensation isn’t everything—learning and interesting projects matter too—but I send money home to support my family, and I simply couldn’t keep up anymore. That offer felt like a slap in the face. As a result, I started responding to recruiters who had been messaging me for months and began preparing seriously for interviews. Eventually, a recruiter from one of the best tech companies in the world reached out looking for C++ engineers. Even though my background was more focused on Unreal C++, I went through the interviews, passed, and now earn 2.5× what I was making at 2K. To be clear, 2K offers interesting problems and will make you a good engineer, so leaving isn’t particularly difficult from a skills standpoint. However, there is a lot of justification and gaslighting around compensation—often framed as “the game industry just pays less.” I understand that reality, but it becomes hard to accept when other companies are offering roles that solve equally interesting problems while paying fairly for someone with two years of experience. I also believe future cohorts may be paid even less. While our group received a $10,000 USD raise after completing the program, I suspect upcoming groups may effectively take pay cuts once their 21 months are over. Ironically, it may still be easier for them to find new jobs, since 2K now appears to hire primarily citizens. I personally faced significant visa challenges when trying to leave, which I don’t think future cohorts will have to deal with. That said, I do think the hiring focus is shifting. It seems like the program is increasingly targeting candidates with weaker engineering backgrounds, likely to make it harder for participants to leave for other tech roles. This is an interesting approach to retention, and it may work at the expense of the reputation of the program. The role I have now would not have been possible without a CS degree, but I still believe graduates with strong CS or engineering backgrounds and citizenship will still have a much easier time transitioning out than I did. In summary, the graduate program does produce capable engineers, so you don’t need to worry about skill development. Just be aware that despite becoming a fairly skilled engineer, you may still feel undervalued and disrespected during your time at 2K
Cons
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