[caenn]

Very large of supply of young people who really want to work in games as a thing in of itself. As opposed to the standard software industry where, at least to my experience, most people spend quite some time thinking about the money they'll make.

[AndrewOMartin]

Yep this. It's fundamental supply and demand economics. It happens in any sector that's perceived to be fun or attractive. See also 'work for exposure' in photography and music.

It seems to me that the on the opposite end of the scale you have Database administrator. Pretty much all non-trivial software projects need databases, their proper administration is absolutely essential, and it's the least sexy sounding role in a software team.

My (completely untested, and semi-serious) career advice is to read a reference manual for a database like PostgreSQL cover to cover.