[beachstartup]

the job he describes is at LEAST $125k/year + benefits + location and schedule flexibility i.e. work from home if you want, and you can leave to pick up the kids at 2pm. as long as the work gets done. possibly stock or options - depends on the company, but quite honestly i don't even view that as 'real' compensation for 90% of all cases.

i can't even begin to know what the fuck a 'volunteer' Enforcer is, especially for a profitable company. quite frankly it sounds like the typical 20 foot pile of horse shit that only the games industry could come up with. and i've seen some really mind-bendingly exploitative behavior after being based here in LA for a decade.

anything significantly less than the above salary + benefits, and you are being ripped. off. by. people. who. know. better.

i know this because i have several senior devops guys on my staff who fit that description and have been with us for over 3 years. this is also what I used to make as a senior engineer before i started up my company as an owner/executive.

people should be FAR AND AWAY your most expensive resource. with a few notable types of exceptions, if you pay your people less than your hosting provider or your rent or marketing, you're doing something very, very wrong, and it will catch up to you in some way or another. see: penny arcade job post.

[Lewisham]

i can't even begin to know what the fuck a 'volunteer' Enforcer is, especially for a profitable company. sounds like a 20 foot pile of horse shit.

Why don't you try using Google and looking it up before angrily speculating?

The Enforcer system is what the use at Penny Arcade Expo. It's a volunteer system to help run the event, and in return you get to attend things when you're not on the roster. It's no different to all sorts of roles, be it grad students being a student volunteer to attend a conference (and if you want to talk about underpaid, grad student is where it's at) or teenagers picking up trash after the Glastonbury Music Festival.

No-one is being pressganged into being an Enforcer, it sounds like a pretty sweet gig to me.

[beachstartup]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Arcade_Expo

that's funny, i didn't see "non-profit" or "charity" anywhere on this page. you guys should consider updating it.

i am angry because there is an ongoing, systematic monetary devaluation (and hence social devaluation, dot com billionaires notwithstanding) of all technical roles by people in our own industry. it pisses me right the fuck off and the games companies are at the forefront of the fuckedupedness and loss of dignity.

you chain this fucking guy to a pager and pay him peanuts and harass him to the point where he needs to resign and then flippantly post another job posting with such unbelievably thinly veiled condescension and arrogance, and it's about time an industry called you out for it.

[mhurron]

How is the Enforcer system related in any way to technical roles?

Since you didn't seem to get it, the Enforcers are people that 'volunteer' for parts of the event in exchange for free tickets to attend the rest.

[beachstartup]

no, i don't think you get it.

a for-profit enterprise should not be asking for volunteers for anything. that is a moral position i take.

second, the loss of dignity and monetary devaluation was referring to his day job. the one that he ostensibly makes a living from.

[fennecfoxen]

A for-profit enterprise should feel free to ask for volunteers whenever they feel like it, and would-be volunteers should feel free to ignore them if it's a bad deal.

Why do you hate freedom? Think someone's going to steal your job? Are you one of those union members who freak out if someone is setting up at a convention center and plugs in their own laptop or moves their own chair? :P

(Now if they're fraudulent and misrepresent the volunteering, that's another matter.)

[mhurron]

They're paying them in tickets to the event.

They are 'volunteers' in the sense they are not an event staff handled some company. Penny Arcade decided they wanted some event staff made up of people that were interested in making the event a success because they were also part of it.

[TWAndrews]

That's a fine moral position to take. I don't agree, and haven't seen argument from you that would convince me. Volunteer work in exchange for admission tickets is a fine offer, and there are no shortage of people who agree. Some of those become Enforcers at the event.

Free work for a weekend seems quite different than systematic under compensation in your day-to-day job.