Exploitative Trap for Game Dev Hopefuls
Pros
Sometimes you'll work with some real good people.
Cons
This is specifically regarding the Tempe/Phoenix location of Experis and is specific to my time there across 2022-23. During this time I worked predominantly on Halo Infinite. I will speak only of the company itself and not anything regarding the title nor our partner companies. Pay at Experis falls drastically below a livable wage with a third level position and with a monetary raise known as a 'Merit' made just under $16 and hour. While this is a contract and outsourced staffing agency this falls well below reasonable compensation for the value of testing performed. The company promises on their listings that they allow part time work and will work with students to have flexible hours. This is not the case as the company expects 40 hours a week and has strict operating hours for the office. What they really mean is that they are not too worried if you take time off to attend classes, in which cases you will not be paid. Additionally, tester-level employees would earn roughly 3 weeks of vacation time over the course of the year, nearly half of which many needed to spend on holidays where the office was closed and no holiday pay was available. The culture at the company is abysmal, where hard working employees are forced to stay in low-paying roles due to a lack of open positions in the realms of reasonable pay, even when testers are more than qualified to be, and often already have the responsibilities of, those higher positions. When positions open up favoritism clearly plays a disproportionate role and often placed people in roles they are not prepared or qualified for. Walkouts were common in my time there due to surprise mass-layoffs and meetings where company executives told us "competitive wage is a myth" (a real quote). For reference a level 2 position working internally for a 1st party developer is roughly 80% more per hour than the level 3 position I held here. It's unfortunate that Experis is often placed in areas like Phoenix where they are tantamount to the only option for most people to get into the games industry. It gives them the ability to take advantage of passionate people and put them in a position that makes moving out of state to where other industry jobs are incredibly difficult to say the least.