From: "John Curtis, Hort+Research CRI, Hamilton, NZ" Subject: Re: JOBS: Salaries... Date: 12 Oct 1992 09:34:33 +1200 (NZST) One of my major gripes with the "marketplace" is programmers receiving (as was previously stated): >>REAL WORLD SALARIES: >>Software Engineers/Programmers: 30K - 75K >>Systems/Network Engineers: 30K - 55K when salespeople are getting easily up to three times that amount simply because they are the ones directly generating cash. In my experience many of these salespeople fail to keep up with the play. When entering the business they may have known all the technology inside out, but quickly become puppets of their parent companies and cease to recommend solutions to their clients that incorporate new technologies. I can sense myself getting into trouble here, as this is a broad generalisation but nevertheless one I find to be predominantly true. (Can you tell I'm a programmer?) Getting back to the point in question(!): companies solely producing VR products are going to be short of funds in the short term, so shares in the company for employees seem the only sensible solution, and one that will bind their group closer too. I can forsee hundreds of "little" VR companies struggling for a share in the market, and many will fold without getting anywhere. This is the same when any new market opens, with the initial gold rush, followed by a thinning out to only a few select, major players. Being a "VR programmer" is a myth - programmers in computer graphics have been around for ages. e.g. If I created a 3-D model 25 years ago to print on a plotter, refined it 15 years ago to work on a screen, refined it further to work a colour screen 10 years ago, tomorrow I can plug in a HMD and it's still the same program. "VR programmers" are simply adapting graphics to another (essentially identical) output format. Audio processing is likewise, an old technology simply moving with the times to make use of DSPs etc. I'll climb down from my soapbox now. Thank you.