#8 I was standing in line at a Sears store (before 2010) and overheard some parents talking with a guy about their kid who just got out of school where he learn to program. His starting salary was $100,000 for a gaming company...
Can you imagine being 22 or younger and making that money?
In their next job they would expect more money as they have the new home and corvette to pay for.
I could imagine a 22-year-old making $100K a year back then because I witnessed it. It was low in 2008 compared to just a few years prior. Sadly, the "kid" may have been "one-and-done" in that once the game was completed, he was out on his butt looking for the next gig in a field with fewer and fewer game offerings.
The average salary for a computer game programmer now is $74k. The days of being able to develop a cool game and sell it to a big company have been replaced with teams of professionals where fewer individuals stand out.