Yes, given a history of testing. I don't want to be the guinea pig, but the simple fact that it's nukuler isn't an issue.

60K seems like good money for an entry-level game programming job. I wouldn't count on any profit sharing or equity to be worth anything. If it is, great, but don't count on it.

The game industry is organized kind of like the music industry. Small studios are the bands to the publisher's record companies. Small studios (typically under-funded and over-ambitious) beg the big guys for money to work on projects. They often get screwed. Fight to get your name in the credits of any game you release. OTOH, many many games never get released.

Hm. Re-reading your post, it occurs to me that the startup may not be a game company.

"Love your work" is often just a way for startups and other small companies to extract unreasonable hours from you, with little payback.

I've done the startup thing. I've worked 9-5 er I mean 9-6, oh, wait it was more like 10-7:30. In the end, any job will require you to put up with things you don't like. Obviously, some jobs are a better fit than others.

I find the startup smugness naive.

They have regional interests, and they need to make sure they can counter any hegemonist's power-projection in the their region.

Nice.

Rocky's Boots for the Apple ][ taught me pretty much everything I needed to know to pass my first digital electronics course.

Nice. Just got two.

One for me, one for my Dad. He's 75, and still writing Mathematica notebooks and software to try to help educate people in developing countries. Rock on dad, this one's for you.

Er, why do you care?

Make sure you do lots of extra-curricular work that you enjoy, and that's difficult. If your grades aren't great, you can show off projects to get jobs. If you want to make your own job, grow it out of your projects.

I failed out of school, and I'm an inconsistent employee at best, but I only know a couple of people who work harder than I do, and they're all business owners.

I care because I was under a lot of pressure the other day.

I do work a lot on my own. I too know only of a handful of guys who are more willing to learn than me.

Not very. Marks anywhere from 40% to 85%. I started when I was fifteen and failed out in my fourth (last) year.

Went back part-time about 5 years later, and failed a compilers course after I decided to forgo the group, write the compiler myself, but got sidetracked leading bots in assault mode on Unreal Tournament.

I really learned how to study about 2 years ago. Sigh.

Spending too much time playing games was a major contributing factor. OTOH I now work in game-development.

I occasionally think about going back so I can some day get a post-grad degree, but don't relish being some profs biatch.

I have a university library-card, read theses and research papers, and generally do whatever I damn well want, while getting paid and hatching product ideas.

Yeah, it's better to trust a liar than a "geezer". What is this, the freaking Cultural Revolution?

P.S. That was something that happened before 1985.

Never trust anybody over 30, man :)