Does the fact we are CAG mean we are poor? What do you do and whats your salary?

I'm 21 and a full time student. I make about $11.50 an hour doing tech support for a small company. I'm only working about 10-15 hours a week, so I don't get too much out of it, but, being a full time student, the job's hours are ideal for me.

Will probably still be a CAG even when I graduate and have a proper career. Don't feel the need to waste money just because I have it.
 
Old topic...

I'm a bouncer/barback half the time and a bartender the other half.

When I barback I make 9/hr with 30-90 in a night in tips.

When I bartend I make 7/hr with 200-300 a night in tips

I only work weekends, mainly because I'm lazy and go to school.
 
Was makeing 10 an hour warehouseing but I got let go about 2 weeks ago. Now I'm geting about 500 every 2 weeks on unemployment. I have an interview with a company thursday that is 10 bucks an hour. I would say not bad for jobs in the St. Louis area but I have an AOS in Computer Programming and can not get a job unless it is in a warehouse. I might be able to get a temp job at Boing in October doing the call center for 14 an hour. However working for others sucks. I want my own business. Trying to get a game dev company going right now but it is not working out all that well.

[quote name='doomlv20']I make $14/hr doing tech support and am a college dropout. I guess I'm pretty lucky to be in the tech support field, my previous job was with Unisys and the only other job I had on my resume was a shitty check authorization job. Work there pretty much sucked, but it helped me get the job I currently have which is for a company that actually cares about their employee's.[/QUOTE]

Wow their is a company that actually cars about its employee's? Can you tell me what it is like working for one. I have not had one in a long time. Even then I'm not sure if they really did. Well every one was friends or family. Now that I think about it they did care but that was a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. Or about 4 years ago when I was working for about half of what I made at my last job. Only bad thing is the GM would "forget" to give you the 10 cent raise every 3 months. So everyone got mad at me when I found out. Yeah thats right they got mad at me. They were saying how I should have asked only I never even knew we were to get a raise. I was about to get a raise but I quit that job about a month before I was to get it. The security job I had would keep the raise for themselves. They would tell us it was not in the contract only we found out that it was and the facility manager fought for us to get it. They told us it would be 15% only they ended up rounding it down so they pocketed about 3 cents an hour for each person that worked there.
 
I used to have 2 jobs then I got a third helping out with my grandma. I'm a lot less poor these days but even then because I'm a CAGer I've been able to have pretty new stuff but for the fraction of what it cost.

I'm a student but my jobs are...

job 1 $8/hr. about 4-8 hrs a week. I get paid to do whatever the hell I want.

job 2 $8/hr. about 4 hrs a week. I get paid to do whatever the hell I want.

Job 3 $15/hr. about 8 hrs a week. They insisted I be paid and part of it goes toword gas anyway since it's about 30min. away. I hate that drive too.
 
Im an attorney 1st year out of law school. I'm makin 40k this year working for a court but should hopefully be close to 100k next year in a larger firm.
 
[quote name='pittpizza']Im an attorney 1st year out of law school. I'm makin 40k this year working for a court but should hopefully be close to 100k next year in a larger firm.[/quote]

Get out of Pittsburgh and move to NYC for 3-5 years. Starting salaries for first years are $145,000 plus bonus (usually around $30,000 but it varies by firm). The job is hell but after you get enough experience you can go pretty much anywhere you want.
 
Still a student with one semester to go but I already have a job with the DoD. I get paid about 30k a year by the gov. right now and two years after i graduate i am at 60k with lots of room for advancement. Its not much money but it has great perks, benefits etc. Plus I am on a computer all day on CAG, hah.
 
Work for a Super Cool School Uniform store making 10.50 per hr as an asst. mgr. and accounting assistant doing some Accounts Receivable/Payable for the company. Plus I have 3 semesters left before graduating hopefully.
 
20. Web Designer. $46k CDN per year plus benefits. Recently full-time student, but now it's going to take me aeons to finish my degree with my new job ;)

A very nice boost from the underpaid temp position I had last year at a different company. That was $10 an hour and I was barely called to do any work.
 
[quote name='javeryh']Get out of Pittsburgh and move to NYC for 3-5 years. Starting salaries for first years are $145,000 plus bonus (usually around $30,000 but it varies by firm). The job is hell but after you get enough experience you can go pretty much anywhere you want.[/QUOTE]

And keep living like you're making 40k, so you can pay off those monster loans in record time.
 
I work in intellectual property and my wife in the defense industry. Together, we are in that "Top 5%" of incomes in the US (>166K). Like someone mentioned eariler, I use CAG b/c there is really no point in me paying full price for many games. I dont get to play that often so there is always some overlooked gem from a couple of months ago that I didnt have a change to play but is now in the clearance bin.

Sure, there are some games that I will run out an get early, like Madden this year. But thanks to CAG, I didnt have to pay full price for that either, and I got another game with it (Singstar w/ mics) for half off. Even though I technically *have* the money, why spend it if you dont have to?

GOD BLESS CAG!
 
[quote name='happy']I'm a grad student, but since I'm in for the long run, a PhD eventually, I get full tuition and 17k this year for TAing one class. This year that's just grading.

It's a great deal bc that includes health insurance and access to all full time student stuff, and I can still work and make as much as I want in the summer (if I need extra money now I can always find some part time stuff in the school libraries, but being in north carolina it's cheap to live)

For all you undergrads, do well and they'll pay you to go to grad school.[/quote]

How well would you say I'd have to do? I've gotten straight A's for a while now but no one says anything about.. I've had no scholarship offers or anything...

You think I can also get paid to TA? My graduating GPA should be around 3.6 or 3.7..
 
I'm a Software Engineer and I make $76K a year, I can't get another job in the US due to my Visa status, so getting something which pays more ain't an option. Unless I get a green-card of course.
 
I have sort of an interesting job, but I am still poor as hell.
I am a writer for a newspaper around Louisville, Ky. Since I work in sports, I get to do cool stuff like dick around all day at the Derby for free and all that. Plus, I am 26 and have two semesters left as an undergrad and am going to school full-time.
The problem?
I make like $10 an hour. We get paid for mileage we drive and overtime, but even being in a proper "career" doesnt ensure financial success. But it's all about budgeting. I still have a nice apartment and a new(er) car and a massive collection of games and systems. I may not have paid my rent this month, but I did get a PS3 and Persona 3 - it's all about proritizing...
I could make quite a bit selling games I've already beaten and there have been times I thought about throwing my sealed Nocturne (I have two) on eBay, but you know I'd feel...incomplete if I did. I always imagined I'd end up homeless with a big stack of games as my only shelter. I think I'm OK with that.
 
I'm an MT (medical technlogist). About 49-50k year. ($25 an hour for night shift) And it really doesn't seem like much. Especially when you have a house mortgage, and a family to support.

I really need to find something that's a little more. Hopefully move into management or QA within the next few years.

The pay doesn't quite match the 4 year degree though. Nurses with a 2 year degree start at $25+ /hr.
 
I'm a junior in college with no job on campus, but whenever I go back home, I work as a station operator for our local broadcast compnay that encompasses 4 radio stations. It's $7.50 an hour and the work is pretty easy. Sometimes I go out and do remotes, which are usually fun too. Guess that makes me the third radio person to post here, but I absolutely love it (something I've inherited from my father who has a little under 30 years in the business as well). I'm a Broadcast Journalism major, so hopefully I can find some decent paying job after I graduate.
 
2 BA's one I got in May of 2006 was in History, came back to school, the job offers I had were pretty much crap. Now I'm getting a degree in Creative Writing. I'm had tons of sales expirence and the last 2 yrs I've been doing tech support at the university and I make about $11 an hr. I also write for 2 websites ebay stuff, most of it non-gaming to make some spare cash.

To jeep everything cheap and frugal I bought all my textbooks online, tried to make at least 5k a summer to help pay for school. Last summer I made 8k ($15 an hr and 2 other jobs helped that). I lived as cheap as possible while in school, that meant while most housing was 700-900 a month I lived in housing that was 400-500 a month. Out of the 71k it cost to go to 5 1/2 yrs of school I paid for about 37k out of my own pocket the rest was scholarships and help from my parents (not that much after my first 2 yrs)

But after this december I'm moving hopefully finding a job in sales, management, or writing, I just don't want it to be all commison based sales job.

As for being CAG, I'm not well off but I'm not super poor, I have a little moeny put away. I could have gone without buying that ps3...and after that engagement ring I'm pretty much broke.
 
[quote name='benjamouth']I'm a Software Engineer and I make $76K a year, I can't get another job in the US due to my Visa status, so getting something which pays more ain't an option. Unless I get a green-card of course.[/QUOTE]

Wow, how old are you? That doesn't seem like a bad salary at all to me (depending on your age/experience of course). I don't make much more than that but I've been at it for a while, have a Masters degree (Electrical Engineering), and I am a US citizen. I'm a CAG because I've always been a cheap-ass and I have a stay-at-home wife and 3 kids (with one more on the way) to support. So though it seems like I bring home a lot of money it disappears fast even though we don't splurge on much of anything.

I could have made much more if I was willing to move to Washington DC. I could have moved up the ranks quite a bit there and job-hopped my way to much higher salaries. Most of my work is out of there and I used to travel there quite a bit. We have an office in DC (company is based in Atlanta otherwise) for the defense side of things and we are always hiring new programmers there but they jump ship after several months after being lured away by other companies.

I should add that I work out of my home 2000+ miles from any of my company's offices. So, yes, that is a HUGE OL' perk that I get in exchange for probably much less salary in the long run. I'm pretty much stuck at the "Senior Software Engineer" position and can never go into management because I'm isolated. But I think it is worth it. It also helps me out with being a CAG (can drop everything at a moment's notice and run to a clearance sale any time of day ;)).

Javeryh - if you are pulling down those numbers I have no idea why you frequent this site (OK, I can still see being a CAG no matter how much you make). But more importantly, why is the PS3's lack of 1080i upconversion such an issue? Just buy a high-end 1080p and be done with it :lol:.
 
[quote name='io']Javeryh - if you are pulling down those numbers I have no idea why you frequent this site (OK, I can still see being a CAG no matter how much you make). But more importantly, why is the PS3's lack of 1080i upconversion such an issue? Just buy a high-end 1080p and be done with it :lol:.[/quote]

I'm not saying how much I actually make but you'd be surprised how little that is living in the NYC metropolitan area with a stay at home wife and 2 kids. To put it in perspective, I paid a 1/2 million for my house and the entire footprint is 25'x25' without a finished basement (impossible due to 6' ceiling) on 0.14 acres of land. That was 3 years ago and the neighbors down the street just sold the essentially same house over the summer for $650k. It's just out of control.

I actually don't know what we can and can't afford because my wife takes care of all the finances - according to her we are about 3 video game purchases away from the poor house though. I'm also a giant cheap ass who hates spending money on just about anything that isn't related to video games, music or TV.

In other news, I am eyeing up the 50" Panasonic 1080p plasma - It's under $2,000 right now and I think $1,500 is the magic number - I'm aiming for a 2009 purchase.
 
the living expenses in NYC are astounding... my wife and pull around what javeryh makes and we were able to purchase a house and pay my wife's way through grad school and still had enough to buy games..
 
[quote name='dallow']Damn, I need to finish school.[/quote]Don't you ever say that.

I'm a software developer for a small (seemingly growing smaller :lol:) start-up human resources consulting firm, make ~$50k. Could make more elsewhere, and may look too eventually, but I have a lot of independence (allowing me to be on CAG all day), so it's a tough decision.

CAG just keeps the wife out of my hair when buying games. :D
 
I'm a night supervisior/ acting night ops manager for home depot ( i do a salery managers job, but paid hourly-rat bastards!) and make a little more then $32,000, and what ever i sell off on ebay or medieval armor/swords/ metal workings i make as a blacksmith (when i have time)
 
Dropped the hospital gig.

Stuck in the manufacturing track here in the green mountains. There's pretty much nothing else that pays decently except construction, unless you have a degree and there is no way in hell I'm paying for a Vermont education. I'm about to get something for my days off so I can afford to get out of this state and get a real education.
 
I'm cashier at Rona Home & Garden. I make $10.30/hr
I also make money on the side from amazon. Considering Im only seventeen I think Im doing pretty well cashflow wise.
 
I've been fortunate that now I've seen a significant boost in my income but I still could not stomach paying $50-60 for a game. I'm just a CAG on principle.
 
[quote name='depascal22']35 bucks an hour as a traveling sugical technologist. 4 years in the Air Force got me to where I'm at today.[/quote]



Not bad. I did 4 years in the AF as a surgical tech also. I do not travel, I work for the city hospital and my base pay is $18 an hour plus differentials to bring it up to $21 an hour.
 
It's terrifying to read how many people are living (?) at the $10/hr or less.
There's just no way you could do that with a family.
If I was a single guy who wanted to eat ramen all day, sure.
 
[quote name='eldergamer']It's terrifying to read how many people are living (?) at the $10/hr or less.
There's just no way you could do that with a family.
If I was a single guy who wanted to eat ramen all day, sure.[/QUOTE]

A lot of people here are either in college, saving for college, or young, and at the start of their careers.
 
I am a substitute teacher, make 90-100 bucks a day depending on the district, pretty crappy, but will hopefully get something full time soon
 
My wife and I are both full time teachers. We make about $93,000 combined. It sounds like a bit, but we are having a hard time trying to buy a house in Northern California!
 
I'm a community college students living with his parents.
Been unemployed forever, but have been searching for a long while now.
I've lowered my standards to fast food.
I wish I had an opportunity to apply for half the jobs mentioned in here. :/
 
[quote name='javeryh']I'm not saying how much I actually make but you'd be surprised how little that is living in the NYC metropolitan area with a stay at home wife and 2 kids. To put it in perspective, I paid a 1/2 million for my house and the entire footprint is 25'x25' without a finished basement (impossible due to 6' ceiling) on 0.14 acres of land. That was 3 years ago and the neighbors down the street just sold the essentially same house over the summer for $650k. It's just out of control.

I actually don't know what we can and can't afford because my wife takes care of all the finances - according to her we are about 3 video game purchases away from the poor house though. I'm also a giant cheap ass who hates spending money on just about anything that isn't related to video games, music or TV.

In other news, I am eyeing up the 50" Panasonic 1080p plasma - It's under $2,000 right now and I think $1,500 is the magic number - I'm aiming for a 2009 purchase.[/QUOTE]

I have no idea how much you make either (and don't want to know) but you did respond with "Starting salaries for first years are $145,000 plus bonus" to another lawyer, so I thought you'd be somewhere around that if not more ;).

But I understand - although 500K sounds dirt cheap to me for a house in NYC. I figured they'd all be 1 mil+. Try buying a house like that ANYWHERE in the Bay Area. You'll get a shack with no plumbing if you are lucky. I have friends that bought a fixer-upper for 850K. Part of the reason I moved to where I am in semi-rural Oregon (from Tucson where housing was also getting expensive) is that we could get a fairly large house with a fairly large yard (though still not much more than yours - like .2 acres or something but that is plenty big!). And still, where I am, nice houses are in the 400K-500K range with many significantly over that (secured mine for about 325K in 2003 - part of the reason I'm a CAG is that the mortgage takes half the paycheck).

I'll probably get a nice 1080p HDTV about when you are. Then maybe I can buy a PS3 too ;). I have an extra room set aside as a kick-ass gaming/movie room though now it is chock full of kids toys and used as general storage. I'm too much of a cheap-ass to get any furniture or anything for it to make it look truly nice. Another problem is, we only have 3 very small bedrooms in addition to ours and a 4th kid on the way. Either 2 share the large extra room or two bunk up in a small room. :whistle2:k

pacifickarma - Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. That's scraping by in most of Northern CA (unless you are somewhere like Chico or Yuba City :lol:).
 
I am an Optician. I work at the 4th ranked Independent Optical Lab in the country producing glasses for doctors offices all over the state of Indiana. If you live in Indiana, I have probably made a pair of your glasses at one time or another. Amongst other things I run 7 BADASS lens edgers and push out a good 400 pairs of lenses a day. I have only a High School diploma but I could go toe to toe with any college grad that does what I do.

I make good money, though I have a wife and 2 kids, so games always come second. I have no next gen system yet, but my Dreamcast and PS2 are always running. I have hundreds of genesis/nintendo/atari game roms and play them quite frequently.

I was always a Cag, even before I knew what a cag was. Trade In's, good deals and clearance racks have always been my friends :)
 
I'm 29 and make about 50g's as a tv news producer..the pay and benefits ain't bad, but the time left over for video games leaves a lot be desired.
 
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