by Blender Dumbass

Aka: J.Y. Amihud. A Jewish by blood, multifaceted artist with experience in film-making, visual effects, programming, game development, music and more. A philosopher at heart. An activist for freedom and privacy. Anti-Paternalist. A user of Libre Software. Speaking at least 3 human languages. The writer and director of the 2023 film "Moria's Race" and the lead developer of it's game sequel "Dani's Race".

When people see my film, or how versed I am in computers, they are often confused. I work a minimum wage job as a cashier. And before that I worked a number of jobs all of which were minimum wage, or slightly above minimum wage. Those jobs aren't particularly challenging, unless they are physical. So I don't have very much to complain. As a cashier I actually enjoy working. I get to talk to various people. And get to sit in front of a computer all day long. So what is there to complain about? Yet, whenever people find out that I know programming or that I can do movies, they often assume that I should not "waste my time" at a job like this, and instead work something a bit more prestigious.

Just before we start I want to remind you that on Saturday (05/10/2024) at 19:15 UTC a game of mine ( Dani's Race ) will be streamed by opensource_gaming. Please don't miss it!

According to this page that found online a programmer should be getting roughly speaking about 100 thousand dollars per year. Similar wages for Producers and Directors for film and television. And designers get about half of it. At a minimum wage job, with the rates I am getting in my country at the moment I can get shy of 19 thousand dollars per year. Which if you make the math is about 19% of what I could get if I had worked a different job. Right?

Funny thing is, people are saying it, that I can work all these jobs, but can I really? I mean I have produced some working software and at least one completely unplayable video game ( it needs a lot of optimization to run anywhere but on my computer ). I don't think I can program in a work environment even if I wanted to. People who see my code structure are often struck with how nonconformitive it is to programming conventions. I hate classes and object oriented style in general. I tend to keep all the data in a huge dictionary to be able to access every part of the program from any other part of the program. I tend to just manipulate data directly when I need something quick. Instead defining a new function to do this job. For the game, I started compartmentalizing my code a little bit more. So I don't copy paste code pieces that I often edit. And instead have a tiny function, that I can link in every nook and cranny, to then edit it, and have it updated everywhere at ones.

I completely disregard deprecation. I use GTK 3.0 in 2024 for new stuff. I use the center tag in HTML. And I used python 2 until it was no longer available to install easily. I don't think I can work in an environment where the style of your code has to be consistent with some sort of norms. Don't get me wrong, I think I can do it. It's just not something I want to do. And I don't think anybody will be willing to give me a special treatment and allow me to mess everybody's code.

As a film or television director, I could maybe work. But I'm scared of a non-indi production with unions. When I make my movies I make them myself where-ever I can make something myself. For Moria's Race I had to get somebody to voice the kids. But that was the extent of somebody's else involvement with the movie. The rest of it, from modeling to music I did myself.

I hear stories of directors trying to move the camera or the light on set to get what they want, but they are met with unions of people who work on set to move those damn lights and cameras that don't want directors taking their jobs away. And I agree. But I don't think I can do that myself. I will be constantly fighting over everything, since it wasn't me who did that. And maybe I can adopt. But then can I call the movie mine in the end? I guess not, because it was a team effort. And then the whole point kind of disappears entirely. I want my name in the title. But that kind of makes very little sense if I did only a small fraction of the work.

And that's in the best case scenario, if I get to direct something I wrote, and on my own terms. But there are producers and censors and all bunch of other people who will probably get on my nerves and be a burden to handle. You kind of see why I choose to sit in front of a computer in a supermarket instead. The pressure is not the same. And nobody is trying to mangle with what you are trying to say, potentially ruining your image, for some imaginary monetary goal.

It truly feels like I am incompatible with all those working environments. But surely, you're thinking, I can suffer all this inconvenience for the money that I will get. You know, getting my salary like 520% up. Maybe this could help me cope with the stuff I don't like? Well there is another major problem with both of those jobs.

They are copyright based!

Both software and film make their money ( at least in the majority of cases ) by rubbing people of their freedom to share copies. And for me this is the final nail in the coffin. I cannot be working to feed the machine I am trying to defeat. It is not as bad sitting there counting what people buy in a supermarket. Since after they buy it, they can share it. Some even share it with me. I received an ice-cream or a snack multiple times at work from somebody who came through me. It felt very nice every-time. Though every-time I was embarrassing myself by trying to refuse.

I like walking to my work in the morning, throwing some cash to a homeless guy near the entrance. And then not have enough money to get a proper lunch. And instead eat the gratis stuff they give workers. I enjoy the mental gymnastics of counting money every damn time I want to buy something. And yes, those are most definitely coping mechanisms trying to make me not kill myself. But working for the copyright beast is way worse in my opinion, than doing a minimum-wage job.

Happy Hacking!!!


0

Find this post on Mastodon

Find

  Anonymous c:0


I think many people who have found great success in coding or film making did so partially due to friends who helped them. Having people to talk to and work with seems beneficial in creating bigger and better things in a shorter amount of time.
I think working with someone should be a future goal for you.

Post