Elnur Mammadli

What do GTA 6 engineers actually make? Today we’re breaking down the software engineer salaries at Rockstar Games, the reality of "ship bonuses," and how the "cool tax" could be costing these devs millions over their careers. (YouTube Link in Comments) What does it actually pay to work on GTA 6? In this video, we break down real Rockstar Games developer salaries, total compensation, and career tradeoffs so you can compare a “dream job” on GTA 6 vs a traditional big tech 9 to 5. If you’ve ever Googled GTA 6 developer salary, Rockstar Games pay, or wondered if game dev is worth the crunch, this is for you. We’ll look at what Rockstar pays software engineers, gameplay programmers, artists, and other GTA 6 dev roles, then stack that against FAANG / big tech companies like Google, Meta, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft. You’ll see how base salary, bonuses, and stock compare — and what you might be giving up for the chance to work on the most hyped game in the world. 📍 TIMESTAMPS 0:00 – GTA 6 dev salaries: expectation vs reality 1:39 – How much does Rockstar Games actually pay? (real data) 4:02 – Game dev vs big tech: salary & total comp breakdown 6:25 – Crunch culture, hours, and burnout at game studios 8:47 – GTA 6 prestige vs boring but high-paying tech jobs 11:10 – Is working on GTA 6 worth it for your career? 13:05 – Final verdict & who should (and shouldn’t) chase game dev 🎮 IN THIS VIDEO YOU’LL LEARN • How much GTA 6 developers really make at Rockstar Games • How Rockstar developer salaries compare to Google, Meta, Apple, etc. • The truth about crunch culture, work–life balance and burnout in game dev • Whether a game developer career is good for long-term earnings and promotions • How to think about passion vs pay when choosing between game dev and other tech jobs 💼 WHO THIS IS FOR • Software engineers and developers curious about game industry pay • Students considering a game dev degree or bootcamp • Tech workers debating Rockstar / game studios vs big tech / fintech / boring enterprise • Anyone who loves GTA 6 and wonders what the people building it actually earn 📣 MORE TECH CAREER BREAKDOWNS Subscribe for deep dives on tech salaries, “boring” high-paying jobs, and realistic career strategy:    https://lnkd.in/euY5qMSh

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The US is imposing a $100,000 annual fee on H-1B visa applications. This is great news for domestic American software developers. They'll face less competition, boosting their edge and driving salaries even higher. Bad news for devs in Canada and Europe: With fewer H-1B slots in the US, more lower-paid talent from developing countries may flock to your markets, potentially pushing salaries down further. Being a software dev isn't what it used to be. Time to kickstart that indie project if you haven't already! 🚀 #indiedev #h1b #Europe #EU #US #Canada

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The software engineering candidates who land offers this recruiting season are not the ones with the best GPA or biggest tech stack. It's the ones who understand these 5 principles 👇 A couple of weeks ago I spoke at Toronto Metropolitan University to the PACS TMU group about "How to Succeed in the Workplace as an Intern or Early Career Grad," and one of the topics was how to actually break into the industry in the first place. Since we are still in peak recruiting season for new grad roles and internships, I thought I'd share this part of the workshop publicly for anyone who couldn't attend. 👇 ✅ 1. Master technical interviews Most candidates only prepare for LeetCode. But many companies test practical engineering too (APIs, debugging, real world coding). Treat interviewing like the gym: consistency trumps cramming last minute. ✅ 2. Build real impact, not just "projects" The #1 thing that makes a resume stand out is impact (measurable outcomes). Internships help, but entrepreneurship can be just as powerful: focus on building something people actually need and use. ✅ 3. Tailor your resume One generic resume will give you average results. Create versions aligned to different roles: frontend, backend, ML/AI, Mobile, QA/Test, etc. If a recruiter is hiring for a frontend role, they are more likely to reach out to someone who identifies as a "React Developer" than a "Software Engineer" IMO. ✅ 4. Network the right way Great opportunities usually come from warm relationships, not cold applications. Don't rely on referrals from strangers. Provide value -> build connection -> schedule a virtual coffee chat -> in-person meeting -> genuine friendship. ✅ 5. Signal adaptability Top companies want people they can mold. In 2025, adaptability often means knowing how to leverage LLMs to learn faster and deliver quickly. ✅ Bonus: Resilience is part of the process The market is still competitive for new grads. Don't get discouraged by rejections. Keep building, learning and applying! Shoutout to Sidra Musheer and other PACS student leaders for setting up this event! 🎉🎁 During the workshop I promised to giveaway some of my services for free to one lucky attendee. Congrats to Rediet M., winner of the raffle! For those who attended in-person, you can find the video of the random draw from the Loom link in the comments section.

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Mastering High-Performance Reports in BC Creating high-performance reports is an essential skill for any Business Central developer. I’m sure many of you have run into slow reports, but what if I told you they’re slow mainly because of poor design? Today, I outline a set of techniques and tips that will help developers build truly high-performance reports. https://lnkd.in/eVSV4Jz4 #bcalhelp #msdyn365bc #businesscentral #blog #reports

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Canada 🇨🇦 ranks 10th in GitHub's top developer communities for 2025. At first glance, that might seem disappointing. But here's the thing - with roughly 40 million people, we're likely the smallest country in the top 10 by population. The U.S., India, China, Brazil, U.K., Japan, Germany, Indonesia, and Russia all have significantly larger populations. So we're punching well above our weight class. The quality of Canadian tech talent is undeniable. We've got strong engineering programs, a thriving startup scene, and major tech hubs in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Waterloo. Our developers are building world-class products and contributing to major open source projects. But here's the question: How do we move from 10th to 5th? A few thoughts: 1. Strengthen our open source culture: More Canadian developers contributing to and leading open source projects. It's not just about building - it's about building in public and sharing what we learn. 2. Make tech education more accessible: Bootcamps, apprenticeships, and alternative pathways into tech. Not everyone needs a CS degree to become a great developer. We need more on-ramps. 3. Keep our talent at home: Too many Canadian developers move south for opportunities. We need stronger startup funding, competitive salaries, and compelling reasons to build Canadian companies. 4. Invest in developer communities: Local meetups, conferences, hackathons. The infrastructure that brings developers together and helps them grow. 5. Celebrate our wins: Shopify, Wealthsimple, 1Password, and dozens of other Canadian tech success stories. Let's make more noise about them. We're small but mighty. And there's plenty of room to grow. What do you think? What would help strengthen Canada's developer ecosystem? #CanadianTech #SoftwareEngineering #GitHub #DeveloperCommunity #TechInCanada Image Source: https://lnkd.in/eJSeumgC

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“I’m ready to start tomorrow, once I’m cleared to work.” I heard that again this week. Skilled engineer. Strong cloud experience. Living in Canada already. Their only roadblock? Their work authorization. Here’s the reality I had to share: For most of the companies I recruit with, sponsorship adds extra paperwork, time, and cost. So they tend to shortlist folks who can step in today. Not great news, but it’s the truth. Why say it out loud? • Credibility = telling people the reality, not what they hope to hear. • Honest answers today make room for better matches down the line. • When a role does allow sponsorship, I know exactly who to call. Helping without a placement on the horizon feels small, until it isn’t. Have you had to give tough-but-fair feedback in hiring? How did it land?

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How to make 2x more than everyone in Canada 1. Start a business / corp and get paid this way (e.g as a contractor) 2. Under $500k net income - Corp tax rate is 10% 3. Pay yourself a dividend of $35-45k ish depending on province for effectively 0% personal tax 5. Invest funds in the business, and just keep giving yourself a steam over time Do your own research. But we really incentivize small businesses up here. Invest in stuff that distributed ROC instead of dividends and interest for a bonus boost

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Documenting a recent infrastructure win because I wish I’d seen more posts like this when I was figuring this stuff out. We run data pipelines that process medical charts and generate codes (CPT, ICD, HCC). The old architecture was SQS-based with worker pools. It worked, but visibility was terrible. Charts would hang or fail silently, and we’d have no idea what happened to them. We migrated everything to Temporal. Game changer for observability. Now I have full traces of every workflow, every agent call with its prompts and outputs, every processing step. OpenTelemetry integration pipes everything to Datadog. Debugging went from “let me spend 3 hours in logs” to “here’s exactly what happened.” Then I built an MCP server that queries both Datadog and Temporal. Ask it about a failed chart, get the root cause in seconds. Connected that to Cursor. Now when something breaks, the flow is: identify failed chart → MCP surfaces the issue → AI suggests fix → push code → validate chart processes → done. End-to-end debugging and fixing that used to take a day now takes under an hour, sometimes just minutes. Not trying to sell anything here, just sharing what worked for me. Happy to talk details if anyone’s going through similar infrastructure decisions.

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I’ve been working on a better way to organize and reuse Canada’s National Occupation Classification (NOC) data — and it’s now live as a monorepo 🎉 Here’s what’s new: 🔹 @canoeh/nocs — a standalone, publishable NPM package that lets you search and work with NOC codes (TEER levels, job titles, hierarchy, etc.) https://lnkd.in/e3Y-xSjU 🔹 noc-canada — the Express API that now uses this package under the hood https://lnkd.in/eCfqKJAd This makes it easier to plug NOC logic into other apps, whether you're building PR eligibility tools, job matches, or just need clean access to NOC data.

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***A gentle reminder for everyone who conducts interviews*** Please remember that the person sitting in front of you is likely very nervous. Many candidates wait a long time for an interview and see it as a real chance to change their situation. For them, it’s NOT just another meeting, it carries a lot of hope and pressure. When an interviewer comes in cold, does NOT smile, or gives off the feeling that they are looking for reasons to fail the candidate, it makes everything harder. Nervousness increases, thinking shuts down and the interview no longer reflects the person’s true abilities. Interviews do NOT need to be intimidating to be effective. A small smile, a calm tone, or a few words to put someone at ease can make a huge difference. It helps people relax, think clearly and show who they really are. Kindness does NOT lower the bar and humanity does NOT weaken standards. It simply allows people to perform at their best. If we want better teams, we must conduct better interviews, starting with empathy. Remember, you were once in the same shoes, and you wanted to be treated with respect.

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🏙️ RTO: ECONOMIC BOOST OR SOFT LAYOFFS? A new wave of Return-to-Office (RTO) mandates is reshaping the workplace in Toronto, and other cities across Canada, and it's sparking a major debate. Many companies in finance, tech, and other sectors, as well as most government employers are calling employees back in-person for 3-5 days a week. They say RTO will increase productivity, strengthen company culture, and support downtown economies. However, many critics and workers are calling this strategy a "soft layoff." A growing number of employees and unions are skeptical that these mandates are a way for companies to reduce headcount, without the cost and negative publicity of official layoffs. What do you think about RTO? Build Recruitment Inc - Follow Us #RTO #WFH #recruitment #Torontojobs

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