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X-rated: Getting a tech job in the adult industry

Ingrid Marson ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 22 Nov 2005 12:30 GMT

...has had a "couple of bad debtors" from the adult industry, so it now asks for a 50 percent deposit, instead of its usual deposit of 25 percent.

Adult companies are also less likely to offer other benefits such as private health insurance and share options, according to Harte-Bunting. "The vast majority of porn companies don't offer share options," he says.

Another challenge of working as an IT professional in the adult industry is the lack of technical awareness among those running adult sites, says Sims.

"Clients always seem to want a lot of movement or flash, which instantly is going to have a detrimental effect on any search engine rankings they achieve," he says. "Also, clients seen to think uploading huge 'straight out the digital camera' images to their site is a good idea, when obviously it isn't."

6. Can working with controversial content affect your job prospects?
Insiders agree that working for an adult company could affect business opportunities in other industries, but there are ways to minimise the risks.

"There is definitely a danger, particularly if someone is very religious," says Alexander. "I have dealt with it by keeping the two parts of my business separate, for example, I don't talk to corporate clients about my work with adult companies."

"We keep the fact that we design such sites low key and rely on our Web site rankings to bring in work for those that are specifically looking for that type of site. All our 'adult sites' are actually nothing more than 'titillation' to be honest, Mr & Mrs Smith who want to put some photos on a Web site is more our line of work than anything hardcore," says Sims.

But Mark Heath, a commercial director at UK recruitment consultancy Computer Futures, disagrees that working for an adult company is likely to affect job prospects.

"I wouldn't have thought that it would be too detrimental to their prospects unless they started the business themselves, the vacancy was with a religious organisation or they had it on their CV as a hobby," says Heath. "I would have thought that it would make them stand out a bit actually and be an interesting topic of conversation during the interview."

Harte-Bunting is of the same opinion. "If you've done porn and have taken your clothes off that has a dramatic effect on your employability, but [working] at a porn company has no impact," he says. "Even in the US, Christian conservatives are a vociferous minority. Most employers in Silicon Valley don't give a damn — they just care if you can do the work."