My male game designer friends:

This dude took a chance on me straight out of uni and now 5 years later I'm a lead designer earning £60k+.

My female game designer friends:

I've been applying for game design roles for 5 years, have 20 games in my portfolio, do 2 days a week of unpaid community work, have won awards. Really lucked out this year and got a junior job paying me £24k in central London.