Game development as an indie is probably the hardest thing you can do, especially when working alone or with a small team. You have to be a master programmer, amazing artist, sound designer, game designer, fiction writer, QA tester, marketing representative, social media manager, and basically everything. And then, with all that, your game could still flop. It's pretty rough. But you could also make millions of dollars off one hit and be set for life.
If you're working at a studio, it's a little better. You get guaranteed income and benefits, whether or not the game does well, or if it is even finished. The pay is not as good as other industries. Like with a CS degree, you'd make more doing websites or working on the some enterprise app, but it's kind of boring work. I've done that, and the pay was fine, but it was not satisfying. Like I've done websites for banks, pharmaceutical companies, etc. and I hated my life. So I'd much rather make a little less, or have the potential (but no guarantee) of big bucks, then take something safe and boring.
Freelance is another option. I used to freelance exclusively, I did that for around 6 years working from home. I made various rates, depending on the client, but I have made as much as $100 an hour doing work from home. This was before freelancing got popular, so it's hard to make that money today unless you are really good. But for game programming you can probably swing around $40 - 50, that is a solid rate for a US-based freelancer (provided you are good and have a decent portfolio). I've seen some people make into like $120 an hour, but they are super senior professionals. It takes time to build that kind of portfolio.
I'm still going to school right now full time, I will graduate in September. I've been doing some part time freelance, and that's been okay, but I really want to release an indie game and try to see how that goes. It's a lot of risk, and I'll basically be investing all my savings into hoping the game is a hit, but it seems like a fun gamble at this point in my life. I've already done all the corporate America stuff and I'm kind of over it. But if the game flops, I guess I'll have to get a normal job.
