A vent of frustration

[Gamerprinter]

it is even worse when what you do is normally done by undergrad "slaves" and some post grad students.

In my experience industry cartographers are generally not "undergrad slaves", nor post grad students. Most RPG industry cartographers are established illustrators aged 30 - 50+. Most RPG cartographers have some history playing RPG games, and the majority of gamers tabletop RPG industry are 30+. Younger gamers are almost exclusively electronic and video game players (which has a much lower need for maps). RPG gaming is a niche industry and past its prime - few younger gamers are joining that aging industry.

I personally know most of the industry cartographers, those getting the majority of RPG map commissions, and none are younger than 30 years old. I am 52 years old.

I might agree that the majority of illustrators who are not doing cartography, such cover artists, characters artists, monster artists are probably fresh out of school, but that definitely doesn't apply to game cartographers.