Isn’t weird that a year ago I want to start the game development and then I started overthinking. I tried Java, C++, unity then stepped over to Android studio and then thought about doing web, because I see people getting a job in 3 weeks as a software engineer at Google.
Of course, I have no f*cking clue how they doing that, but oke. Do you know where I’m right now? Still at the same spot, and my mind is playing me again. It is like a rope pulling between, go earn money, go follow why you really start to learn to code, which was game development.
most the time to make a living, you have to do what you don’t want to do.
if you have a passion, nurture it. But you can’t do that if you worried about dinner. So the game is “how do I get what I need, putting in minimal time/effort, so that I can spend most time doing what I want?”
Couple things that have helped me have plenty of time to pursue my passions :
GI bill from military;
disability from military;
owning house as opposed to renting;
living dirt-ass cheap. waaaaaaaay cheaper than you are thinking when I say dirt-ass cheap;
being extremely lucky;
having best wife ^^^
If you want to make a career in making games, find a mentor who is doing that already. Just be careful because its real dog-eat-dog out there and it seems like at least half of game developers end up burnt out after five to ten years. Corporate world has its benefits but its not candy-land. Important to know what you are getting into and have the right expectations.
The quickest way to achieve a goal is by staying focused constantly. This means every second of the day you are making sure it is inching you towards your goal in some way. This doesn’t mean you deny your humanity, it means that, when you are relaxing, the goal of the relaxing is so that when its time to work again you have a complete recovery. It’s just mindset. You constantly thinking about the goal and assessing every thing you are doing. “Does this move me forward or not?”
Separate your time too. There is time for thinking and planning. THen there is time to do work. Ideally, the work is like 80% of the time. Doing the work is where the magic happens. Sitting around thinking too much does more harm than good.
Aside from that, you must have faith in your ability to learn and perform. If you don’t believe in your ability to grow and develop mastery, just forget it. Quit now and resign to playing games. You won’t get any further than you truly believe you will go.
I think making a game takes insane discipline and having the ability to scope down your ideas. It also targets areas you don’t really care for like marketing and getting a private limited company, working out all the ways to get it onto steam, app stores etc, copywriting, narrative, sound design, art style, programming, targeting different os’s.
During wkends after my study I work part time in supermarket and I’m saving. I would like to work in a AAA studio but I kinda know it ain’t happening. Maybe you could save up with part time job?
Not even big tech requires college degrees anymore. First job is hardest you got to get your foot in the door. Just think experience and not pay check and prestige. I started after dot com crash and there was no jobs and everyone thought all programming jobs would be sent to india. Worked at some real stupid companies but it was experience so I took it.
The reason why you can’t decide is because you have never gotten any real feedback from your choices, and you spend too long in them before putting yourself in a position to get that feedback, by which time your horses are off chewing grass in some other greener-looking paddock.
By feedback I don’t mean other people’s opinions, but money or satisfaction from a completed project.
This is what I did. I dabbled in everything except the art of getting stuff done. Now it’s time to fix that.
If companies are turning you down due to a lack of a college degree I’m willing to bet it’s because you have nothing in your portfolio that makes them want to look past that degree. You do have a portfolio right?
Enterprise software can be really fun and satisfying, but you need to get to a company that works with modern tools and agile mindset plus you need to get to a position were you are responsible for system architecture. Which take time.¨
But same holds for game dev, its fun first when you get responsibility and not just code monkey tasks.
This can be risky. Check your employment contract and local laws carefully, to make sure that your employer can’t claim ownership of stuff you do on their time.
Only a minority of people get to hold those roles, though. If someone isn’t going to be happy in a particular career unless they get a leadership position then I’d suggest thinking long and hard about whether it’s the right career for them.
I’m also super wary of anyone who just wants to be the boss.
Your not an actual boss, boss. You do not hold any salary negotiations and boring stuff like that. Also you do not need to be the one that hold the last say about architecture, a senior dev often gets to design alot of stuff as long as it does not derail too much from the main architects view.
I mean I build enterprise software for my day job, but I mananged to get a job using unity to do it. So im building up my gamedev skills as I go.
Unity is so widespread now you really dont have to pick between using it and making money. Why not use it to make money?
You need at minimum a degree and a strong portfolio. If you dont have a degree, then you need an even stronger portfolio than those that are applying who do have degrees. Bare in mind everyone who does a degree is going to have some sort of portfolio that they built up over 3 years, so you need to beat that. Luckily student portfolios are usually half-assed and lacking so its not difficult to do better if you dont procrastinate about it
I think @Billy4184 has the right of it. At some point you just have to knuckle down and make a real commitment to finishing things.
If you don’t have a financial need to ‘get a real job’ then why not give the indie development thing a real shot? If it doesn’t work out at the very least you gain experience that will help you secure a job.
Struggling with career direction is normal for everyone. Noone knows what they do when they grow up. Everyone is a best mildly dissatisfied with their work.
The good news is it doesn’t really matter which choice you make. Pick a direction and run with it. You will be able to make a career. You will find mild satisfaction. Things will work out.
1 year is not much, I also don’t have a college degree, so we need to prove somehow that we have the know how to get the job done. I started studying Unity in 2009 but I only started building a portfolio (finishing game projects) in 2012, at first I was trying to make games that would make some money but at the same time, if they didn’t make any money, those would be in my portfolio, in the end of 2017 was when I finally got a job. A good one to be honest.
Finishing things is crucial, you get experience and portfolio.
Five minutes before opening this thread it occurred to me that pushing away certain thoughts is a crucial skill. This includes thoughts that begin with the words “I should…”; because really you should never be telling yourself you should do anything. Should implies that you have some obligation to it, the only thing you have an obligation to in your thoughts its yourself.
I say all that because after withdrawing from school this semester (insomnia really f*cked me over though I can definitely sleep now! yay!) and re-enrolling for the final semester (graduating this spring, double yay!!); it has just dawned on me that controlling ones thoughts instead of having your thoughts control you is an important step in ones own agency. The other thing is its given me clarity of mind. What occurred to me now fifteen minutes ago is that you must control your thoughts and to do that you must push away unwanted thoughts. If you don’t, you will spend your life in limbo.
“I want to be this! No wait I want to do that!” //My switching tasks five times per day
Really be 100% honest with yourself. What have you willingly spent the most time on in the past year or so? Are you good at it? Scratch that, do you enjoy it? Then that is what you want to be doing next.
There’s really no point in deciding on your future at any stage in life. You can always reinvent yourself and your career. The question’s answer isn’t permanent, the only reasonable answer is: “what do you want to do NEXT?” if you have that figured out then the only thing left to do is work toward it and ignore everything but the most essential things!
