[FEEDBACK] How to Get a Job in the Videogame Industry - My steps

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#1

Hello everyone!
I’m currently following the “How to Get a Job in the Video Game Industry”, and I’m having some troubles in defining my steps to reach my dream job (which, for the record, is becoming Lead Programmer in a mid-sized Indie studio, making RPG games). Could you please give me some feedback?

As of now, I’ve wrote down those points:

  • Lead Programmer on an RPG game
  • Lead Programmer on any game
  • Senior Game Programmer in an Indie Studio
  • Gameplay Programmer in an Indie studio
  • Get a job as Junior Programmer in an Indie studio

…but here I’m stuck. I know that I need to improve my knowledge, make some games, have to prove my value to a potential employer, but I’m losing my focus. I’ve spent the last 6 months studying by myself on Unity (both with side projects, 2 game jams and some Udemy courses), after quitting my job as software developer in banking (I’ve got 8 years worth of experience on an old system, which for the sake of simplicity we’ll say it’s COBOL, but not really). But I feel like I’m wandering with no real progress, jumping from one topic to the other, and being generally overwhelmed by the sheer amount of topics that a video game making process can involve. What do you think I should do next? Or do you think that this is a good list already? I guess my very next step is to enrich my “portfolio” (if there’s such thing as a portfolio for programmers), but I’d like to hear from you guys!

Thanks
Willy

#2

Hey Willy,

I just started to take this course too. I can’t say I am an expert but just going off the tutorial and advice from industry professionals. Sounds like you’ve already got a repertoire of games and applicable skills. You should definitely showcase that in a portfolio as you’ve already suggested.

Rick also emphasizes quality over quantity, have you scoped out which indie studios you would like to work for? Have you then gone and analyzed their work and see how you can add value to their studio?

Thanks,

Christine

#3

Hey Christine, thank you for your reply and good luck with your progress in this course!
As a side note, I’ve finished it, and a couple of weeks ago I’ve applied to a unity developer position in my city (spoiler: it didn’t exactly go well, but didn’t go bad either). Since my original post I’ve in fact enriched my portfolio, although I’ve been told that my skills are still too low to be considered for a job application. As Rick suggested, I’m focusing on quality over quantity, so I’m not sending many applications at once, but I think that I’m still missing the critical skills needed to impress a potential employer… Problem is, I’m not sure what that skill is :sweat_smile:

Anyway, I’ve found the course content extremely valuable, even though I didn’t create an artifact for my application (I sent it kinda in a rush, as part of a promise to a friend of mine), but I’ll definitely do it for my next application!

I’ll keep you informed!
WIlly

#4

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