Don't enter game development right now Take a Side Quest.

hi don't enter the game industry right now do something else so I've had this on my mind the past uh week or two I thought I'd make a short video about this a bit different from the writing updates I have talk about a wider industry happenings and I also wrote this on my screen so I might glance at it here and there so I don't lose track of what I am talking about so we a lot of us know that Sony laid off was it 670 people or was it EA that did that but Sony laid off a lot of people then around the same time EA laid off a whole heck of a lot of people and that was including closing down one of their London London Studios and cutting some people from Naughty Dog and gorilla and EA closed down Ridgeline yeah I think it was Ridgeline uh Marcus Leos studio so uh there's been a lot of stuff happening I mean that's just the tip of the iceberg you know with all all the other Studios have been losing people small and large you know that Microsoft have has had two big layoffs they've let go 10,000 people the first time that was whopping and then near 2,000 people the second time so it's a lot and it sucks but say what you will about the say what you will about the quality of some of these games but to see so many people lose their jobs is uh it's a lot and this is is not the only industry with it happening the game industry is not immune to these layoffs no industry is the Tech Industries had a lot of layoffs too we just scroll through Linkedin look at their trending posts and you'll see from the past year if you search for them that the technology Industries had quite a few layoffs I have have a couple thoughts for people who are looking for work and they're game developers so a lot of them are trying to break in right now a lot of them are trying to break themselves back into the industry it doesn't matter how experienced that they are they could be 5 years they could be 7even and a half or they could be 15 years experienced with with what they do um they're all trying to Breaking at the same time there's a deluge of people I wanted to suggest Alternatives I want to think a few of you have already thought through this but it seems especially on my LinkedIn page there's just not a lot of thought being put towards this some people are staying out of work for months on end or even more than a year and it makes me think I don't think they're exploring other avenues like they should so don't enter the game industry right now do something else and make a lot of them you just want to keep working on what you love I mean that's what I have written down on my P on my screen you want to keep doing what you love you love to make games and that makes sense you want to keep writing games like I like I like game writing a lot you want to keep making games I mean who wouldn't there there is so much competition that it's almost safer to spend more time creating skills for other Industries let's say you're a programmer there's a ton of programming in games there's also a lot of those jobs but you just can't find your way in 6 months 9 months down the road so what do you do I suggest something else a obviously don't apply to game studios for programming jobs or B do something else if you can't F or do try to Pivot into just alternative industries that you wouldn't have thought about the first time do uh go into programming if you can but maybe go into programming not for Microsoft Word or for NVIDIA or Intel do some programming for something a little bit more low-key let's say making the code for pelaton making the or making the code for uh exercise equipment making the code for security software just something a little bit different because you'll still use your skills but you are playing it safer and it's less of a risk financially emotionally and you won't be stressed out as much as you are the game industry is always fun to spend time in but you uh it's it might be just wiser to go into a different uh a different field for a while sorry I keep looking off to the side because I thought that my roommate coming down here go learn some new skills that you weren't able to do if you were working 55 hours a week um at a studio if let's say um you're you're a designer UI or 3D something um go learn some design skills that you've been putting off for a while like if you've been playing balers game 3 for the last 6 months um maybe take a slight break not a break but just reduce the amount of time you're playing the game and uh go go learn some new skills um if you're a designer it might helpful if you try something a little more off the beaten path but still able to provide you with a decent living um that's all what that's what we always always want you know an adequate salary enough to do the bills to pay the bills and then some go or let's say that you are a programmer um go learn another programming language and then maybe try to go into go work for Amazon they always need programmers right um or work for a different kind of software company um if you're a marketer and you got laid off from EA perhaps or Microsoft then it might be worth expanding those marketing skills with something you just hadn't done yet and taking that to a different industry you can still do what you want to do but elsewhere then you give the game industry a year or two maybe after 2 years consider where you're at with this current job with with a brand new side career and see if you can't pivot F your way back in especially if you already have a network in place that can provide references um it's just a lot less stress financially to press so hard into getting into a studio right now I've never gone into a studio and I haven't even become a junior yet so I just make stuff for fun in my free time I would like to try to get into the industry one day I don't know if it'll happen right now I think my skills are actually better at novel writing but I still like to work on little video game projects on the AK um here every few months I love doing both um but it's like a side quest think of the doing a different field as just another side another side quest instead of spending so much time scrolling through the indust the industries you are familiar with go off a beaten path you may find something else adequate and doable for a couple of years before can try to Pivot back into game development also don't give up no matter where you are in a career if it's not in video games don't give up on trying to get in there just take a side quest

Channel: Matthew Birdzell | Writer

Views: 2,576

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Id: aL72Lmf4VPY

Length: 7min 19sec (439 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 27 2024