Should You Work in the Video Games Industry? - The Truth

I’ve watched a few of your videos without subscribing. It occurred to me that your down to earth chat like a friend approach was really engaging and you deserve to succeed. So I have subscribed. The point is you earned it with the quality of your content. Let’s journey dude ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Thx for the help working on my degree right now in design

Hi Adam, just stumbled across this and found it to be super insightful. I’m a graphic designer with a love for gaming and am wondering how to make the transition and to know if it’s worth it. Thanks for sharing your experience!

I start my degree in Oct. At age 31. I feel it's time. My wife basically was like "Nursing is shit. What do you wanna do?" Thiught about it. Can take on the debt. Game dev it is. It'll start us out at comparable pay and I worked for a place that would work us 48 hours shifts on an oil rig and fuck out pays all the time. Best thing to do is stay humble but know to stand up when needed. 80 hours really isn't much when I'm used to over working that with hard phys labor.

having connections you mean cheating

Crazy that I searched "A career in game design" and this is the second video that shows up. If you do a little digging, he quit his Game Design job after 2 months of uploading this video and became a full time You tuber.

that would really help, ty

You just made portfolios sound scary AF. Can’t imagine having any energy left after fighting a computer for 10 hours specifically with programming.

I tried to get in the industry since I was 18 starting as a 3D designer. I got a bachelor in digital 3d design and continued with a masters degree in computer science to round off my profile and maximize my "employability" if you catch my drift. I tried to soak in as much knowledge and diverse skills as possible while simultaneously working on a portfolio. My personality kind of revolved around being a guy who wants to be a developer and part of the industry.

I'm 28 now and worked for a "edutainment" VR Startup kind of doing what I wanted to do, but I never really felt good enough to actually work on titles I enjoyed playing. Looking back on all of this I don't think this career is worth the trouble anymore. If you have any doubts about this path, please don't waste your time in front of a computer for 12hours+ and don't let corporations control your self-esteem. Passion gets you a long way but it can be dangerous for you- companies know how to exploit very very well.

In India big game companies pay 10-15k dollars to a programmer I wish we got a higher salary here in India 😞

Great vid🖤

Thanks for sharing these tips about the game industry.
“
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
“ John 3:16-21 (NIV)

“
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
“ Romans 10:9-10 (NIV)

Yes.. is HARD.. i a LOT more easy for example being a iOS developer with 80k-100k/year than a game developer.

At least here in Europe, there is almost no work in the game industry, and the offers goes from 20k to 47k, and we are not talking about a entry position,but from a mid position with 2-3 years of experience.

over time is not a problem when your job is your hobby, you'd love to spend more time to deep dive in that... i guess so.. agree?

what about marketing/sales?

i would like to get into either the games or web industry matter fact i would like to get into both if i could but i do believe thats kinda impossible xD

did doing video game design take away from your passion to actually play video games or did your intrest in playing video games stay the same

Excellent and insightful video! Thanks Adam!

Well, tell your next employer you need to be able to put your work into your portfolio. Also, stop agreeing with a system that pays someone double for doing what they like just as much you do enjoy doing your job - you both work and studied hard to get where you are. Programmers are not magical or better than anyone else.

What I've learned so far is: don't try to get into the industry if you are an autistic woman with ADHD who was lately diagnosed at 38 and you're trying to get into the industry at 40, and was basically disabled for your entire life due to crippling ADHD that made you unemployed for most of you life.

It doesn't matter how many prizes you were rewarded, how many games you make, no achievement and involved in the industry is worth anything for the studios. You are an autistic woman with 40 years old and no amount of explanation will make people understand your past and why you don't have a graduation yet and never worked at a place for more than 6 months in your life.

Do something else. Go try to work at a bank, or whatever but don't try to work in the video games industry.

I'm about to give up, really. And I mean giving up of everything.

I'm tired of my friends telling me they really don't know what else is missing for me to get a job at a studio. Well, I'm missing everything else.

I'm too old to be an intern. Too experienced for a Junior, and too unexperienced for a middle level job.

Hey I also went to a trade school for a year around that much money. DAVE School in Florida.

O dude IT salaries are massive for no reason. It took me 3 or 4 years to get a job as a 3D digital artist. Thousands of resumes. 3 in-person interviews. Only 1 hired me. Its not even in the gaming industry and I am pretty sure I got it cuz I was the only person in my area who can do digital art. I started as a minimum wage intern and had to get promoted through the ranks. Which aren't really real promotions. I went from intern to part time to full time. The closest to an actual promotion. But then stuff in the company kept happening which increased everyone's salary and changed peoples job titles. So what I am saying is its brutal out there. But my non gaming job is stable and been doing it for 5 years now. NOW my buddy who is in IT. I was in his shadow forever. He always made more money in less time than me. I finally one uped him when one of my promotions finally got me more money than him. That lasted 1 year cuz once he got his IT certification, he just applied to jobs and was getting calls instantly. He got a $100k job like it was nothing. Talk about adding insult to injury. So if you want money and an easy route then go electrical engineering, IT etc route.

Yup, being a generalist is important. Shortly after school, I got my first in-person interview. Through skype but still, it was motivating. They passed on me cuz even though I was the better artist, I did not know how to code. Well I know, I just dont want to do it so I tell people I wont be doing it. But yes they passed on a strong skill in one category for average skill in multiple categories. They also gave me the "You are great, you'll be fine out there" speech. O how wrong they were.

The gaming industry really is an industry of who you know. People will hire a friend with no skills over a stranger with skills any day. My 3rd in-person interview was for this textile company. I had to fly out, there were delays, I arrived 2 hours from my original destination at like 1 am and they told me if I dont get there, I cant have the job. Like wtf mate? That should of been a red flag but I ignored it. And I gave the uber drive a $200 tip on their expense. lol. Anyways the guy let me hang out for the day, work on stuff as an art test. He rejected me cuz he asked me what is the one thing people need in this industry. I rattled off a bunch of stuff. He said it was grit. Like cmon man, i basically said that. I didn't get the job cuz I couldnt guess his word. But he turned out to be a total jerk cuz later that year he messed up then blamed it on and fired my buddy to save face for the client. Horrible person to work for. And don't worry, my buddy told me a lot more stories. I just forgot them lol.

Dude you would think when you have a job, you can just work on your personal stuff after. When I was working jobs like the movie theater or home depot then yeah, it was a job I didnt take home. I was tired but I still hustled with my personal projects. But when you work on your craft as a job then go home, you really don't want to work on your personal projects. Especially when doing overtime. I love everything about my job except the work. It was so hard and took so long to get this one, I am afraid if I quit, I won't get another. But I am struggling to keep that flame of passion alive. In school we were told of this one guy who over worked then disappeared. No one heard from him. Not his family nor friends. He just disappeared. When they found him, he drove states away and was snorting coke and gambling. The dude snapped. Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life. But if you dont do it right then you can lose that love for it.

Good video. I love hearing others opinions and experiences. Hope you have more I can watch.

I’m so glad my high school dreams didn’t come true with the gaming world. Sounds straight up miserable.

Hii. I am currently in my first year of university doing bachelor’s in computer science in Canada and i really want to get into the industry as a programmer.
Would you recommend i do some other diploma/degree specific to game design or just try to improve my skills on my own?
Also how would you suggest for a programmer to build his/her portfolio, would a game with bad art really be able to put forward my programming skills? Or is there another method to make a programming portfolio.

Loved the video tho.

helpful content, thanks!

I remember doing a assignment about how to make a portfolio but can you go anywhere online and find a website to open up a portfolio? I was just wondering for future references.

Hi, could you please tell me where did you study in Canada?

People say I have a good portfolio and yet I still can't get into the game industry. I've been trying for two years now. You're reading this from a person who graduated with best art in their bachelors program. Apparently there are around 2k graduates every year in this game design and only 14 -16% make it into the industry. That's not a lot of people. Sadly it seems there aren't a whole lot of game companies around for the amount of graduates to find jobs. Therefore, it's best to get two careers.

Damn and I’m about to go in for MSc in game design 💔

Damn wish I saw this on release in looking at VFS and have so many questions.

This was really insightful ❤❤❤

A very helpful guide! Thank you!!!

This is such a great video! It really covers the game industry well and the way you explained it still applies today. Also I hope that the crunch hours get reduced now we have AI's coming up to speed up workflows

In the US, Salary usually means no overtime.

Great advices! Thanks

What if i have very little experience with it at all actually none. But i have been playing video games for 40yrs and i always have new ideas to innovate make things that exist better and as a consumer i know what we like and hate! So idk i wanted to work in gaming my entire life but couldn't afford school they wanted you to go through high scooll 4yr more just to start 2-4yr more on gaming out of state there were far less gaming related classes back then. But im also disabled so i literally do nothing else but play games and I have ideas so like should i just keep giving them away for free? They get ignored that way. But i enjoy playing &the games i want to play don't exist. Yet.. but I shld maybe work as a designer/ consultant cuz i can't code im lil older its before my time really unless u were a PC nerd growing up u don't know much gen x. But ya idk what to do cuz i constantly have ideas. I should also be a play tester and tell the devs what players do n don't like and the best ways to entice them as well as improve qol in games everything from where a story should go to entire games to its mostly random stuff like when i play halo im like this game needs a battle royal mode in it and like in cod war zone i have so many ideas especially for wz2.0 which is a hot mess right now they really need not try re invent thr wheel here and i get ideas how to fix issues players have. I can't even make thst much$ per year so like idk cuz i just really want games to be a great as thst can be and i want to play the games in my head that don't exist and fix the ones that do. Like the quick fix in wz2 is simply replaced the loot system with the 1st wz original old style that it's been since thst was a feature that made the game way better. Really hate how it's taken a step backwards and slowed down the loot and movement as well as made a 3 circle thing that idk how2 feel about yet but they need really give us the old 1st games looting and then fix thr movement give us back thr old slide cancel since the map is so huge and it really doesn't help anything n they can just leave most of thr rest alone. But the more time i put into the game the more ideas i have to fix it and end up with too many to explain in succinct way. I have no idea where to stsrt im not trying to climb any corp ladder or compete with anyone for a job i just want to help make the changes in the world i wish to see made real. Im creative artistic and can write draw make music etc but I am mostly hobby level but wish tio idk consultant or something cuz idmost likely work with several co. I could help ea make a come back. If they make great games then ppl will throw$ at it. .
Anyway idk i need a clue no idea what to do how to stsrt etc what to apply? Even or reach out idk if i can even work for $ so idk bjt i want to work in the industry not famous just known by the devs to help them out by getting in touch with the player base who all feel like me. They watch more TV than game these days and i know why.

But lately it's been real hard to get hype for anything cuz of how backward gaming has gone and for good example cuz gamings gotten real stale ever since those future cod games failed no ones been innovating at all. But just look back in history olddr games did more than todays. .
Look at duke nukem 3d. How many 1st in thst game? I still play it. But another example is tribes 1 2 and idk why its not a big triple a game now. But that had planet wars in an fps like halo with vehicles and before halo. It had jet packs and all kinds of innovations that we dont have today. It had miles large maps with teleportd and transport spawn vehicles that werre bases and u had capture it u could fight in the air on ground in air vehicles it was like a battlefield before bf existed. Then look up star wars battle front 3 thst was never to be. Imagine those games now with qol improvements and the modern graphics even if dumb down as long as the gameplay is great ppl will play it if u make it the players will come and they'll stream it n make it popular. Idk why we haven't seen any innovation jn anyway bjt how to make$ smh n mtxs battle season passes etc things ppl hate. But there are ways n things we do want to buy but they can't get lazy with it. the industry needs someone with honesty and integrity to tell them what we want as consumers not to feel like every games a store designed as a gsme! Anyway there's that i got lots to say but don't want to give ut all away n such a pain to type on broken device. Ugh idk where to start what to do even what position I can do so yeah idk im like lost here. N can't find the answers. I have nothing to show but also wouldn't ask for much.

About the "you have to do more" part: I believe it is important to emphasize that you should never force yourself to put in the extra hours. You should always feel proud about every completed project. But if you struggle for a long time it's better to keep looking for something you like more.

this man uses maya and UE. his words are valuable.

Anytime something lucrative and do-able comes along, it always has to point to those who need the opportunity the most, have the best skills even and be like .. yeah not YOU .. or you or you.. and especially not YOU.. You're then pointed towards construction jobs thru temps agencies who drop ya soon as you're aware of your exploitation.. back to the welfare wagon where they want ya.. then pay back every cent you earned plus interest ..

I suck at gaming and I have more physical interests but for someone who's this is their passion, there is still a lot of black tape involved with more and more ⚠ barriers attached.

It's maddening, even for someone who doesn't game (aside from an RPG playground project which you can find on my channel) I feel fire on behalf of those and for all who could thrive off this..

1 year for $35k!? and you got a job two weeks after???
Fuck my third world country man

So I have no experience with any computers, been working my whole life with customer service, thinking how can I get into a gaming company with no experience?
Id love to do tours for the company , all I do is game and work. Trying to mix the 2

what about making video games on your own you do realize you can have a business on your own right? work isn't all about working for someone else you do realize that right?

i have made 6 games in unity/unreal

Thanks!

Can you help me get a PlayStation 5

basically: unless youre a higherup, probably not.
the overtime is excessive in a lot of companies and the pay isnt high enough to make up for it.
its probably a fun job if you can keep up, but most people wont be able to.

if youre an indie dev, you'll basically get underpaid, or if youre in an especially small group (like friends, or alone), not paid at all, until your group puts out a well-selling game. as an indie dev you might need to take a side-job to survive.

the gaming industry is insanely rough, but if you really like it, or join a great company (Nintendo is apparently pretty against OT and for employee happiness), it could be pretty worthwhile.

Yup that's the problem with the games industry. If your only passion in life is games or whatever you do with that till the day that you die, then youc an remain competitive. Otherwise you're out of luck. Better switch while you're young.

More videos like this please thanks

Legally Overtime is paid, technically your contract will slave you into overtime, pays are shit for people who started too. It's best to become an intern since University

Probably the only alternative is work in a call center doing cold outbound calls, right? Oho, now overtime doesn't sound so scary...
Not advocating for unpaid overtime (that should never happen), but call centres are miserable.