Career change to IT or Gaming Industry. People who did this, please share your stories. Advice from others also welcome!

[gosublime]

Posted on behalf of @Midgarian from the UK Coronoavirus Thread

Note - all below is from Midgarian so if you want to PM him, please do. Hope this is okay Mods!

I'm nearly 29 years old working an office based job for a small logistics company.

We've been in 6 weeks of lockdown. The first 2 weeks I worked from home. The last 4 weeks I've been on furlough: not having to work and getting paid 80% of normal salary.

This abundance of leisure time has allowed me to truly find out what I am passionate about career wise, and it's something IT or Gaming related. It was always clearly that since my childhood, but for some reason I didn't engineer myself towards that and could never figure out what I wanted to do.

Like many here I'm an absolute geek when it comes to computers and videogames.

Among my family and friends (and at work of course) I'm the "go to" person for any technical problems, which have always been 2nd nature to solve for me me, but it was only recently when it hit me: "These aren't simple problems to solve for the average person. I find them simple because I'm passionate towards and naturally talented at IT".

What's crazy is I was actually on the right path. In my early 20s I did IT at HND level (UK's version of Community College) and scraped a basic pass, but I was just drifting and never took my studies or career direction seriously. I failed at converting it into a degree (required just 1 year at university) because I didn't even try during that year. Just wasted my time and money.

Then I luckily ended up in this logistics job, which was initially doing the labour work and intended as a temp Summer job, but I quickly proved my worth and transitioned to the office work and full-time (and am essentially an assistant manager now). That was 6 years ago. Time sure does fly in Adulthood.

So I've learned "how to work" so to speak. But career progression and salary progression is not looking good, plus I don't like the outdated draconian and toxic environment the superiors have fostered. Plus I don't truly enjoy this, over the years I've managed to hack my psychology to turn it into a game (which is a wonderful skill to take forward) but in reality this job is me denying my true nature and how happy I've been these past 4 weeks while not having to work, has truly shown that to me.

So I want to marry up that "work ethic" I've learned, with actual qualifications towards fields that I am passionate about and becoming qualified will give me a better footing towards better salary progression, as well as making me happy to do work that I love.

So anyone that works in IT or Gaming please share your advice and give me some pointers. Also especially interesting would be to hear stories from those who changed their careers to IT or Gaming.

I believe I've got enough hobbyist knowledge which gives me a solid foundation to self-teach myself, so reccomendations in that direction (as well as attaining proper qualifications) would be much appreciated.

 

[SweetNicole]

Don't work in the gaming industry unless you really like low pay, long hours, and frequent job switching.

 

[Stalker]

What do you want to do?

 

[Aureon]

That's.. pretty broad.
Are you 100% sure you like a desk 12h a day?

IT as in administration or coding?

Don't work in the gaming industry unless you really like low pay, long hours, and frequent job switching.

Click to shrink...

It's a harsh career. Has it's upsides, though.

 

[Angelus Errare]

Are you a "work to live" or "live to work" type? Do you think working 40hrs is too low and you should dedicate all of your time to the company?

If you want grueling hours, frequent crunch where you basically sleep at the job for days upon days at a time, a terrible work/life balance, inadequate pay relative to the same position in adjacent industries go into game development.

Upside to game development? You helped make the game...

 

[Mammoth Jones]

Don't work in the gaming industry unless you really like low pay, long hours, and frequent job switching.

Click to shrink...

This. It's unstable as fuck. I do not regret getting the fuck out of that shit show.

 

[captive]

yea i've not worked in the gaming industry but from everything i've read here and elsewhere i would not work on games unless you were absolutely devoted to it.

I however work in the IT industry and would be happy to answer your questions or anyone elses questions. My background is helpdesk to sys admin to system center to azure.

 

[CitizenVectron]

General IT is a good industry. There are lots of two-year diploma courses in most places that will get you into entry-level tech support jobs for large companies or governments, and you can make an okay starting wage doing it. Then it's a matter of working your way up, potentially, and learning more on the job.

 

[Wrexis]

Don't work in the gaming industry unless you really like low pay, long hours, and frequent job switching.

Click to shrink...

Yup. Don't make a career of your hobby.

 

[ChrizzSTARR]

I personally would say you should try game development with a focus on coding. You'll learn about software development, a super lucrative career path that, with the right projects (a game), can be started without a degree of any kind.

Seriously, don't go into game development.

in my experience, IT may be on the way out and rolled into Devops, so if you decide to go the It route, look into the technologies associated with Devops instead of focusing on pure IT.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

There is a massive difference between AAA game development and indie game development also. The long hours are the same, but if you're developing your own indie game? Well, you have a ton more control over your work schedule.

 

[Deleted member 18944]

Don't work in the gaming industry unless you really like low pay, long hours, and frequent job switching.

Click to shrink...

So anyone that works in IT or Gaming please share your advice and give me some pointers. Also especially interesting would be to hear stories from those who changed their careers to IT or Gaming.

Click to shrink...

So I went from freelancing as a games journalist at a small time site (and some other indie sites very briefly) to IT and I would agree with Nicole a bit.

You will work long hours with low pay, and if you're not an established person in a role that is needed at all times, you will be switching jobs every project cycle. If you want to work in a stable position, you have competition. Lots of it. Everyone is looking for a stable job in the games industry.

IT has this great situation of always being in demand for people in a myriad of positions all the time. The world expands in the technology sector all the time and with that comes sooooooo many opportunities. In the last year I've been promoted twice (no degree) to a position where I manage teams to fix broken shit. The pay is great, the benefits are paid for, its amazing.

But also if you work for an IT company or technology company in general to do development, you will inevitably run into competition and work place toxicity.

All it comes down to is whether or not you're willing to deal with it for whatever goal you're trying to accomplish.

 

[BasilZero]

I wouldn't recommend gaming industry at all

IT and medical field are the two groups to go to.

I chose IT - there's a huge variety of jobs from helpdesk, computer programming, security, etc

Pays well too and a ton of longevity

 

[mortadelo]

So much negativity. I've worked in the games industry as a programmer for almost a decade. Mostly in the UK. I only crunched in one project many, many years ago. The management said never again. The team said never again. We never did it again. Salaries in the games industry in the UK are great and above the average of the country. Other industries pay more but this industry has me hooked.

Of course, it depends on the position you'd be interested in. I'd avoid QA unless your goal is to get into production or design, and even then, it won't probably pay enough.

Find an area of interest and go for it. There are a shit ton of jobs right now.

 

[Deleted member 3038]

I've recently moved from studying Comp Eng to just working at a IT Support company and I've been having a blast personally. One thing I do recommend is seeing what you really want to go for in terms of career, whether it's info sec, general Sysadmin, IT, or etc. There is a lot of different fields all with their own set of certificates and degrees that you can pursue.

I'm currently doing Helpdesk & Sysadmin (My typical day is around 70% Helpdesk tickets / 30% Sysadmin work) so I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you might have.

 

[The Albatross]

I would pursue general tech/software industry over the gaming industry. THe labor of love of the gaming industry and tight budgets relying on consumer demand lead to long hours, lousy pay, and poor benefits, compared to general software/tech which is generally the opposite.

 

[Stoze]

If you want to make games then start making games. Unity or UE4 is free to work with, complete some projects and participate in game jams.

 

[Alex3190]

You could always learn to program. As someone said earlier, devops is the future for IT.

If making a game seems cool to you. Do it as a hobby.

Everyone's pretty much said what I would of said.

 

[Xalbur]

Been working as a technical artist at a fairly small studio for a year now and while most of the things said in this thread are true, it's not that bad really.
Mentality among most veterans I've met is "get out while you can" so maybe I just haven't hit the worst of it yet, I cant imagine doing anything else now though, and work culture can vary radically between places.

 

[Kieli]

Do not work in the gaming industry. I repeat, do not work in the gaming industry.

 

[RexNovis]

yea i've not worked in the gaming industry but from everything i've read here and elsewhere i would not work on games unless you were absolutely devoted to it.

I however work in the IT industry and would be happy to answer your questions or anyone elses questions. My background is helpdesk to sys admin to system center to azure.

Click to shrink...

What did you do during your time working help desk to transition into a sys admin role? Was it specific certifications?

 

[DarkMagician]

Work at Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, or Google, if you want to do software development. You'll be treated like a God compared to game development, and your pay is substantial at those companies.

You get to learn a lot on the job, work/life balance is amazing, people are understanding and willing to help you out to see you succeed, and your job is stable.

 

[SeanBoocock]

Been working in games for the last decade and wouldn't trade it for anything. If you want to work in the industry I would encourage it. I would take some time to figure out if you are truly interested in game development (or potentially another aspect of the industry), and what hard skill(s) you have (ie engineering, art, audio, writing, demonstrable design portfolio). QA can still be a pathway to development but only in certain situations (larger publisher/developers and embedded QA).

 

[Masseyfects]

I'm going to go against the grain a bit here and say that I love my job in the gaming industry. My current company is the best company I've ever worked for in my entire career as a Project Manager and strongly advocates for a healthy work/life environment above all else (I work 40 hours on average per week). I never had formal training in game development, so i came into this in a pretty roundabout way, i.e.: joining the army for college money, working as a project manager in semi-related fields such as IT and broadcast, starting a gaming enthusiast site, etc. before landing my dream gig.

TL:DR: If you make a plan and stick to your goals, while exhibiting enough drive & passion, you'll get into the industry one way or another.

Hope this helps motivate...

 

[captive]

What did you do during your time working help desk to transition into a sys admin role? Was it specific certifications?

Click to shrink...

i was lucky i worked at a smaller shop so i was exposed and had access to pretty much everything.
So i just asked for more and more responsibilities. The first big thing i did was fix our WSUS server (windows update server). I was in that process, because they didnt trust me, of slowly rolling it out when Conficker came. And all the sys admins and management freaked out asking if i could patch everything and I said absolutely we can scale what i have and have everything patched.

The second big thing i did was pretty much demanded lol to be on the windows xp to windows 7 migration team. So i built the Windows 7 image and SCCM Task Sequence with a full migration and backup of XP data for the hospital i worked at.

Those two things along on my resume scored me a 12k raise after i was fired for no reason, other than the new CIO didnt like me.

I've never held any certification, but i have been awarded Microsoft MVP, which definitely helps now whenever i want a new job.

 

[RailWays]

Don't work in the gaming industry unless you really like low pay, long hours, and frequent job switching.

Click to shrink...

This. If you like work/life balance then IT is better by a country mile (depending on the position).

 

[Mammoth Jones]

This. If you like work/life balance then IT is better by a country mile (depending on the position).

Click to shrink...

Yup. Don't make a career of your hobby.

Click to shrink...

Facts. 100% Facts. I tried it and it was a great learning experience but yea IT by a country mile. I have a close friend that stuck with it and he regrets it to this day.

 

[RexNovis]

i was lucky i worked at a smaller shop so i was exposed and had access to pretty much everything.
So i just asked for more and more responsibilities. The first big thing i did was fix our WSUS server (windows update server). I was in that process, because they didnt trust me, of slowly rolling it out when Conficker came. And all the sys admins and management freaked out asking if i could patch everything and I said absolutely we can scale what i have and have everything patched.

The second big thing i did was pretty much demanded lol to be on the windows xp to windows 7 migration team. So i built the Windows 7 image and SCCM Task Sequence with a full migration and backup of XP data for the hospital i worked at.

Those two things along on my resume scored me a 12k raise after i was fired for no reason, other than the new CIO didnt like me.

I've never held any certification, but i have been awarded Microsoft MVP, which definitely helps now whenever i want a new job.

Click to shrink...

Wow that's crazy that they just let you sort of take over windows update server and dism SCCM client management stuff. I'd never get anywhere close to getting that kind of responsibility at my current job without a slew of certifications under my belt.

thanks for the answer! Always curious to hear how folks make that leap from help desk into other roles

 

[Oligarchenemy]

I went from working at a game company to a non-gaming company. It was the best move I've ever made in regards to workload and stress. I also make more now.

 

[gutter_trash]

Only go to games if it's a reputable company or a big one.

Avoid the indies, small Studios and avoid start ups

 

[JaseC64]

General IT is a good industry. There are lots of two-year diploma courses in most places that will get you into entry-level tech support jobs for large companies or governments, and you can make an okay starting wage doing it. Then it's a matter of working your way up, potentially, and learning more on the job.

Click to shrink...

What is a "staring wage"? 30K-40K?

I'm in the same spot where I transitioned to a new company doing the same (technical inside sales) but ever since I went from the original company to the new company, things aren't the same. For revenue I used to work for a small company where I knew everyone. Then my dept got "bought" by a new company that is like 100x bigger but it somehow feels "lifeless" and its something I don't love doing. There is someone who I sorta need to work with who I really dislike due to their personality (likely bipolar) and its the one who projects onto others and is bragging on the most mundane shit. Ugh. My good boss is about to retire and with him leaving, I don't know what will happen. I think things will get worse to be honest.

 

[captive]

Wow that's crazy that they just let you sort of take over windows update server and dism SCCM client management stuff. I'd never get anywhere close to getting that kind of responsibility at my current job without a slew of certifications under my belt.

thanks for the answer! Always curious to hear how folks make that leap from help desk into other roles

Click to shrink...

that sucks.

the WSUS thing i think was in the fall of 2008 cause conficker came out in november 2008 so i had been working there since February, so i had proven myself a little bit. Then for XP to windows 7 migration that wasn't until 2011 so i had been working there for almost 4 years. but we were so small the options were me or one or two other people.

 

[CitizenVectron]

What is a "staring wage"? 30K-40K?

I'm in the same spot where I transitioned to a new company doing the same (technical inside sales) but ever since I went from the original company to the new company, things aren't the same. For revenue I used to work for a small company where I knew everyone. Then my dept got "bought" by a new company that is like 100x bigger but it somehow feels "lifeless" and its something I don't love doing. There is someone who I sorta need to work with who I really dislike due to their personality (likely bipolar) and its the one who projects onto others and is bragging on the most mundane shit. Ugh. My good boss is about to retire and with him leaving, I don't know what will happen. I think things will get worse to be honest.

Click to shrink...

Depends where you work. A level 1 tech where I work starts at $55k CAD (around $40-45k USD), with benefits and matching pension. I work for a government agency, though.

 

[Son of Liberty]

I am graduating this month with a business degree and have a few potential opportunities within the industry in the near future.
I hear many different opinions about the industry itself, however, most people within my network have said they enjoyed it greatly, so it does give me some sort of optimism.

 

[Charcoal]

IT is a mostly safe, albeit boring way of life. I'm paid well and have great benefits, but I lose more and more of my soul everyday I sit in my cubicle.

On that note, the movie Office Space is extremely accurate.

 

[Tater]

Don't go into game development. I've been out for a while, and my stress level and bank account both thank me for it.

I miss it, though - there was a certain camaraderie with the other folks there, and there's something satisfying about "making cool shit".

 

[Deleted member 442]

I'm nearly 29 years old working an office based job for a small logistics company.

Click to shrink...

I can't comment from a gaming industry perspective but I can talk through my experience about trading in from a general office job into IT projects in the UK.

I'm 35. Didn't make the most of uni. Generally knowledgeable and enthusiastic about IT and related stuff growing up.

When I was 27 I was working in an insurance role, relatively quiet call center stuff, I had just moved town where I had been working in another call centre that was much more busy.

When I was 28 I applied for a vaguely technical role at the insurance company, stuck that out for a bit, got good enough at the vaguely technical thing to do software testing in that field when I was 30, did a talent pool thing where I got some additional training on project and change management. Got a qualification in software testing that would have ordinarily cost £1k through the software testing role, though that took a while.

When I was 32 I applied for a job at my old uni doing software testing, continued in that role for around 2 years, traded in for a business analyst role working with one of the areas that I had worked on a few projects for. I'm now on the kind of salary that they give newly qualified lecturers, not bad really but would like to develop further.

Throughout that time I found a few things worked out for me. Diagonal and sideways moves are common, either you move roles within your area of speciality or you are able to jump into another area based on a generalised skill that you've picked up.

By that I mean you can move around within a company by being good at whatever system or process they use, but you can only really jump to other employers or move up in salary by having a generalised skill that you can transfer elsewhere (eg line management, project management, systems analysis, business analysis, software development, testing).

You don't get a new job by being really good at something that you can only do at the place you currently work, and you probably won't get promoted either because they don't want to lose the guy that knows everything, but you can sometimes get new opportunities learning new skills whilst you're there.

Small employers are likely to not have this kind of culture around sideways and diagonal moves, whilst managers in departments at big employers that are often seen as entry roles may resent people moving in and then shifting elsewhere quickly, but it happens all the time anyway.

It's a bit late so I need to pack up for the evening but I'd say that's some of the main bits of guidance I'd give around changing industry from general admin into IT. Happy to talk through some of this stuff in a bit more detail another time. I currently do some careers mentoring at my uni as I've found that sharing my experience has been helpful for others.

 

[Nome]

Just work for a mobile developer if you want high salaries, great benefits, and a healthy work-life balance. Downside: your players love and respect you, but Era thinks you're immoral garbage.