Life Update

I got my first "real" job within the game-development industry this April. What I mean by "real" job is that I got hired by a real, established studio to work on a game that went live on Steam. Becoming a game-developer was my dream job ever since I was 13, which makes this a big accomplishment for me! Here are some tips I wanted to share with the community in case you want to get into the games industry as well. This post might directly correlate with programmers the best since I myself am one, but the points still stand for all positions.

What I did to get in the industry

Make Relevant Projects

This is perhaps the most important thing I did. You can visit my GitHub, which was the first thing I linked to in my resume. All of my recent projects at the time were relevant to the games industry: OSMLoader shows that I can create tools for Unity and work with complex data formats, Kuriotska shows that my knowledge of C++ is advance enough to create a simple game from scratch using multi-threading in a safe manner, Perlini shows my philosophy when it comes to creating a library and integrating mathematical algorithm, etc. etc.

Point is think of what skills are relevant for the position you want, and create projects in which you showcase them. In my experience, I noticed that I was severely lacking in many areas that seemed essential to the role while creating these projects, so I also improved a lot by making them. You should also polish up your website. For programmers, that would be their GitHub profile, for artists probably their ArtStation account. You can see I try to write a feasible README to every project, including screenshots (my GitHub hasn't really been updated ever since I got a job, please don't judge me if it is unkept).

Don't Skip Steps

My first position was a 6-month paid internship. After that, I got an offer as a junior developer. Paid internships are a very good way to get into the industry, and I would recommend you search for a smaller company for two reasons: First, less established studios are less corporate, and are more likely to focus on your experience rather than your education. Second, they don't really have a need for an intern but rather for a whole developer, so you will be given more responsibility and be able to step out of your comfort-zone more. There you will also have to do tasks in a wider range of programming than, for example, only UI.

Have a USP

Everybody should have a unique selling point. Typically you should add this as the first thing in your CV and cover letter. Mine was that at the time I was going to a game-development school and after the first week it was clear that I knew more about the technical side of development (i.e. programming) than the teachers.

Hunt the Job

I had been spamming applications left and right every day for about a month until I finally got an approval for a place I liked. Personally, I hate having to write applications for jobs, but the more the better. My goal was 3-5 applications every day. Going to the library just to write applications for about two hours really helped me pump those numbers up. You should also apply for jobs that seem just out of your reach or that you know you won't accept even if you get them - more on that later.

Polish your  Job Application

My applications always consisted of a one-page CV and a one-page cover letter explaining why I am a good fit. When you are trying to write 3-5 good applications every day, this can become very hard, so work smart and use tools such as ChatGPT. Just make sure you take the job description very seriously! Your cover letter should show that you have their must-haves and/or compensate for their lack in some way. My CV stayed the same after I noticed that it got me results (that is, interviews).

Get interviewed. A lot.

I took every interview I could. Truth is that everybody wants to be a game-developer. So you have to learn to market yourself specifically for the industry! With each interview I got better and better. Honestly I think it is a good habit to have to just have interviews: you learn to prepare, you can learn important things during the technical interview (especially if you fail them), and you communicate with experienced people inside the game-development industry. That is why I applied for a lot of jobs that I knew I would never take. An interview is an opportunity to challenge yourself. Also, each application you write is better than the last one!

End on a Good Note

Every time an interview does not go as well as you wanted it to, don't take it personally and spread some positivity instead. Make it clear that you would love to work with the studio in the future if they change your mind and that you are open for contact. I actually denied the first deal I got from the studio I work for now because of conditions that did not fit with me, but they came back to me after a couple of days. That would have never happened if I did not decline gracefully!

I hope I was able to help some people out with this one. In case you want to contact me, my Discord is @doom2099.