How to "Game Dev" Before Even Getting a Game Dev Job

I wanted to talk about how I made a space for myself in terms of gaining game development experience before actually getting a job in the industry.

Unsurprisingly, just like I'm sure you've seen a million times over on LinkedIn at this point; It all started with ?networking?. To make things easier on myself and everybody I was going to speak with, I first started by really digging deep into the core of:

1. Who I am
2. The specific type of work I like doing
3. The biggest “bang for your buck” skillset that I can offer

So I studied myself, my professional accomplishments, made notes on myself (yes, it did feel as weird as it sounds), and started networking with people in the industry who I felt could offer great insight about a day in the life of a game developer.

After much self-reflection, I could easily talk about who I was, what I wanted to do and the type of work I did the best ("bang for your buck skillset"). With all this in mind, I didn't want to waste my time (much less anyone else's) by not presenting the findings of my “self-research”. The idea here was to help them help me. I feel that at this point, things just started coming together a lot easier than before.

You know that saying “It takes a village…”? I read somewhere that it doesn’t just have to apply to children, because ????adults ????need ????support ????too. I set out to make my own village and so far, I have at least one mentor in specific roles of the industry for specific specializations.

The most important villager is my Producer mentor, because being a producer is where I would like to plant myself in the gaming industry and continue my growth from there. With everything I already knew, with my new support systems and the new knowledge I gained from them, I was making my own video game within a few weeks.

I was able to do this during a week-long game jam which was great experience for myself and my portfolio. This involved more hands-on support since this was my first time really being in the thick of game development with my own team.

And that’s the beauty of game jams - there are ??mentors?? eager and willing to help. They helped me through so much more than I originally planned to do during the game jam. With their help I now know how to:

• Make an insane game design document
• Support a team in a game dev setting
• Create a pitch deck for video game projects
• Work with people across the world with different industry specializations

And countless other self-discoveries that would probably be enough content to be a post of its own.

I won't say that it was easy. Because even with how passionate I was about creating games with awesome people, there still were some times of confusion and frustration. It wasn’t toward other people, just toward myself because I thought I was failing myself and my team.

I felt that way until one of my mentors reminded me of something so important: NO project is without issue. There will always be challenges in ALL projects. Especially in complex projects like video game production.

Remembering this actually made me feel better, because to me, all the challenges are worth it in the end. I’m able to do something that I find fulfilling while now seeing the “challenges” as opportunities. With these opportunities, I can use them to make me a better producer for the first game studio I get to work for. So if you ever find yourself in a similar situation, remember to have patience with yourself.

I have to say, the most invaluable thing I got out of this whole experience was the immense amount of confidence that followed after completing my first game jam. After all was said and done, instead of being 95% sure, I am now 110% sure that this is the industry I will be retiring from.

If I would’ve stayed scared to try new things, or stayed in my comfort zone, avoided doing any networking, or kept listening to the doubtful thoughts of others, I definitely wouldn’t be at this point in my journey. I know it’s cliché, but you really never know until you try. So take this as your sign to start making that space for yourself in the industry and give yourself a chance at the future you want.

All images by Freepik