Am I In the Wrong Degree Program?
by Tom Sloper

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Getting a job in games right after college without "wasting a lot of time searching"

You probably won't. So fuhgedaboudit right now. The industry can only absorb so many new people in the months after you graduate. After college you'll need to spend more time building your portfolio. You'll need a job to support yourself while you're doing that, and it would be most lucky indeed if that job happens to be in games. And if you don't live in an area where there are game companies, you'll need to move to a game area when you're able. Game companies don't pay relocation expenses for entry-level applicants.

And if your targeted job is Game Designer or Associate Producer, you have to have an entry pathway. There's no such thing as an entry-level game design job or producing job. Years of game industry experience for these positions is usually required. So you need to prepare for a non-design, non-production pathway. If you have programming talent, programming is a perfectly fine entryway. If you're an artist, use graphics for your entryway. If you aren't talented, you can enter through a game company's QA department and eventually work in the studio in either design or production. If you have a business degree and marketing savvy, you can enter through a publisher's Marketing department and eventually become a producer, maybe even a designer. Internships are possible in the game industry, but internships usually don't pay, and there's no guarantee that one will lead to a full-time job at that company.

It can take time to get your foot in the door. And after you've broken in, it can take time to attain that coveted position that many students aspire to.

The bottom line for Johnny's question

A lot of young people think that the road to a chosen career is a straight line that depends on getting a specific degree. But it ain't so. No degree is a guarantee of a career. It all depends on the individual. It's common to study one subject in college and then go in a different direction afterwards. A lot of those wanting to get into the game industry believe that there's an equation that looks like this:

[Degree X] + hard work + perseverance = Game Biz Job

_{© 2008 Tom Sloper}