He told me that mobile dev was basically a black mark, and that engineers with mobile games on their resume are viewed as being less skilled than their console brethren for the most part.

Nonsense. You don’t need to take your friend’s, mine, nor anyone else’s word for it but the game companies themselves. You can find out what they want by checking their “Career” or “Recruiting” pages.
http://gamedevmap.com/
My previous company was AAA and my job focused heavily on iOS development. Since I left them, they may be looking for a mobile developer to replace me.
Nintendo just partnered with DeNA. There is a large shift towards mobile development, which not only means more jobs for you, but that companies can’t afford to be discriminatory towards mobile developers.

So now I'm constantly asking myself if I should double down at work, or focus more on self-improvement in my off time.

Doubling-down on work is something your next employer won’t be able to assess.
Even if you are in a stable job there is no reason not to be working on your own personal projects. They help you grow personally and they always help you get the next job.

My current thought is that I should be teaching myself Unreal (I use Unity at work) and use my asset creation knowledge to move into more of a tech artist role.

To be honest, shifting into that role at this point in your career will be doing more damage than good. I will explain why below.

And ideas on where to go from here or encouragement would be greatly appreciated.

As everyone will agree, I am a master of encouragement who definitely never bullies people. *snaps knuckles*

You haven’t added any black marks to your career. That’s largely a ridiculous notion.
But as a beginning you still have a rough road ahead of you. Be realistic and blame it on the fact that you are relatively inexperienced, not because you once worked for a mobile game company.

As such, while working at AAA studios is always possible at your stage, you will find it easier to enter into, and more rewarding growth-wise, to join a small (but bigger than your current) company next. This is why you should hold off becoming a technical artist for now (you will have plenty of time to shift into that role later).
You have much more value as a general programmer and will find it fairly easy to continue your career.
The real way to sabotage yourself is by trying to move too quickly into the bigger companies.

Again, it is always possible, but you will be less valuable and move through the ranks more slowly.


So take it easy and focus on reality. Plenty of smaller studios are ready to hire you right now. Don’t focus on becoming just another number at a major studio yet.


L. Spiro


Moving to Game Industry Job Advice.
…eventually.

The higher up the job "food chain" you try to go, the more competition there will be for the job opining.

In the US, tech job competition is brutal .

Slowly work your way up the career ladder, building your skills and portfolio over time, and one day you'll have what it takes to compete for the high end jobs.

Chances are that you would learn far more diverse things at a smaller studio. At a larger studio you will probably end up working on a super specific thing and only learn things pertinent to that. Chances are that you will end up pidgeon holeing yourself into that role and depending on the companies culture it can be very difficult to transition within the company.

And as for applying only for jobs that you are qualified for, dont do that. Apply to jobs that you know you will be competent in performing, and ofcourse make it clear to them why they need you.

I got my current position at a large AAA developer by applying for a position I was nowhere near qualified for (experience wise), but that I knew I would be able to perform well.

Listen to theflamingskunk, I know quite a few game devs at AAA studios (i worked in the marketing department, so I am not a programmer) and the larger the studio the less breadth of responsibility you'll have. A friend of mine has just be programming boss battles for the last three years of his life. Sure there is always a unique hook to each boss, but it's gotten repetitive for him quickly.

Also, you should just start applying for jobs even if you aren't an exact fit. More and more employers are shying away from people who are a perfect match or over qualifies because it can be seen as a sign that you're comfortable where you are and you're not motivated to challenge yourself. My advice is to step out of your comfort zone a little bit, I think you'll be thrilled with what you're able to accomplish by just believing in yourself and taking that leap of faith.