Real Life Professions.

Vindicator · **Joined:** Wed Jan 30, 2013 5:55 am **Posts:** 327

Trosis wrote:

I'm ashamed to admit it, but I'm a receiving clerk at a local grocery store in my home town. School kicked me out because of money issues with 3 classes to go for a major in computer science: multimedia and a minor in "Emerging Media Digital Arts."
Worked in IT at the school for 3 years. But you can't be a student worker without taking classes.
Did my senior project (read capstone) for Mount Ashland Ski Resort. I built them a webpage that accesses a database that has data from ticket scans at the bottom of each lift before. People got scanned before they went up. The data calculated the amount of vertical feet they decended for a given day, month, or season. I was very proud of it. I had an in with the employers at the mountain and had a guarenteed job selling tickets. I'd work on their website and implement my own to their website, in my spare time. (Not to mention boarding during ride breaks and lunch. Free passes to any mountain in Oregon. It was going to be a dream season. But I'm cursed and it didn't snow that year. The mountain never opened. I had to return home and find the first job that fell in my lap.
Been at this store for a year and im scrapped my by. Student loans are on my back, I have nothing to show for it, and I'm working at a grocery store.
At least I have SK and my new girlfriend to keep me sane.
Things will turn around for me soon, I hope.
Hell, powerball is at 450 million. So here's to hoping. :lol:

Oh wait... Is this not for our entire life stories? Lol

Dont worry man, we have all been there. I have cross trained in three different positions here, with no increase in pay by doing so. So I end up working 20+ hours a week on top of my 42 mandated, and end feeling like the company [REDACTED] some times. lol

Trosis · **Posted:** Tue Feb 10, 2015 9:39 pm

I appreciate the encouragement. But at least you're gettingore than full time. I'm the company lady of the night and havent fotten a raise i over a year.
But my girlfriend is working at a call center in a nearby city. I'm applying. When her paycheck is three times mine, it might be worth working at a call center.
She also tells me I can be very persuasive.

lol
Also talked to a debt Consolodator about a week ago. Things are starting to look up. It's baby steps though.
The only thing that would make things amazing would be to find a job in my field. Call me a nerd, but game design would be ideal.
I cracked Microsoft Kinect and was working at making a FPS. We had a somewhat-glitchy but working product to present to the class (it was for game design 3 at school)
But without a degree, I don't know of anywhere that would even consider me.

So right now the plan goes: get better job, set up debt Consolodation (submitting fee of 500 dollars), save money, get a place with the gf, set up payment plan with other loans I have, save up enough to get back in school, finish last the classes... Profit?
Idk. I almost feel like a lost cause. But I'm still gonna fight this uphill battle.
Wish me luck.

Dulrik · **Posted:** Wed Feb 11, 2015 12:02 am

Speaking as a former (and perhaps future?) professional game developer, there has rarely been an easier time to become a game developer, as you can self-publish on most platforms. If you and your buddies make a kick-ass game, it will be considered as real experience.

That being said, game development has a lot of job insecurity and even if you successfully make it into a career, you will probably be making less with those skills than you could elsewhere.

Also be prepared to move to wherever the jobs might be. To pursue games whatever the cost, one of my friends still in the industry has lived like a hobo for most of the last 10 years, going from nor-cal to so-cal to virgina to illinois to nor-cal to texas to florida and back to texas. I admire his dedication, but its pretty rough.

Trosis · **Posted:** Wed Feb 11, 2015 1:00 am

Thanks for the reply D.
I'm considering moving one state south. (California) I feel
As though there might be opportunity for game development there. My thing is that I focus more on programming and character controls, rather than 3d design. When I programmed kinect, I was lead programmer for character controls and learned a lot. I'd like to be in an R&D sort of field where I can bring new and exciting/game changing ideas to the table.
But I guess I gotta get my foot in the door somehow.

radg · **Joined:** Fri Nov 02, 2012 7:18 pm **Posts:** 51

I am a Technology Support Specialist at a university and no I don't know what that title means either. I am a jack of all trades between hardware and software support, basically second level support.

I am also the administrator for our Help Desk ticketing and automation software. I guess this is where my sympathy for the IMMS comes from. When ever I implement any changes to the software it is never liked. Then a few weeks later I usually hear this works so much better, unless of course I really screwed it up which has happened.

Sadr (2015) · **Joined:** Sat Aug 23, 2014 9:11 am **Posts:** 179

I've played my hand at a lot of random jobs in my day. I'm an intern pharmacist working on wrapping up my PharmD (doctor of pharmacy) degree.

ninja_ardith · **Joined:** Wed Sep 24, 2008 12:21 pm **Posts:** 4452

Dulrik wrote:

Speaking as a former (and perhaps future?) professional game developer, there has rarely been an easier time to become a game developer, as you can self-publish on most platforms. If you and your buddies make a kick-ass game, it will be considered as real experience.

That being said, game development has a lot of job insecurity and even if you successfully make it into a career, you will probably be making less with those skills than you could elsewhere.

Also be prepared to move to wherever the jobs might be. To pursue games whatever the cost, one of my friends still in the industry has lived like a hobo for most of the last 10 years, going from nor-cal to so-cal to virgina to illinois to nor-cal to texas to florida and back to texas. I admire his dedication, but its pretty rough.

Doubtful that those that make it as self-publishing game designers have the same problems as those in corporate development as the latter from all that I've read underpays and treats their employees like [REDACTED] and makes them work impossible work weeks.

Dulrik · **Posted:** Wed Feb 11, 2015 2:34 pm

I have several friends doing the indie thing as well - both people who have never worked in corporate game development and others who have left corporate game development to do it.

Trust me. If you are going to be truly successful as an independent developer, the only difference is that you work for free instead of being underpaid and you impose impossible weeks on yourself instead of someone else doing it to you.

ninja_ardith · **Joined:** Wed Sep 24, 2008 12:21 pm **Posts:** 4452

Dulrik wrote:

I have several friends doing the indie thing as well - both people who have never worked in corporate game development and others who have left corporate game development to do it.

Trust me. If you are going to be truly successful as an independent developer, the only difference is that you work for free instead of being underpaid and you impose impossible weeks on yourself instead of someone else doing it to you.

Given that I've forked over my own cash to have artwork, and will be forking over cash for editing, and my last book didn't really sell that well (I had an absolute [REDACTED] of downloads when I let it be free though), I know what it's like to work for free and put a lot of work into things.

The one thing about the traveling sounds horrific though. My illustrator lives in Chile. That's what internet connections are for.

I think, however, that we're just in the beginning of the industry of self-publishing games, etc.

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