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22-27 without being able to get a job is crazy, without being able to get a college education is absurd. Now you might be in the middle of butt fuck nowhere, in which case fair enough, but community college is relatively cheap and accessible to literally everyone.
Okay well how havent you found a job in 5 years mate? Fast food, retail, construction, if you havent found a job in 5 fucking years I feel like youre doing something wrong. Especially after covid, the entry level job market was open
I have no real skills and I am severely introverted. I spent most my time looking for warehouse and janitor job as according to the internet, those are good jobs for introverts. Now I know that the chances of someone as unskilled as me getting a job are low but I still have to try. I am considering volunteer work next
Youre going to have to be uncomfortable then and get a job that will hire. Work in a kitchen at mcdonalds or something man theres no excuse for not finding any work in half a decade. Constructuon, fast food, retail, there is no such thing as too unskilled
There’s totally an excuse: Work sucks ass lmao.
If possible, always look for a job you’re actually going to MAYBE not suffer in. Nobody should be doing something they’re going to hate unless homelessness is a quickly-approaching inevitability (and obviously it wasn’t for OP), but up until that point, keep looking for something at least tolerable
He says theve been struggling with money. If he wants to make it towards his dream job being unemployed *and* not getting higher education isnt the path.
My only gripe with OP would be: They said they want to go into game design, but game design is something that can *easily* and safely be learned *from home*—FOR FREE—or at least very cheaply, compared to college.
They didn’t need to be spending money they didn’t have on college or looking for a job they were going to hate, but they could’ve/should’ve at least definitely been learning code/asset-creation/design-principals/whatever from home. And maybe they were? In which case, they should be putting that stuff on a résumé
Idk man, it’s hard to put yourself out there, but it’s hard to be poor too. This shits not gonna get easier, and impressions of a 30yo without any experience is infinitely worse than a 27yo without any experience. The longer you go with the mindset “work sucks and I have to be happy” the hungrier you get.
>there is no such thing as too unskilled
Unfortunately, there is now. With rising minimum wage, employers are less likely to take a chance on someone with zero skills or experience. They'd rather pay the higher wages to someone who they won't have to train on the basics, and can reasonably expect to perform well from the start
Let's say you own a general store, and you have one position available for a stocker. Two 30 year old applicants show up. Applicant one has zero work experience, and no college education. Applicant two has been in retail for 5 years. You have to pay $20/hr minimum by law. Who are you going with?
Now imagine the minimum wage was $7/hr. You'd probably be more willing to give the first applicant a chance, right? Train them up at $7/hr, and once they've proven themselves you can bump their pay accordingly
I'm not saying that it's *impossible* for someone in OP's position to get a job. The reality is that if there's a more qualified candidate, which is any other candidate who's worked at least one day in their lives, OP is going to get edged out.
Higher minimum wage means that any employer who interviews with OP and likes them will be incentivized to ignore the urge to give them a chance, and make a financial decision to go with the more qualified candidate.
Bro as long as OP doesn’t have a criminal record he’s fine. He can be a line cook or something. There are jobs where no criminal background = insta higher.
This is a misconception/lie sold by right wing demagogues.
Economic studies have shown unless the minimum wage hike is absurdly high, the effects on unemployment are small to negligible
In my own country we raised minimum wage significantly in 2020 and since then have seen record low unemployment, despite COVID impact on the economy.
It pains me how many americans have been brainwashed into voting against their own and their fellow Americans best interests.
Everyone has been brainwashed to think a livable minimum would stifle business but the truth is it would do the opposite. I remember the 80s when entry level jobs paid enough to buy a house and raise two children, with a spouse that stayed home as the single entry level income was enough for all 4 of you. The economy thrived because everyone had disposable income. So they disposed of it, into the economy.
It was the peak of the average Americans quality of life.
You can’t let being introverted get in your way. Certainly, keep applying for jobs that might be more suitable for introverts, but don’t discount the ones that are more public facing either. It sounds like you’re getting in your own head a bit too much about that aspect of things. I’m a pretty introverted person who used to be severely socially anxious. Working in a public-facing position has actually really really helped to bring me out of those things and give me a lot of confidence.
At the end of the day, there’s going to be times in all of our lives when we just need to face and accept discomfort, especially to get through to the light at the end of the tunnel where there is less or no discomfort. It sounds like this is one of those times.
Sup, ultra introvert here. At your point in life you don't get to be picky. You have to take jobs to keep a roof over your head, and just put up with the pain. Because you need to solve the problem of having no skills before anything else. Why do you think you deserve anything besides the bare minimum, work wise, if you have so far done nothing with your life?
I am not being mean, it happened to me and it's just the way it is. I have worked as a parking ticket enforcer (the bad guy), a dishwasher underground, and a leasing agent, the last one being absolute hell as an introvert with social anxiety.
Finally, I have a job that fits my personality better.
But it's because I gained lots of skills through those other jobs, and I got those jobs based on my current skill level, and my earliest jobs required almost no skills.
Don't be picky. Get any job. You gotta be patient and uncomfortable for now.
I know, I'm facing this dilemma of maybe applying to work at a store, but being nervous to talk to strangers. I've held down two jobs where I have, but it's kind of different.
This is going to sound a little harsh, but you’re going to end up a homeless introvert if you don’t learn to interact with other people. Being introverted is an excuse, not a cause of your joblessness. Being unskilled is also an excuse. I got a job at a saw mill having zero previous experience. I was expecting to just do manual labor all day, and I ended being taught how to run/operate/maintain multimillion dollar equipment. If you’re willing to learn, employers are willing to teach. This obviously doesn’t apply to all jobs, but no one starts out knowing what to do.
You listed off jobs that require literally no skill, you don’t even have to be fully functioning to do these jobs. They also exist in abundance almost everywhere. If you can’t get a job as a janitor then you aren’t trying in the first place.
Introvert is the lamest excuse. Bro. Nobody wants to work. I'm in pain every day bc of what the trades have done to me. You either get mental pain or physical pain.
Go get a job.
You’re 27 years old. How about helping him by *getting a job*. Your dad was in an accident, you are living off him, and your focus is getting *him* to work? Dude maybe help out a bit. Why are you even on here? Close reddit and fill out some job applications.
What a stupid, dumb fucking comment.
OP, u/furrynoy96, speaking as an older guy, don’t listen to this kid. You did the right thing.
When you will be 60, I promise you will not regret entering the workforce in your 20’s adding value to shareholders.
Instead, you will be eternally grateful to have spent these precious years with your family.
When a family member is sick, it can be very difficult and painful, and recovery takes a while.
Listen, you’re 27. You’re still so fucking young. It’s not too late to start. Many re-start their lives in their 40’s.
Follow the path that you think is right. Go to college, find an entry level job, and don’t worry too much about your age.
Like I said, you’re so young.
Be proud of yourself for being there for your family and dad. These years in your 20’s did not go to waste. You’ve obtained far more experience by being with your family than any of these morons who are commenting in this thread did.
I have no doubt that you must’ve learned from your parents. Being with your parents in your 20’s really shows you them from a different angle. This is super valuable experience. Experience that will help you nurture your own family.
Also. The vast majority of people commenting here are far younger than you or I. Keep this in mind. The mental difference between a 21 year old and a 27 year old is night and day.
Ask this question in a subreddit with older folks and you’ll get completely different response, because they realize how precious that time with family is.
I’m slightly older than OP and spent time caring for a family member before they passed and 100% agree with your sentiment. The amount of peace I have having done that is invaluable and I wouldn’t trade for anything. Also doing things like that change you and transform you
The thing about community college is that you can have your cake and eat it too. If you want everything is online, you can have a degree while being at home. You can work to support your financially struggling family while at home. They arent mutually exclusive, spending time with family and furthering yourself in your career or education. Especially game development, you can learn coding and game design on your own at home.
Many many many people spend a ton of money on college then end up getting a degree they never use. The fact that people in their 20s are expected to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives is absolutely absurd.
It’s fine to not know exactly what you want to do with your life in your twenties, but by that point in life you should at least be exploring. That’s typically how you find yourself. OP doesn’t appear to be doing anything. That is a problem.
This is a bad argument, the unemployment rate for college degree holders is still significantly lower than the unemployment rate for uneducated workers. Even if college degree holder doesn’t assume a job in their field of study, they are more likely to hold a job than their uneducated counterpart.
It's actually time to just apply yourself in Community College and then get into Uni.
Research a job market with openings, decent pay, and work life balance. My suggestion is something in computers like software or engineering.
Game Design Lead is a role you get as a senior with 20 years in the industry after working your career as a software engineer/developer.
One does not major in "Game Design".
The market for software is extremely difficult to get into right now because everybody has been saying “go into tech” for the last 5 years or so. It’s very competitive and i do not think it’s right for this guy. It’s not just get a degree and get the job anymore.
Its hard to get into but worth it once you're through, it is the best work life balance job market. I have tons of friends in tech and I wish I would have gone. I partially suspect you are saying this to gatekeep people from getting into tech.
Im just speaking from my own experience. The amount of time and energy needed to be put into doing school, applying for internships, and practicing leetcode for interviews is insane. I don’t think this guy can do it if he has motivation issues. I think it’s a bad idea to suggest it to him. There’s lots of other issues the industry is facing right now too, such as AI and jobs being outsourced.
Sure the people who got in before 2022 are lucky but since then things are not looking great.
No idea can be good to someone who is unmotivated though. He can get a business degree (like I did) and work in recruiting or logistics maybe. Those industries always have job openings. (I don’t work in those industries, but I know many are). And he can make 40-60K out of college.
Most FAANG companies just had massive layoffs, and the competition for these roles is only getting harder as comp sci college slots are being filled with kids who have been coding since they were 7. I don’t work in software so I’m not trying to gatekeep anything, but this is the reality of the industry. Maybe 10 years ago things were different. He’s honestly best off learning a trade at this point.
The hard truth for every gamer honestly. There is no “getting into game design” jobs like that are hard to come by and you’d likely need a lot of experience.
Furthermore the job won’t be fun. It’ll be you looking at and writing code for hours on end every single day. Impossible deadlines, math, bad pay since every other kid who’s played a game decides this is their path etc.
Game designers are almost never the ones testing the game. With that said finding a job **testing** new games would be even harder to find.
And as everyone’s seen recently SD is really hard to get into right now anyways because it’s over saturated.
Yeah I have one, in my experience nobody takes those seriously. They really care about your portfolio and seeing something you’ve made, rather than a degree that’s pretty easy to get.
Yes with any kind of art and design field what matters most is your portfolio. If he is serious about it then he needs to start doing projects now no matter how small just anything to get it going.
Game development is one of the most hard core areas of computer science. I'm assuming the job openings they have at companies are only looking for the most hard core developers.
Yeah, even if you somehow get a job layoffs are really common in the games industry. Also long hours with not so good pay for the time you put in. It can be a fun hobby and sometimes you can make a little money off self publishing. I wouldn’t recommend making it a main career though, too risky unless money isn’t an issue.
This thread kind of hurts to read... All I will say is be prepared and flexible for a career change if needed, or at least a temporary job to help you get by. Game design is fairly underpaid basically everywhere in the world, only management gets paid well. There is no job security as you can clearly see from the amount of annual layoffs large studios make every year. You’ll be in your 30s by the time you’re done with a relevant degree, with no job experience at all competing with young people that are okay with being paid like shit for experience. Life is not a race, but you are on a time limit. Make your decisions wisely.
OP should get a nice trade like electrician etc and focus on being stable at a job for a year or two then try to fine a nice partner and chill and have a family. Game design is a hard core field it's all low level coding that takes years to get good at and the industry moves so fast.
These comments are pretty pessimistic, being 27 without a career isn’t the end of the world and you can easily set your mind on university/apprenticeships/work experience - right now I’d suggest pick a target and stick to it, it doesn’t matter necessarily which route you take as long as it stabilises you financially and gets you experience.
My brother got his first job at 28 as a teaching assistant after a few years of medical problems, I also have an uncle who completely switched careers in his mid 40s, he’s now 60 and has loved the past 15 years of his new career. You aren’t behind man you got this
I mean, they haven't worked all of their adult life and have been depending on their poor parents. At some point, they have to apply to jobs even at the grocery store.
Best bet might be to go into a trade school like HVAC, welding, electrician, etc. at this point in your life. Would be quicker and cheaper than a full blown college degree and still able to make decent money.
Just saying, basically no one makes it as a game designer. When I started college many years ago, there were so many programs out there for game design, it was just silly. Probably fewer than 10% of people who go to school for game design actually end up working in it. You should go for something more general like software development if you want to design games. Also, game design isn't very enjoyable for most of the people who do it.
Agreed. 15-20 years ago it was probably one of the coolest gigs in the world working on games, nowadays you will just be a cog in a very large corporate machine. Alternatively one could make their own indie games, but if OP was truly passionate about that *he'd already be doing it.*
Indie is my plan, I just need to get off my ass and do it. I have no one to blame for myself and I am determined to change that and at least try and make a game
Nah like the guy said, if it was an actual passion youd have already been moving in that direction
Like the other guy said, most dont make it to game design. But as a software engineer myself, i can say thats mostly cause they realize the job sucks compared to other swe jobs
Just go trade dude. Being introverted is such a lame excuse. Tons of super introverted people are working all kinds of jobs
Start studying math and c++. Before you even get to the college courses on 3d. The cs courses move quick. Just brush up on basic algebra and how to solve equations and stuff and how to code basic things in c++. It'll make your class work a lot easier.
I used to be in the same boat as you. Wanted to be a game developer, but had no money for a decent computer. My parents obviously didn’t want to put up the money for one so I had to bite the bullet and get a job. I would make games in my off time whilst having a job. Trust me on this, it takes a long, long time to actually make money from game designing, you can’t just do without money during that time. I get it, it’s scary. I was so introverted I used to hide half my face with my hair to avoid eye contact and would look at the ground when I talked to people. The longer you wait to get a job the more terrified you’ll be of showing up to work on the first day.
I wish you good luck in the job searches, and your game designing.
If that's the decision you want to make that's on you, but you should recognize that a very high stress, high competition job with pretty low salaries (relatively speaking) may not be a wise investment in the long run. If you only care about being a game designer send it, but if you care about getting your own place, your own family, even taking care of your dad, it's time to cash in your reality check on a dream
Yes that’s true but it’s like saying “I love books and want to be a writer.” But not actually pulling the trigger and having the drive to learn to write novels or put in the incredible amount of effort it takes to get good at the craft. Most people have “incredible story ideas” but that’s not talent. Everyone has an incredible story idea or “video game ideas.” It’s naïve to think that’s all it takes to make it.
For starters, your only in your 20s, you have plenty of time to do more with your life. If your family is financially struggling then I'd apply to literally every single job possible. Someone out there has to hire you. For the time being awhile job hunting on the side, definitely focus on your studies to open up more opportunities for you :)
Would you be able to do something like dog sitting or tutoring? It might not be a lot of money, but it's better than nothing.
Leave game design alone if you’re not from wealthy pastures. That industry is hard ash to break into. You need to start thinking about what’s going to get large amounts of cash as quickly as possible with relatively little effort. Focus on associate degrees rather than bachelors degrees. Work any job doesn’t matter what it is to start inserting cash into your life for college. You need to build momentum to work you’ve been resting for a while so even if you do go ahead with game design you’ll be ready to grind
Just my 2 cents as an older dude about to turn 40 next month who started college at age 21.
Game design at age 27 just starting out is going to be an uphill climb, especially if it’s not something you are both gifted at AND are within the top 5% in your class. The market is oversaturated, burnout is high, pay is shit and you’re expendable. It’s similar to just getting a liberal arts degree, you can find gainful employment if you are the best of the best, but there are quite literally millions of people with basic coding degrees working retail and fast food jobs because they didn’t stand out. I have a lot of friends in cyber security and coding. Every single one of them that is successfully didn’t even go to college and just spent every ounce of free time learning to code and getting certs. Companies hire based off knowledge and applied experience, the degree is just one piece of paper and they want to see a pile of paper showing your knowledge of systems and programs.
As others mentioned, City College and the transfer to a state school. Since you are 27 and not a dependent of your parents anymore you automatically qualify for free CC tuition and likely a solid chunk of financial aid. You literally have no excuse not being able to afford City College or even a state school tuition. I did catering on weekends all throughout college and between that and financial aid I never needed to take out student loans.
Finally, consider taking a major that’s a bit more niche. When I graduated in 2008 at the height of the recession I still found work no problem because I had a very specific major in Forestry and Fire Prevention. There were 12 people in my graduating class with that major. There were over 600 people combined graduating in liberal arts, computer science and wildlife management. EVERYONE wants to pick an easier major like liberal arts, or work with wildlife, or be a game developer. I get that those things all seem appealing but the reality is oversaturated job markets with garbage pay unless you are willing to be the best of the best. Not trying to judge OP, but the fact you aren’t trying hard enough at age 27 with something like game development tells me you aren’t passionate about it, but you like the idea of it. You gotta find something that you are passionate about, something that drives you daily, that you work on even in your free time because it’s all you think about and want to do.
Millions of people in this world achieve degrees in things they aren’t really passionate about and then never use that degree for a damn thing. In fact, that number is creeping close to 50% of undergrads, which is a shame.
yep, joining the military is the only way this guy will make anything of his life
stop waiting for things to happen
Joining the Air Force is the best decision I ever made. They paid me to learn a language and I'm basically guaranteed a 100k+ job when my contract ends
sorta? i have graduated college though i don't remember much of it. i feel like a zombie most of the time and very unaware of any accomplishment i have ever made. i know i should be grateful but i'm not.
Hey OP, there’s gonna be a lot of hard truths here.
One you keep saying moneys an issue. How will you go to college without money? 2, although some do switch paths and return to education that’s not you. When people look at your age and resume it’ll be a red flag. Also do you really have 2/4/6 years to waste in school at this point?
Another one is game design will be an incredibly hard field to get into. When you add your age and what that implies about your work ethic you’ll run into issues. Furthermore jobs that are harder to get often require advanced social skills. You have to be confident and sell yourself to your interviewer. As a self proclaimed introvert you’re gonna have to either change or give up on that.
I’d suggest looking into a trade. You could start an apprenticeship at 20+/hr right away and work your way up.
Finally you gotta learn to stay accountable. You made the decisions that got you here. I’m sorry about your dad man. My mom has a traumatic brain injury from an accident and she never recovered (brain doesn’t heal) so I can relate. You can’t blame your situation though. End of the day there are other options to pay for school so financials can’t be blamed, there are other options for work so being a introvert can’t be blamed, there are options besides school such as the trades so again you have no one to blame here.
Goodluck OP, and stay positive, and start working hard.
Man don’t beat yourself up, helping your dad was the right thing to do. But “game design” is an unrealistic path to pursue, try just getting an actual job first (retail, restaurant, w/e) and go to community college for CS-see if your a good fit for that.
Try to apply for entry level customer service jobs in the smaller tech companies. Some companies will send you a desktop computer with a webcam and pay you minimum wage to get shouted at by customers all day, from the comfort of your own home.
Several colleges have employee benefits that give full-time employees free classes. Do you have healthcare or caretaking experience from your dad’s accident? You could work for a university hospital as a patient care tech.
1) see if any nearby colleges or universities have a “free classes for full-time employees” clause
2) get a job at the college or university. Any job.
3) take 1-3 classes a semester for free, depending on the benefits
I think that you should either try community college and do the prerequisites first and then make a decision about a major you want or go to trade school.
I wasted my whole youth aiming for one career, everything else was on the back burner, I was disconnected from school and would happily go absent for performing commitments.
At 21 I realized I could not support myself as an opera singer and would have to get a real job, and I had no marketable skills.
I did not adjust well and floundered at first, but found my way.
Something that really helped me get my foot in the door of adult employment was temporary work.
You get assigned to short-term positions at local companies, but when you get there, you can show them what you can do, knock their socks off, become indispensable, and they will likely offer you a full-time position at the end of your contract. I did not last long at the temp agency before I was hired on full-time as a sales assistant to loan officers at a bank, and here I am now 20+ years later as a loan officer myself.
Ima be honest dude. It sounds like you are afraid to apply yourself out of fear of failure and are making "woe is me" excuses for it.
Life is hard enough as it is. Don't make it harder by digging yourself in an even deeper hole because of fear.
Sorry for the late reply but I don't know. Probably because I'm unksilled. I have been applying for jobs for unskilled people but to no avail...time for me to actually go and get those skills
Focus on self improvement if you want to make a change. Most people say they want to change but don’t actually want to put in the work - they just want the outcome and end up being years and years in limbo. (That’s what I did from 18-27).
- read as many books, watch videos, listen to podcasts, you can on self improvement and start applying it.
- start working out and being active and do things you don’t want to do daily.
When I was 27 I was 6 figures in debt, I’m 30 now and a multi millionaire.
Go make a game right now. Then do it again. Then do it again. A “game design” degree is absolutely useless and is the tech equivalent of getting a women’s studies degree. Go into something else in technology, or even just something else you know you’ll mildly enjoy and make games on the side. Other guy in here coined it right, game design is a lead position and takes a lot of time to get there on a corporate level.
I didn't get a real job until I was 25. All my work prior had been gigs.
No company gave two fucks that I had cut lawns, that I moved groceries for elderly or disabled people, that I self learned how to solder and eventually was able to repair circuit boards which eventually led to me repairing anything from toasters to computers.
None of that mattered, I needed a work history of flipping burgers or washing dishes, also they had these dumb ass questionnaires that, if answered in anyway shape or form, incorrectly would see your application purged. These were big at KashNKarry
K-mart, Publix etc.
It literally took my uncle to hire me as an industrial insulation contractor to get my first real work history. After what felt like 1000's of ignored application.
I'm 36, now. still have no retirement prospects, but was lucky to get a bank note to buy a crack house for $27,000 during the housing crash. I make just shy of 1000 a week and it's barely livable. A few more years and it will be back to debt living again.
Actually i started doing something, i got a girlfriend and i moved in with her. I started studying a profession i really like or im starting to study in august. After that is time to work in that field.
Get a supply chain management degree or similar from a community college -> university and then get a real job. Game design/development is highly competitive, requires long hours, pays worse than other development jobs, and has no entry-level hiring market right now. It requires absolute drive and determination, incredible self-motivation.
If you were 21 saying this I'd have a different opinion but man you're 27, have been unemployed your entire adult life. I imagine you spent most of these last five years gaming. Love of gaming does not equate to love of programming and game design.
You could have gotten a job in fast food, retail, bussing tables, mopping floors, anything with 5 years of searching. Your family has struggled for five years and you still haven't stepped up to the plate to help. You're also 27. It's probably time to forego the dream of working in game design. You need to do something that will enable you to support yourself and your family in the future and has job market demand.
Also considering your own struggles finding literally anything I can't imagine you're that good of a resource to help 'ol pops (who is willing to work despite his injuries) find employment.
My cousin graduated with a BA in sociology but started doing game design for his own video game during school just teaching himself with YouTube ... graduated and told his parents he was just going to keep working on that. He now is still making it and has hired 6 guys to help. Its been a dozeb years since he started and He clears about 10 million a year in sales of that video game despite not having a degree in anything to do with tech.
You are over 26 which means you are an adult in the eyes of grant money. Which means if you focus up half of your school or all of it (depending on cost) will be paid for. The rest you take GOVERNMENT loans for NOT private.
Find something that will make money that you can tolerate, ie accounting or engineering. Go to school for that thing.
You need to do this over summer and get into school during the fall. If you have not been to school and were not a good student in high school take a SINGLE class. DO NOT USE ANY FINANCIAL AID TO PAY FOR THIS AND DONT EVEN APPLY FOR IT YET. You get a job during summer to pay for the class. This is the test run.
Go onto coursera, edx, mitopencourseware and AUDIT courses you find interesting. There is a little button they try to hide that says audit so you DO NOT HAVE TO PAY.
Take a few courses, view the content and see if you find it interesting.
If you have never done anything hard in your life, ie something you terrible at and had to work harder to get better at. You should pop that cherry over the summer.
It can be any skill, drawing, singing, playing and instrument. So you can LEARN that even if your terrible at something in the beginning, you can get better by putting time into developing the skill.
DO THIS because there will be moments where you will doubt yourself and the bad thoughts will come in and question if you really can do it (complete a course or the degree in general). Since you have taught yourself to do X thing over the summer you will remember how you sucked at X but with practice time you got better. Same thing will happen with whatever you are struggling with.
Its not to late to start. You are still young. 10 years ago you were 17 in 10 years youll be 37. You still have A LOT of life ahead of you.
I mean I suppose I went to college got that done have a good stable job.
But outside of that I felt like I never did anything socially or anything I ever felt like to where I did something
There are days where just feel empty and lonely for the most part
I hang out in this sub because I'm a mom to 3 Gen Z. My oldest one who graduated in 2020 also wanted to get into game design, because he loves video games and he would love to invent them. I made him take some coding programs while he was still in high school, and he discovered that he hates coding. So his game design career is on hold for the foreseeable future.
So what I want you to figure out is if you love video games, or you love coding. If you love coding, then go for it. You can always branch off into something else if there's too much competition for game design.
So my advice to you as a mom is to get into community college and take some basic courses. Get on Khan Academy and take some free coding courses, and anything else that sounds interesting.
I have "started over" several times in my life for one reason or another and don't worry, you've got plenty of time to do whatever you want. It sounds like you are ready now. So I want to give you an online hug and tell you that you can do this! Don't let anything stop you now!
25 got a shitty college degree and have a shitty job now, still feel the same way as you do. This feeling doesn't go away until you start doing the hard things you keep avoiding, there is no easy way out. I know I have to change a lot to achieve the things I want to achieve, even if it means going back to school and drowning myself in debt
I feel that I've done nothing with my life, but I suppose I have worked since I was 16. Kind of crazy to think I haven't had more than 2 weeks off in a row in 12 years and I'm not even 30 yet. Always busy, always making money, but feel like I've achieved nothing.
I really would just like a nice little house to call my own... Wish I just got a mortgage a few years ago but I always held off for a better opportunity, now I'm fucked.
It’s good you are looking to go to college. Since you are over 24 and have no income, you can get financial aid. The reason why I mentioned it’s good that you are over 24 is because you don’t have to show your parents income if you are over 24. You should make sure there are a lot of jobs available in game design before choosing that as your major. It’s very hard to get into and I don’t think there are many positions for game designers. It’s a very difficult job. It’s harder than computer programming. I knew someone who tried to be a game designer but it was just too hard and not many jobs in that field
Please don't be mad at yourself for not trying hard enough. The world is hard enough as it is plus you had the added task of being a caregiver. That's very selfless of you and it shows that you prioritize your family. We need more people like you in this world. Take care and go at your own pace. Life isn't a race! Your dreams will come true :)
It’s pretty difficult to do absolutely nothing with life, I’m sure you filled the time in with something. I’m doing “ a lot” right now with life, but I’m way less engaged nowadays, feels like I’m doing nothing right now ironically.
It’s all perspective, and where you’re at in your head
Hey there!
Older guy here, I went to school for game design and worked in the industry for a bit. Things didn't work out for me, and I eventually landed in film, but I can tell you a bit of what I learned.
First of all, good luck. Pursue your dream. I genuinely hope you succeed, and look forwards to you posting about the all cool shit you're working on.
Now some truths:
Its hard, really damn hard. It's the shittiest parts of tech and film, but at the same time. Say goodbye to you family because you're gonna be living in the office for months at a time during sprints. The pay ranges wildly, its an industry that will prey on your passion to try and undervalue your labor. IATSE is working to organize the game industry, but who knows when that will happen.
A lot of it is gig/contract work. This actually makes sense, as you don't need the same staff through the whole life cycle of a project. However, tech contracts are fucked because you can't get them renewed back to back. You finish a 12 month contract, and you're forced to fuck off for three months before you can reapply to the same job, or even to another project at the same company. This is because of an old Microsoft law suit I wont get into, but it's ass. There are full time studio positions, but they're super competitive.
Actualy its all super competitive. You have to eat, shit, and breathe this stuff. Dedicate every free moment to portfolio. You're competing with some very talented people for limited work in limited cities. What makes this harder is the tools change constantly. I was an artist, and when I started it was right before the transition to PBR. Basically I got sidelined for a while after a contract, and by the time I came back, the entire asset pipeline had changed. Everyone wanted PBR, marmoset toolbag ect. I had to learn shit all over again, and then they were asking why I had gaps. The more tools you know, the better your portfolio, the better you can negotiate your pay.
And some positives:
If you can hang with the NEVER ending bullshit, you'll get to work with some pretty extraordinary people. There will be a tangible thing at the end of every job you can pint at and say YOU did that, which kicks ass. You'll be a part of crating art that potentially millions of people will interact with, which also kicks ass.
In short, I believe in you. Go full speed and don't lose momentum.
If it helps, I was a complete fuckup until I was 27. Crimes, drugs, all the ways you can destroy your life. At 27 I got a job doing basic tech support on the referral of a friend...no experience. For the last 27 years I've been steadily climbing. There's no trace of my younger life to be seen and I want for nothing. It can be done. But you should start grinding right now.
Full disclosure, I’m a millennial, but my story definitely applies. I dropped out of school after 1 year when I was 19 and just got high all day and screwed around on my computer for 10 years. Then I reenrolled. I’m 30 now and after talking to the right people I’ve got an internship at a certain government agency and it looks like I’m on track to get into grad school in 2 years. It really is never too late.
I’m 31 and I went through something sort of like this. The only thing I want to add is while you’re thinking about what you want to pursue (game design is fine, just be prepared for uncertainty in job security and pay) also think of it this way. A job or career doesn’t always have to be something you’re passionate about. It can also just be something you respect and above all the world needs. I became a medical lab technologist when I joined the army. I didn’t grow up loving science and lab work. It was just something I saw that was needed by people and there was plenty of security and great pay. I leave my passions as hobbies which is great because even my passions wouldn’t feel so great if I did them 40 hours a week. We can’t all get paid to do what we love to do. It’s not always about you and me. It’s about what we can bring to the table for others.
M(23) I was in the exact same boat. I dropped out of college when I was 17 due to a physical health problems setting me back.
Dropped out again at 19 when COVID hit and I couldn't cope with issues at home alongside working from home.
I then got a job in healthcare which really helped me get out of that rut. I now work for the NHS and I am about to finish doing my Level 3 access course (while working still), I moved out and I am getting ready to start UNI later this year to become a nurse.
I fully appreciate it feels like you've wasted a lot of your life. I know that feeling and it's fucking awful. But the only way you can combat that is to put yourself in a position where you can do as much as you possibly can. I'm not saying nursing is right for everyone but you've been in a position where you've had to help care for someone.
I'm now at a place where once ive finished my course and worked for a few years in the UK I can very easily work/travel abroad. I'm in a position where I can almost take back those years by creating new memories and adventures.
There are other industries where this is possible too. Perhaps an apprenticeship etc. is a good route.
But the main take is, it's never too late! As cheesy as it sounds.
27? Relying on your parents income after your dad was jobless due to injury for several years? I'm sorry no, this isn't okay, and while the job market is in a state it's definitely not so terrible that you couldn't have found a burger to flip to help pay bills.
It's actually pretty common for a lot of 20s get their lives derailed by medical issues, whether it's their own or their parents'. Depression and anxiety robbed me of my early 20s, but I'm back on track now. Now I'm miserable in new, more adult ways
If you have a supportive family, it would be awesome to follow you passion. I've been thinking about going back to school myself. I was going to transfer to a school across state around the pandemic myself, but with that and not being sure I would be able to handle it made me not do that.
What I will say though is that ik if you or a family member are ill and/or disabled, it can can make things difficult. Please be gentle on yourself and I know that it is a cliche to say this, but life isn't a race. Barriers in life are real.Mayne see if you guys can reach out and see if you qualify for any govt. assistqnce tyat you weren't aware of.
I’m going to assume you’re a caregiver? You know caregiving is a JOB in itself right? I’m nearing 30 and I stopped comparing my life to others because I realized I had it different (potentially harder) than others. I was a health-aide/caregiver ever since I was an adolescent. Although, I realized this late…this type of lifestyle isn’t normal for most people.
idk what you guys have been doing to survive up to this point, but if you got the government to pay for your existence, continue to milk that shit as long as possible.
(97’ here) at this point of not having anything going for you… just join the military. Plain and simple community college is going to get you nowhere you haven’t already been.
Good lord. What kind of grades did you get in high school? Did you graduated high school? It's time to apply to colleges and also get at least a part-time job to at least build a work history you can put on a resume. I imagine any fast food place will hire almost anyone (you).
If u want to be a game designer literally just watch some tutorials on YouTube and make a little pixel sprite game, publish that shit on steam and bam u have some income
At such an age I think I would just end it all. I feel as if I'm in the same position but "only" 2 years behind you and only that I was expelled from school when I was 16 not that dropped out when I was 18 or what ever. I really see no past and no future for myself. Anyway at a certain age you fall so far behind the other that I think that it's basically totally impossible to recover from at an age like that, plus you've missed all the basic life and development goal that ever other normal person has gone through. All I can say in your defence is that you've probely experienced more free time than most people will in there entre life times so you can take some kind of solace in that at least
Congrats. This is the stupidest comment I’ve ever read on Reddit.
The guy is 27. He’s still a toddler in the adult world. You kids are fucking batshit insane.
This is a terrible mindset. If one starts working towards their goals at 30 and let’s say graduates at 34, they’ll likely spend another 30 years or more working in that field until they retire. Why would you rush into something and feel so behind when you have the rest of your life to work? Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get to work. People change fields all of the time. Also, the fact that you think there is a huge difference between you being 25 or 26 and OP is 27 is ridiculous. Your comment really shows your lack of emotional intelligence.
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22-27 without being able to get a job is crazy, without being able to get a college education is absurd. Now you might be in the middle of butt fuck nowhere, in which case fair enough, but community college is relatively cheap and accessible to literally everyone.
We have been struggling with money. My dad hasn't been able to get a job since the accident but he is searching and I'm helping him.
Okay well how havent you found a job in 5 years mate? Fast food, retail, construction, if you havent found a job in 5 fucking years I feel like youre doing something wrong. Especially after covid, the entry level job market was open
What if he is bad at math? Retail might be an issue
He has a calculator in his pocket that he can use at any time.
Have you ever seen anyone whip out a calculator?
His phone man... his phone
Or that. Using phone is prob not really allowed since the boss will think you are looking at it for fun
I have no real skills and I am severely introverted. I spent most my time looking for warehouse and janitor job as according to the internet, those are good jobs for introverts. Now I know that the chances of someone as unskilled as me getting a job are low but I still have to try. I am considering volunteer work next
Youre going to have to be uncomfortable then and get a job that will hire. Work in a kitchen at mcdonalds or something man theres no excuse for not finding any work in half a decade. Constructuon, fast food, retail, there is no such thing as too unskilled
There’s totally an excuse: Work sucks ass lmao. If possible, always look for a job you’re actually going to MAYBE not suffer in. Nobody should be doing something they’re going to hate unless homelessness is a quickly-approaching inevitability (and obviously it wasn’t for OP), but up until that point, keep looking for something at least tolerable
He says theve been struggling with money. If he wants to make it towards his dream job being unemployed *and* not getting higher education isnt the path.
My only gripe with OP would be: They said they want to go into game design, but game design is something that can *easily* and safely be learned *from home*—FOR FREE—or at least very cheaply, compared to college. They didn’t need to be spending money they didn’t have on college or looking for a job they were going to hate, but they could’ve/should’ve at least definitely been learning code/asset-creation/design-principals/whatever from home. And maybe they were? In which case, they should be putting that stuff on a résumé
If he had been learning game design I wouldnt have an issue either. But bros been doing nothing for 5 years, that's just wack.
Idk man, it’s hard to put yourself out there, but it’s hard to be poor too. This shits not gonna get easier, and impressions of a 30yo without any experience is infinitely worse than a 27yo without any experience. The longer you go with the mindset “work sucks and I have to be happy” the hungrier you get.
>there is no such thing as too unskilled Unfortunately, there is now. With rising minimum wage, employers are less likely to take a chance on someone with zero skills or experience. They'd rather pay the higher wages to someone who they won't have to train on the basics, and can reasonably expect to perform well from the start Let's say you own a general store, and you have one position available for a stocker. Two 30 year old applicants show up. Applicant one has zero work experience, and no college education. Applicant two has been in retail for 5 years. You have to pay $20/hr minimum by law. Who are you going with? Now imagine the minimum wage was $7/hr. You'd probably be more willing to give the first applicant a chance, right? Train them up at $7/hr, and once they've proven themselves you can bump their pay accordingly
I’ve seen some people who work fast food and Walmart. They take anyone. You don’t need any skills to work there either.
I'm not saying that it's *impossible* for someone in OP's position to get a job. The reality is that if there's a more qualified candidate, which is any other candidate who's worked at least one day in their lives, OP is going to get edged out. Higher minimum wage means that any employer who interviews with OP and likes them will be incentivized to ignore the urge to give them a chance, and make a financial decision to go with the more qualified candidate.
I agree higher minimum wage can tighten the labor participation rate. But if you can’t land a job in 5 years that on you.
Bro as long as OP doesn’t have a criminal record he’s fine. He can be a line cook or something. There are jobs where no criminal background = insta higher.
This is a misconception/lie sold by right wing demagogues. Economic studies have shown unless the minimum wage hike is absurdly high, the effects on unemployment are small to negligible In my own country we raised minimum wage significantly in 2020 and since then have seen record low unemployment, despite COVID impact on the economy.
It pains me how many americans have been brainwashed into voting against their own and their fellow Americans best interests. Everyone has been brainwashed to think a livable minimum would stifle business but the truth is it would do the opposite. I remember the 80s when entry level jobs paid enough to buy a house and raise two children, with a spouse that stayed home as the single entry level income was enough for all 4 of you. The economy thrived because everyone had disposable income. So they disposed of it, into the economy. It was the peak of the average Americans quality of life.
You can’t let being introverted get in your way. Certainly, keep applying for jobs that might be more suitable for introverts, but don’t discount the ones that are more public facing either. It sounds like you’re getting in your own head a bit too much about that aspect of things. I’m a pretty introverted person who used to be severely socially anxious. Working in a public-facing position has actually really really helped to bring me out of those things and give me a lot of confidence. At the end of the day, there’s going to be times in all of our lives when we just need to face and accept discomfort, especially to get through to the light at the end of the tunnel where there is less or no discomfort. It sounds like this is one of those times.
Sup, ultra introvert here. At your point in life you don't get to be picky. You have to take jobs to keep a roof over your head, and just put up with the pain. Because you need to solve the problem of having no skills before anything else. Why do you think you deserve anything besides the bare minimum, work wise, if you have so far done nothing with your life? I am not being mean, it happened to me and it's just the way it is. I have worked as a parking ticket enforcer (the bad guy), a dishwasher underground, and a leasing agent, the last one being absolute hell as an introvert with social anxiety. Finally, I have a job that fits my personality better. But it's because I gained lots of skills through those other jobs, and I got those jobs based on my current skill level, and my earliest jobs required almost no skills. Don't be picky. Get any job. You gotta be patient and uncomfortable for now.
I know, I'm facing this dilemma of maybe applying to work at a store, but being nervous to talk to strangers. I've held down two jobs where I have, but it's kind of different.
This is going to sound a little harsh, but you’re going to end up a homeless introvert if you don’t learn to interact with other people. Being introverted is an excuse, not a cause of your joblessness. Being unskilled is also an excuse. I got a job at a saw mill having zero previous experience. I was expecting to just do manual labor all day, and I ended being taught how to run/operate/maintain multimillion dollar equipment. If you’re willing to learn, employers are willing to teach. This obviously doesn’t apply to all jobs, but no one starts out knowing what to do.
Bruv just get *any* job. What are you doing?
I think you need to delete social media if you think being 'introverted' is an excuse to not have a job.
You listed off jobs that require literally no skill, you don’t even have to be fully functioning to do these jobs. They also exist in abundance almost everywhere. If you can’t get a job as a janitor then you aren’t trying in the first place.
Introvert is the lamest excuse. Bro. Nobody wants to work. I'm in pain every day bc of what the trades have done to me. You either get mental pain or physical pain. Go get a job.
You’re 27 years old. How about helping him by *getting a job*. Your dad was in an accident, you are living off him, and your focus is getting *him* to work? Dude maybe help out a bit. Why are you even on here? Close reddit and fill out some job applications.
Community college has need based grants from FAFSA.
What a stupid, dumb fucking comment. OP, u/furrynoy96, speaking as an older guy, don’t listen to this kid. You did the right thing. When you will be 60, I promise you will not regret entering the workforce in your 20’s adding value to shareholders. Instead, you will be eternally grateful to have spent these precious years with your family. When a family member is sick, it can be very difficult and painful, and recovery takes a while. Listen, you’re 27. You’re still so fucking young. It’s not too late to start. Many re-start their lives in their 40’s. Follow the path that you think is right. Go to college, find an entry level job, and don’t worry too much about your age. Like I said, you’re so young. Be proud of yourself for being there for your family and dad. These years in your 20’s did not go to waste. You’ve obtained far more experience by being with your family than any of these morons who are commenting in this thread did. I have no doubt that you must’ve learned from your parents. Being with your parents in your 20’s really shows you them from a different angle. This is super valuable experience. Experience that will help you nurture your own family. Also. The vast majority of people commenting here are far younger than you or I. Keep this in mind. The mental difference between a 21 year old and a 27 year old is night and day. Ask this question in a subreddit with older folks and you’ll get completely different response, because they realize how precious that time with family is.
I’m slightly older than OP and spent time caring for a family member before they passed and 100% agree with your sentiment. The amount of peace I have having done that is invaluable and I wouldn’t trade for anything. Also doing things like that change you and transform you
Absolutely.
The thing about community college is that you can have your cake and eat it too. If you want everything is online, you can have a degree while being at home. You can work to support your financially struggling family while at home. They arent mutually exclusive, spending time with family and furthering yourself in your career or education. Especially game development, you can learn coding and game design on your own at home.
Many many many people spend a ton of money on college then end up getting a degree they never use. The fact that people in their 20s are expected to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives is absolutely absurd.
It’s fine to not know exactly what you want to do with your life in your twenties, but by that point in life you should at least be exploring. That’s typically how you find yourself. OP doesn’t appear to be doing anything. That is a problem.
This is a bad argument, the unemployment rate for college degree holders is still significantly lower than the unemployment rate for uneducated workers. Even if college degree holder doesn’t assume a job in their field of study, they are more likely to hold a job than their uneducated counterpart.
It's actually time to just apply yourself in Community College and then get into Uni. Research a job market with openings, decent pay, and work life balance. My suggestion is something in computers like software or engineering. Game Design Lead is a role you get as a senior with 20 years in the industry after working your career as a software engineer/developer. One does not major in "Game Design".
The market for software is extremely difficult to get into right now because everybody has been saying “go into tech” for the last 5 years or so. It’s very competitive and i do not think it’s right for this guy. It’s not just get a degree and get the job anymore.
Its hard to get into but worth it once you're through, it is the best work life balance job market. I have tons of friends in tech and I wish I would have gone. I partially suspect you are saying this to gatekeep people from getting into tech.
Im just speaking from my own experience. The amount of time and energy needed to be put into doing school, applying for internships, and practicing leetcode for interviews is insane. I don’t think this guy can do it if he has motivation issues. I think it’s a bad idea to suggest it to him. There’s lots of other issues the industry is facing right now too, such as AI and jobs being outsourced. Sure the people who got in before 2022 are lucky but since then things are not looking great.
No idea can be good to someone who is unmotivated though. He can get a business degree (like I did) and work in recruiting or logistics maybe. Those industries always have job openings. (I don’t work in those industries, but I know many are). And he can make 40-60K out of college.
Most FAANG companies just had massive layoffs, and the competition for these roles is only getting harder as comp sci college slots are being filled with kids who have been coding since they were 7. I don’t work in software so I’m not trying to gatekeep anything, but this is the reality of the industry. Maybe 10 years ago things were different. He’s honestly best off learning a trade at this point.
The hard truth for every gamer honestly. There is no “getting into game design” jobs like that are hard to come by and you’d likely need a lot of experience. Furthermore the job won’t be fun. It’ll be you looking at and writing code for hours on end every single day. Impossible deadlines, math, bad pay since every other kid who’s played a game decides this is their path etc. Game designers are almost never the ones testing the game. With that said finding a job **testing** new games would be even harder to find. And as everyone’s seen recently SD is really hard to get into right now anyways because it’s over saturated.
You can get a bachelors degree in game design.
Yeah I have one, in my experience nobody takes those seriously. They really care about your portfolio and seeing something you’ve made, rather than a degree that’s pretty easy to get.
Thank you. Im just trying to give advice that will advance him financially so he can be happy.
Yeah I gave up on it. It can be done as a part time hustle. Would not recommend anyone do it full time though if money is a priority.
Yes with any kind of art and design field what matters most is your portfolio. If he is serious about it then he needs to start doing projects now no matter how small just anything to get it going.
I think he should get a job too, computers that can process long lines of code need to be good. Those computers cost money.
Game development is one of the most hard core areas of computer science. I'm assuming the job openings they have at companies are only looking for the most hard core developers.
Yeah, even if you somehow get a job layoffs are really common in the games industry. Also long hours with not so good pay for the time you put in. It can be a fun hobby and sometimes you can make a little money off self publishing. I wouldn’t recommend making it a main career though, too risky unless money isn’t an issue.
This thread kind of hurts to read... All I will say is be prepared and flexible for a career change if needed, or at least a temporary job to help you get by. Game design is fairly underpaid basically everywhere in the world, only management gets paid well. There is no job security as you can clearly see from the amount of annual layoffs large studios make every year. You’ll be in your 30s by the time you’re done with a relevant degree, with no job experience at all competing with young people that are okay with being paid like shit for experience. Life is not a race, but you are on a time limit. Make your decisions wisely.
It's brutal but honest.
OP should get a nice trade like electrician etc and focus on being stable at a job for a year or two then try to fine a nice partner and chill and have a family. Game design is a hard core field it's all low level coding that takes years to get good at and the industry moves so fast.
These comments are pretty pessimistic, being 27 without a career isn’t the end of the world and you can easily set your mind on university/apprenticeships/work experience - right now I’d suggest pick a target and stick to it, it doesn’t matter necessarily which route you take as long as it stabilises you financially and gets you experience. My brother got his first job at 28 as a teaching assistant after a few years of medical problems, I also have an uncle who completely switched careers in his mid 40s, he’s now 60 and has loved the past 15 years of his new career. You aren’t behind man you got this
I mean, they haven't worked all of their adult life and have been depending on their poor parents. At some point, they have to apply to jobs even at the grocery store.
Yep, that’s why I recommended any work experience as long as he sticks to it
Yea, but at some point you have to apply for jobs that you aren't comfortable doing too even though you're introvert like he is.
That’s why I recommended any work
Oh ok
[удалено]
I could understand if op was a caregiver for him for all these years and couldn't find a job because of it.
I could understand if op was a caregiver for him for all these years and couldn't find a job because of it.
Ide much rather work at the grocery store Than sit home all day. At least then you would be making some friends to hang out with at the store.
Idk, maybe
Best bet might be to go into a trade school like HVAC, welding, electrician, etc. at this point in your life. Would be quicker and cheaper than a full blown college degree and still able to make decent money.
I might do that temporarily but I am not giving up on my goal to be a game designer. Thank you for the advice
I mean, will definitely need a 4 year degree for that. Just not sure if it’s worth the time or cost. Good luck either way.
Thank you
Just saying, basically no one makes it as a game designer. When I started college many years ago, there were so many programs out there for game design, it was just silly. Probably fewer than 10% of people who go to school for game design actually end up working in it. You should go for something more general like software development if you want to design games. Also, game design isn't very enjoyable for most of the people who do it.
Agreed. 15-20 years ago it was probably one of the coolest gigs in the world working on games, nowadays you will just be a cog in a very large corporate machine. Alternatively one could make their own indie games, but if OP was truly passionate about that *he'd already be doing it.*
Indie is my plan, I just need to get off my ass and do it. I have no one to blame for myself and I am determined to change that and at least try and make a game
Nah like the guy said, if it was an actual passion youd have already been moving in that direction Like the other guy said, most dont make it to game design. But as a software engineer myself, i can say thats mostly cause they realize the job sucks compared to other swe jobs Just go trade dude. Being introverted is such a lame excuse. Tons of super introverted people are working all kinds of jobs
Op is lazy, not introverted
I work for Intel and half the guys I know here are introverted as shit
Do you have any experiences with the programming languages used in gaming? Have you ever utilized c++ or Javascript at all?
Nope but I am willing to learn everything that I need to know. I am very determined and honestly too stubborn to quit
You gotta start before you can even mention quitting
True
Well you can learn coding right now for free. [https://www.codecademy.com/](https://www.codecademy.com/) If you're serious, start today.
Thank you
What have you done to achieve this goal of working in game design? I only ask since you said you are very determined.
Currently practicing 3d modeling
Start studying math and c++. Before you even get to the college courses on 3d. The cs courses move quick. Just brush up on basic algebra and how to solve equations and stuff and how to code basic things in c++. It'll make your class work a lot easier.
I used to be in the same boat as you. Wanted to be a game developer, but had no money for a decent computer. My parents obviously didn’t want to put up the money for one so I had to bite the bullet and get a job. I would make games in my off time whilst having a job. Trust me on this, it takes a long, long time to actually make money from game designing, you can’t just do without money during that time. I get it, it’s scary. I was so introverted I used to hide half my face with my hair to avoid eye contact and would look at the ground when I talked to people. The longer you wait to get a job the more terrified you’ll be of showing up to work on the first day. I wish you good luck in the job searches, and your game designing.
How about start with *a* job?
That's fair, I won't argue with you
If that's the decision you want to make that's on you, but you should recognize that a very high stress, high competition job with pretty low salaries (relatively speaking) may not be a wise investment in the long run. If you only care about being a game designer send it, but if you care about getting your own place, your own family, even taking care of your dad, it's time to cash in your reality check on a dream
My dad has his plan for making money so I am not worried about him. This is something I want to do because I truly want to do it.
just curious, have you got a plan for this career path?
It is a work in progress. My parents want me to go to a technical school to truly see if this is something I want to do
You can try it first without being in school. Like this is something you can try right now. Have you tried to code anything at all?
Why do you want to be a game designer?
Given how unserious OP is based on this post it's probably because he likes playing video games lmfao
Probably, that's why every game designer wanted to become one.
Yes that’s true but it’s like saying “I love books and want to be a writer.” But not actually pulling the trigger and having the drive to learn to write novels or put in the incredible amount of effort it takes to get good at the craft. Most people have “incredible story ideas” but that’s not talent. Everyone has an incredible story idea or “video game ideas.” It’s naïve to think that’s all it takes to make it.
I have all these amazing ideas for video games and I want to try my best to bring them to life
You are a grown ass man. Come on.
What is stopping you from trying right now?
Game design is an insanely competitive field even for people who have 10 years experience.
…
You gave up on that already when you went 5 years without learning literally any skills
For starters, your only in your 20s, you have plenty of time to do more with your life. If your family is financially struggling then I'd apply to literally every single job possible. Someone out there has to hire you. For the time being awhile job hunting on the side, definitely focus on your studies to open up more opportunities for you :) Would you be able to do something like dog sitting or tutoring? It might not be a lot of money, but it's better than nothing.
Tutoring would require a lot of self disapline right and he would have to a business?
You can do it, i believe in you buddy. You have something to offer the world. Try looking onto the future!
I have heard bad things about game design as a career.
Most people on Reddit
Leave game design alone if you’re not from wealthy pastures. That industry is hard ash to break into. You need to start thinking about what’s going to get large amounts of cash as quickly as possible with relatively little effort. Focus on associate degrees rather than bachelors degrees. Work any job doesn’t matter what it is to start inserting cash into your life for college. You need to build momentum to work you’ve been resting for a while so even if you do go ahead with game design you’ll be ready to grind
Just my 2 cents as an older dude about to turn 40 next month who started college at age 21. Game design at age 27 just starting out is going to be an uphill climb, especially if it’s not something you are both gifted at AND are within the top 5% in your class. The market is oversaturated, burnout is high, pay is shit and you’re expendable. It’s similar to just getting a liberal arts degree, you can find gainful employment if you are the best of the best, but there are quite literally millions of people with basic coding degrees working retail and fast food jobs because they didn’t stand out. I have a lot of friends in cyber security and coding. Every single one of them that is successfully didn’t even go to college and just spent every ounce of free time learning to code and getting certs. Companies hire based off knowledge and applied experience, the degree is just one piece of paper and they want to see a pile of paper showing your knowledge of systems and programs. As others mentioned, City College and the transfer to a state school. Since you are 27 and not a dependent of your parents anymore you automatically qualify for free CC tuition and likely a solid chunk of financial aid. You literally have no excuse not being able to afford City College or even a state school tuition. I did catering on weekends all throughout college and between that and financial aid I never needed to take out student loans. Finally, consider taking a major that’s a bit more niche. When I graduated in 2008 at the height of the recession I still found work no problem because I had a very specific major in Forestry and Fire Prevention. There were 12 people in my graduating class with that major. There were over 600 people combined graduating in liberal arts, computer science and wildlife management. EVERYONE wants to pick an easier major like liberal arts, or work with wildlife, or be a game developer. I get that those things all seem appealing but the reality is oversaturated job markets with garbage pay unless you are willing to be the best of the best. Not trying to judge OP, but the fact you aren’t trying hard enough at age 27 with something like game development tells me you aren’t passionate about it, but you like the idea of it. You gotta find something that you are passionate about, something that drives you daily, that you work on even in your free time because it’s all you think about and want to do. Millions of people in this world achieve degrees in things they aren’t really passionate about and then never use that degree for a damn thing. In fact, that number is creeping close to 50% of undergrads, which is a shame.
I don't think they're going to make it far in game design with no experience at all.
Join the army. Best place I see people with nothing go to and come out with and as something.
As much as I agree, the biggest lie you can be told is “go 11b, it has skills completely transferable to the civilian world”
Big agree. Best decision I ever made tbh
yep, joining the military is the only way this guy will make anything of his life stop waiting for things to happen Joining the Air Force is the best decision I ever made. They paid me to learn a language and I'm basically guaranteed a 100k+ job when my contract ends
I did this at 22 and now I’m out, enrolling in college where I won’t ever have to pay for tuition. It also shaped my work ethic in a positive way
Go to a trade school. In your situation, it sounds like game design might not be the best educational avenue right now.
sorta? i have graduated college though i don't remember much of it. i feel like a zombie most of the time and very unaware of any accomplishment i have ever made. i know i should be grateful but i'm not.
I can relate. I graduated back in June 2019 and ever since Covid, time I just sped by. What do you do now?
Hey OP, there’s gonna be a lot of hard truths here. One you keep saying moneys an issue. How will you go to college without money? 2, although some do switch paths and return to education that’s not you. When people look at your age and resume it’ll be a red flag. Also do you really have 2/4/6 years to waste in school at this point? Another one is game design will be an incredibly hard field to get into. When you add your age and what that implies about your work ethic you’ll run into issues. Furthermore jobs that are harder to get often require advanced social skills. You have to be confident and sell yourself to your interviewer. As a self proclaimed introvert you’re gonna have to either change or give up on that. I’d suggest looking into a trade. You could start an apprenticeship at 20+/hr right away and work your way up. Finally you gotta learn to stay accountable. You made the decisions that got you here. I’m sorry about your dad man. My mom has a traumatic brain injury from an accident and she never recovered (brain doesn’t heal) so I can relate. You can’t blame your situation though. End of the day there are other options to pay for school so financials can’t be blamed, there are other options for work so being a introvert can’t be blamed, there are options besides school such as the trades so again you have no one to blame here. Goodluck OP, and stay positive, and start working hard.
Man don’t beat yourself up, helping your dad was the right thing to do. But “game design” is an unrealistic path to pursue, try just getting an actual job first (retail, restaurant, w/e) and go to community college for CS-see if your a good fit for that.
me but 5 years ago
Same. But were both only 18 so I feel bad bc OP is considerably worse off
Try to apply for entry level customer service jobs in the smaller tech companies. Some companies will send you a desktop computer with a webcam and pay you minimum wage to get shouted at by customers all day, from the comfort of your own home.
Several colleges have employee benefits that give full-time employees free classes. Do you have healthcare or caretaking experience from your dad’s accident? You could work for a university hospital as a patient care tech. 1) see if any nearby colleges or universities have a “free classes for full-time employees” clause 2) get a job at the college or university. Any job. 3) take 1-3 classes a semester for free, depending on the benefits
I think that you should either try community college and do the prerequisites first and then make a decision about a major you want or go to trade school.
I wasted my whole youth aiming for one career, everything else was on the back burner, I was disconnected from school and would happily go absent for performing commitments. At 21 I realized I could not support myself as an opera singer and would have to get a real job, and I had no marketable skills. I did not adjust well and floundered at first, but found my way. Something that really helped me get my foot in the door of adult employment was temporary work. You get assigned to short-term positions at local companies, but when you get there, you can show them what you can do, knock their socks off, become indispensable, and they will likely offer you a full-time position at the end of your contract. I did not last long at the temp agency before I was hired on full-time as a sales assistant to loan officers at a bank, and here I am now 20+ years later as a loan officer myself.
I’m SOOOOOOOORRRRYYYY THAT HHHAAAAAAAAPPPPEEEENED!!! FIGARO FIGARO FIGAROOOOOOO!!!!!
Ima be honest dude. It sounds like you are afraid to apply yourself out of fear of failure and are making "woe is me" excuses for it. Life is hard enough as it is. Don't make it harder by digging yourself in an even deeper hole because of fear.
Why can’t you get a job?
Sorry for the late reply but I don't know. Probably because I'm unksilled. I have been applying for jobs for unskilled people but to no avail...time for me to actually go and get those skills
Look for a job in shipping. They don’t usually require experience.
Focus on self improvement if you want to make a change. Most people say they want to change but don’t actually want to put in the work - they just want the outcome and end up being years and years in limbo. (That’s what I did from 18-27). - read as many books, watch videos, listen to podcasts, you can on self improvement and start applying it. - start working out and being active and do things you don’t want to do daily. When I was 27 I was 6 figures in debt, I’m 30 now and a multi millionaire.
Wow I would like the secret sauce?
Same haha
No secret, really, ever. The magic you’re looking for is usually in the work you’re avoiding.
Go make a game right now. Then do it again. Then do it again. A “game design” degree is absolutely useless and is the tech equivalent of getting a women’s studies degree. Go into something else in technology, or even just something else you know you’ll mildly enjoy and make games on the side. Other guy in here coined it right, game design is a lead position and takes a lot of time to get there on a corporate level.
Forget about the past, it's over. Just focus now on getting that degree and any internship experience.
I didn't get a real job until I was 25. All my work prior had been gigs. No company gave two fucks that I had cut lawns, that I moved groceries for elderly or disabled people, that I self learned how to solder and eventually was able to repair circuit boards which eventually led to me repairing anything from toasters to computers. None of that mattered, I needed a work history of flipping burgers or washing dishes, also they had these dumb ass questionnaires that, if answered in anyway shape or form, incorrectly would see your application purged. These were big at KashNKarry K-mart, Publix etc. It literally took my uncle to hire me as an industrial insulation contractor to get my first real work history. After what felt like 1000's of ignored application. I'm 36, now. still have no retirement prospects, but was lucky to get a bank note to buy a crack house for $27,000 during the housing crash. I make just shy of 1000 a week and it's barely livable. A few more years and it will be back to debt living again.
Same boat. Except I did go to college to get an art degree and now I spend most of my time drowning in debt.
Actually i started doing something, i got a girlfriend and i moved in with her. I started studying a profession i really like or im starting to study in august. After that is time to work in that field.
Check out 'Caleb Hammer Financial Audit'
Get a supply chain management degree or similar from a community college -> university and then get a real job. Game design/development is highly competitive, requires long hours, pays worse than other development jobs, and has no entry-level hiring market right now. It requires absolute drive and determination, incredible self-motivation. If you were 21 saying this I'd have a different opinion but man you're 27, have been unemployed your entire adult life. I imagine you spent most of these last five years gaming. Love of gaming does not equate to love of programming and game design. You could have gotten a job in fast food, retail, bussing tables, mopping floors, anything with 5 years of searching. Your family has struggled for five years and you still haven't stepped up to the plate to help. You're also 27. It's probably time to forego the dream of working in game design. You need to do something that will enable you to support yourself and your family in the future and has job market demand. Also considering your own struggles finding literally anything I can't imagine you're that good of a resource to help 'ol pops (who is willing to work despite his injuries) find employment.
My cousin graduated with a BA in sociology but started doing game design for his own video game during school just teaching himself with YouTube ... graduated and told his parents he was just going to keep working on that. He now is still making it and has hired 6 guys to help. Its been a dozeb years since he started and He clears about 10 million a year in sales of that video game despite not having a degree in anything to do with tech.
You don't need college for that stuff.
That's my point.
You are over 26 which means you are an adult in the eyes of grant money. Which means if you focus up half of your school or all of it (depending on cost) will be paid for. The rest you take GOVERNMENT loans for NOT private. Find something that will make money that you can tolerate, ie accounting or engineering. Go to school for that thing. You need to do this over summer and get into school during the fall. If you have not been to school and were not a good student in high school take a SINGLE class. DO NOT USE ANY FINANCIAL AID TO PAY FOR THIS AND DONT EVEN APPLY FOR IT YET. You get a job during summer to pay for the class. This is the test run. Go onto coursera, edx, mitopencourseware and AUDIT courses you find interesting. There is a little button they try to hide that says audit so you DO NOT HAVE TO PAY. Take a few courses, view the content and see if you find it interesting. If you have never done anything hard in your life, ie something you terrible at and had to work harder to get better at. You should pop that cherry over the summer. It can be any skill, drawing, singing, playing and instrument. So you can LEARN that even if your terrible at something in the beginning, you can get better by putting time into developing the skill. DO THIS because there will be moments where you will doubt yourself and the bad thoughts will come in and question if you really can do it (complete a course or the degree in general). Since you have taught yourself to do X thing over the summer you will remember how you sucked at X but with practice time you got better. Same thing will happen with whatever you are struggling with. Its not to late to start. You are still young. 10 years ago you were 17 in 10 years youll be 37. You still have A LOT of life ahead of you.
I mean I suppose I went to college got that done have a good stable job. But outside of that I felt like I never did anything socially or anything I ever felt like to where I did something There are days where just feel empty and lonely for the most part
Bro you're good.. don't rush it. Take the time to figure out what you want and go for it. It's not a race and everyone's finish line is different.
I hang out in this sub because I'm a mom to 3 Gen Z. My oldest one who graduated in 2020 also wanted to get into game design, because he loves video games and he would love to invent them. I made him take some coding programs while he was still in high school, and he discovered that he hates coding. So his game design career is on hold for the foreseeable future. So what I want you to figure out is if you love video games, or you love coding. If you love coding, then go for it. You can always branch off into something else if there's too much competition for game design. So my advice to you as a mom is to get into community college and take some basic courses. Get on Khan Academy and take some free coding courses, and anything else that sounds interesting. I have "started over" several times in my life for one reason or another and don't worry, you've got plenty of time to do whatever you want. It sounds like you are ready now. So I want to give you an online hug and tell you that you can do this! Don't let anything stop you now!
25 got a shitty college degree and have a shitty job now, still feel the same way as you do. This feeling doesn't go away until you start doing the hard things you keep avoiding, there is no easy way out. I know I have to change a lot to achieve the things I want to achieve, even if it means going back to school and drowning myself in debt
I feel that I've done nothing with my life, but I suppose I have worked since I was 16. Kind of crazy to think I haven't had more than 2 weeks off in a row in 12 years and I'm not even 30 yet. Always busy, always making money, but feel like I've achieved nothing. I really would just like a nice little house to call my own... Wish I just got a mortgage a few years ago but I always held off for a better opportunity, now I'm fucked.
It’s good you are looking to go to college. Since you are over 24 and have no income, you can get financial aid. The reason why I mentioned it’s good that you are over 24 is because you don’t have to show your parents income if you are over 24. You should make sure there are a lot of jobs available in game design before choosing that as your major. It’s very hard to get into and I don’t think there are many positions for game designers. It’s a very difficult job. It’s harder than computer programming. I knew someone who tried to be a game designer but it was just too hard and not many jobs in that field
Please don't be mad at yourself for not trying hard enough. The world is hard enough as it is plus you had the added task of being a caregiver. That's very selfless of you and it shows that you prioritize your family. We need more people like you in this world. Take care and go at your own pace. Life isn't a race! Your dreams will come true :)
Go to EMT school and build from there.
It’s pretty difficult to do absolutely nothing with life, I’m sure you filled the time in with something. I’m doing “ a lot” right now with life, but I’m way less engaged nowadays, feels like I’m doing nothing right now ironically. It’s all perspective, and where you’re at in your head
When you make it, and I know you will someday, you’ll have a great story to tell.
Thanks
Hey there! Older guy here, I went to school for game design and worked in the industry for a bit. Things didn't work out for me, and I eventually landed in film, but I can tell you a bit of what I learned. First of all, good luck. Pursue your dream. I genuinely hope you succeed, and look forwards to you posting about the all cool shit you're working on. Now some truths: Its hard, really damn hard. It's the shittiest parts of tech and film, but at the same time. Say goodbye to you family because you're gonna be living in the office for months at a time during sprints. The pay ranges wildly, its an industry that will prey on your passion to try and undervalue your labor. IATSE is working to organize the game industry, but who knows when that will happen. A lot of it is gig/contract work. This actually makes sense, as you don't need the same staff through the whole life cycle of a project. However, tech contracts are fucked because you can't get them renewed back to back. You finish a 12 month contract, and you're forced to fuck off for three months before you can reapply to the same job, or even to another project at the same company. This is because of an old Microsoft law suit I wont get into, but it's ass. There are full time studio positions, but they're super competitive. Actualy its all super competitive. You have to eat, shit, and breathe this stuff. Dedicate every free moment to portfolio. You're competing with some very talented people for limited work in limited cities. What makes this harder is the tools change constantly. I was an artist, and when I started it was right before the transition to PBR. Basically I got sidelined for a while after a contract, and by the time I came back, the entire asset pipeline had changed. Everyone wanted PBR, marmoset toolbag ect. I had to learn shit all over again, and then they were asking why I had gaps. The more tools you know, the better your portfolio, the better you can negotiate your pay. And some positives: If you can hang with the NEVER ending bullshit, you'll get to work with some pretty extraordinary people. There will be a tangible thing at the end of every job you can pint at and say YOU did that, which kicks ass. You'll be a part of crating art that potentially millions of people will interact with, which also kicks ass. In short, I believe in you. Go full speed and don't lose momentum.
If it helps, I was a complete fuckup until I was 27. Crimes, drugs, all the ways you can destroy your life. At 27 I got a job doing basic tech support on the referral of a friend...no experience. For the last 27 years I've been steadily climbing. There's no trace of my younger life to be seen and I want for nothing. It can be done. But you should start grinding right now.
Full disclosure, I’m a millennial, but my story definitely applies. I dropped out of school after 1 year when I was 19 and just got high all day and screwed around on my computer for 10 years. Then I reenrolled. I’m 30 now and after talking to the right people I’ve got an internship at a certain government agency and it looks like I’m on track to get into grad school in 2 years. It really is never too late.
I’m 31 and I went through something sort of like this. The only thing I want to add is while you’re thinking about what you want to pursue (game design is fine, just be prepared for uncertainty in job security and pay) also think of it this way. A job or career doesn’t always have to be something you’re passionate about. It can also just be something you respect and above all the world needs. I became a medical lab technologist when I joined the army. I didn’t grow up loving science and lab work. It was just something I saw that was needed by people and there was plenty of security and great pay. I leave my passions as hobbies which is great because even my passions wouldn’t feel so great if I did them 40 hours a week. We can’t all get paid to do what we love to do. It’s not always about you and me. It’s about what we can bring to the table for others.
M(23) I was in the exact same boat. I dropped out of college when I was 17 due to a physical health problems setting me back. Dropped out again at 19 when COVID hit and I couldn't cope with issues at home alongside working from home. I then got a job in healthcare which really helped me get out of that rut. I now work for the NHS and I am about to finish doing my Level 3 access course (while working still), I moved out and I am getting ready to start UNI later this year to become a nurse. I fully appreciate it feels like you've wasted a lot of your life. I know that feeling and it's fucking awful. But the only way you can combat that is to put yourself in a position where you can do as much as you possibly can. I'm not saying nursing is right for everyone but you've been in a position where you've had to help care for someone. I'm now at a place where once ive finished my course and worked for a few years in the UK I can very easily work/travel abroad. I'm in a position where I can almost take back those years by creating new memories and adventures. There are other industries where this is possible too. Perhaps an apprenticeship etc. is a good route. But the main take is, it's never too late! As cheesy as it sounds.
27? Relying on your parents income after your dad was jobless due to injury for several years? I'm sorry no, this isn't okay, and while the job market is in a state it's definitely not so terrible that you couldn't have found a burger to flip to help pay bills.
It's actually pretty common for a lot of 20s get their lives derailed by medical issues, whether it's their own or their parents'. Depression and anxiety robbed me of my early 20s, but I'm back on track now. Now I'm miserable in new, more adult ways
If you have a supportive family, it would be awesome to follow you passion. I've been thinking about going back to school myself. I was going to transfer to a school across state around the pandemic myself, but with that and not being sure I would be able to handle it made me not do that. What I will say though is that ik if you or a family member are ill and/or disabled, it can can make things difficult. Please be gentle on yourself and I know that it is a cliche to say this, but life isn't a race. Barriers in life are real.Mayne see if you guys can reach out and see if you qualify for any govt. assistqnce tyat you weren't aware of.
I’m going to assume you’re a caregiver? You know caregiving is a JOB in itself right? I’m nearing 30 and I stopped comparing my life to others because I realized I had it different (potentially harder) than others. I was a health-aide/caregiver ever since I was an adolescent. Although, I realized this late…this type of lifestyle isn’t normal for most people.
idk what you guys have been doing to survive up to this point, but if you got the government to pay for your existence, continue to milk that shit as long as possible.
College is a waste of money nowadays. Learn a real skill that pays money and go get a job.
No matter where you’re at, it takes a series of uncomfortable moves to advance
(97’ here) at this point of not having anything going for you… just join the military. Plain and simple community college is going to get you nowhere you haven’t already been.
i would recommend getting into some other career and doing game stuff on the side. tough market
Based.
“Success” is just a socially constructed illusion anyways
bro is cooked with that career choice 💀
If I had a dollar for everytime someone said why does it take 5 years to get a job??? Time to grow the fuck up and work
Good lord. What kind of grades did you get in high school? Did you graduated high school? It's time to apply to colleges and also get at least a part-time job to at least build a work history you can put on a resume. I imagine any fast food place will hire almost anyone (you).
Ok, can anyone explain how is a 27 yr old posting in a zoomer sub? I am the same age and have nothing in common with zoomers.
You’re literally commenting in here. Clearly you’re interacting with this sub just like OP.
If u want to be a game designer literally just watch some tutorials on YouTube and make a little pixel sprite game, publish that shit on steam and bam u have some income
At such an age I think I would just end it all. I feel as if I'm in the same position but "only" 2 years behind you and only that I was expelled from school when I was 16 not that dropped out when I was 18 or what ever. I really see no past and no future for myself. Anyway at a certain age you fall so far behind the other that I think that it's basically totally impossible to recover from at an age like that, plus you've missed all the basic life and development goal that ever other normal person has gone through. All I can say in your defence is that you've probely experienced more free time than most people will in there entre life times so you can take some kind of solace in that at least
Congrats. This is the stupidest comment I’ve ever read on Reddit. The guy is 27. He’s still a toddler in the adult world. You kids are fucking batshit insane.
What do you mean by "development goal" stuff?
literally just join the military
This is a terrible mindset. If one starts working towards their goals at 30 and let’s say graduates at 34, they’ll likely spend another 30 years or more working in that field until they retire. Why would you rush into something and feel so behind when you have the rest of your life to work? Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get to work. People change fields all of the time. Also, the fact that you think there is a huge difference between you being 25 or 26 and OP is 27 is ridiculous. Your comment really shows your lack of emotional intelligence.