Looking for advice as a technical artist focused in VR

jd3d

Hello, I recently left my position as a technical artist at a video game studio startup in the San Francisco bay area, which I helped start over 5 years ago. I started as a character rigger, but quickly expanded to learning C# and Unity and implementing cutscenes, UI/UX, and handling the asset pipeline from the art team to the programming team. I have developed tools in Python and C# to automate many of the process of getting character animation from Maya and setup in Unity. I became the go to person 'to figure x problem' as the engineering team was already quite busy with work. I was handling contract work the company picked up, usually by myself, communicating directly with the clients to meet their goals. I have a mobile game and 3 VR titles under my belt.
I list this all off as I have been searching for a new job for a 4 months now and feel I meet most of the requirements on job listing, but it seems like a tech artist needs to know an evener broader range of skills than I have currently. The biggest area I found that I lack in is shader code and VFX. Should I deep dive into shader code and VFX, to show I can do it, and boost my appeal to employers or continue to focus on what I already know and keep applying. I am currently looking for VR and video game work in the Seattle area and starting to network up there.

Any advice would be appreciated,
JD

PixelMasher

you kinda already answered your own question. Your current skillset isnt getting a overwhelming reaction, so some new skills/gainz are probably required. Find tech artists at studios you are interested in working at via linkedin and send them a DM/PM and ask what their technical team specializes in and then start crushing those skills. then you also have a point of contact and the opportunity to build a relationship with those people too.

You could also develop useful tools/plugins for artists like how adnan chaumette built some super useful stuff and is probably making a decent income via side hustling and got snapped up for a job at Quixel.

on the upside, I think vr is gonna be huge in the next 3-5 years so your experience in that field will definitley come in handy, it just hasnt "arrived" yet. but it will, and its going to really shake up the industry. hope this helps

jd3d

Thanks for the advice! I will focus on the new skills I see I need to catch recruiters' attention. The waiting game is always the 'fun' part.