Technical artists, how do you grow into senior roles?

bitinn

Hi all,

After switching from non-game programming roles into video game development, I have filled many different roles, and eventually settled on technical artists, skills like:

- Shader programming.
- Substance designer texture creation.
- Making small tools to bridge gaps between DCC and game engine.
- Using profiler, frame debugger, Intel GPA, Xcode to optimize performance.
- Worked on Unity render pipeline as well.

These are things I do well and enjoy.

But my dream job (perhaps dream job of many), is to someday, produce a game, as a creative director, game producer or studio head.

I think the reason I have grown into a technical artist role, is that I enjoy making indie games myself: making games alone, or with a small team, will eventually push you towards these skills, out of necessity.

So I do have experience in game design, gameplay programming, modeling and texturing etc., but probably not as much as someone dedicating their time full-time.

Yet my observation suggests: game designers are far more likely to become game producer and studio head than technical artists.

This is not a dig at game designers at all, just an observation, that designers handles more human-centric issues, and worried less about implementing technical details. (TA do need to communicate issues and bridge gaps between teams, just not sure it's the same skillset).

So my questions:

- How do you grow beyond your role in a large studio? (Besides leaving and joining smaller teams.)

- What's a common career path for TA? (Are they mostly technical? Do people eventually lead a project?)

- Does knowing the entire production pipeline (from graphics, to art, to code), really help me to "produce a game"? (It certainly help "making a game myself", but to produce a game or lead a studio requires a lot of soft skills and connections, I am not sure how TA build toward it, perhaps through Team Lead roles?)

- Should I be worried about my career path? (I am in my early 30s, with 8 years of experience in tech and leading small teams at startups, so certainly not very young.)

Thx,

David

bitinn

Hey all, I know this looks like a newbie question, but I truly can't find much info on how technical artists progress in their career, some pointers would help a lot.

AFAIK, many appear to follow this path: TA -> Senior TA -> Lead TA -> Tech Director

What if I am a more rounded person? Is that a bad trait in a large studio?

oglu

That is something that does only come over time. You get senior if you are in a studio and survive there some years.
Some Artits are made to become Leads some not.

And with survive i dont mean hard working conditions.
Its something to make great Art or TD work and something totaly different to Lead.
Sitting in endless meetings and still be friendly to coworkers. Help them and force them.
Not an easy task and for me not a rewarding task. Id like to create stuff myself.

Alex_J

I can't say much about leadership in the 3d world.

In the army, I learned leadership the same way you learn anything. Trial and error. You can sum it up simply as finding a way to get people to do things they don't want to do. Many ways to accomplish that, but typically aiming to inspire through example is the most efficient way. You can be a mean bastard too which may seem easier but it tends to backfire at times. And if you are grumpy all the time it eats away at you.

But you can't really be nice either though. Especially with young men, being nice will get taken advantage of quickly. I wouldn't ever recommend basing your leadership style on being nice. You have two jobs: one is to accomplish the mission. Two is take care of the team. Neither of those jobs have anything to do with being mister candy man, and it is a very serious job to be in charge so don't let people see you take it lightly.

It's a balancing act. And then every individual has their own needs. Some guys you may shame in public once and then they get straight and give you the respect, other guys that would make them your enemy forever. You gotta talk to them alone and do everything to help them maintain their image. Some people are easy, others a continual issue. I think in the corporate world, people who are issues can simply be fired. In the army you just got to deal with them. The most important thing, I think, is to always treat everybody like family. Doesn't mean you  aren't harsh or that you even have to like everybody, but it means that you need to make it clear that no matter what, you got their backs in the end. When people get a sense about this your job will be much easier.

You can just say it, too. "Yo dawg. I got your back. You need anything, call me first."  Say it every day, hammer it in. And at some point an opportunity will arise for you to demonstrate that you put the team first. Don't miss it.

If you are introverted or whatever, that is something you have to get over. I am introverted the same as most people here. When I was in high school I was so awkward I'd' walk with my arms stiff at my side because I was hyper-conscious about how I swung them. But if there is shit to be done and nobody is doing it, you just got to overcome your issues and get loud. Once you do it once, it becomes easier. Next thing you know, you can flip the switch on introversion/gregariousness just like that.

One important principle to keep in mind: Your job is not to change people. It is to change yourself so that you can communicate with all the people effectively. So if you feel like you are hammering at nails that just keep bending, you are probably not doing it right.

There is much you can read about leadership. But the best thing to do is practice. Maybe you can join a local sports club or something -- put yourself in some type of environment where you can find opportunities to take initiative to accomplish some kind of challenge in a team environment. The leader doesn't have to always be the best and smartest, but they have to be the one who never loses sight of the big goal and never hesitates to go first when there is uncertainty.

In my very short experience making games, I find that people do need a lot of emotional management when it comes to creative work. They need somebody who is laser-focused on the goal to consistently reaffirm them of the larger goals. I think the reason is because when you got your nose in complex technical work all day, and then you just naturally get fatigued, it's perfectly normal to lose track of the bigger picture and your body starts wanting to quit on you. It's definitely not normal or healthy to slouch over a keyboard all day.

Probably the more professional workers understand this and do the basic adult things to manage their own fatigue, but I'm sure you'll run across plenty of people who keep dropping the ball because they cacn't go to sleep on time, or are just generally a bit lazy. The most powerful thing is always a one-on-one conversation. Just be frank, look in the eye, and say what the issue is. Then listen. If that doesn't work, you may have a problem child.

Eric Chadwick

Mentor with a leader you admire. Take management courses. Get a business degree. 

Different skills than hands-on technical content creation. 

If you want it, pursue it with the same passion you applied towards your tech work.

bitinn

Thx all 3 for your inputs! Anyone else, please keep them coming!

Specific to tech artist work vs management, my anxiety was basically: Should I continue to dedicate most of my time on learning new tech at this point?

I think many in TA role will agree: the knowledge space of TA is growing by the days, keeping taps on tech can be quite exhausting in itself.

While the game creator in me want to learn new tech: I reckon that I need to find a way to show my soft skills. Maybe even try out new positions?

I was too anxious about losing out on my tech skills, if that's a thing at all.

Eric Chadwick

Pursue your dream job. The ones you listed are different skill sets than a technical artist typically has.