Looking to make a career change.. advice anyone?

eXpendabLe

I'm a middle 30's executive working for a non-games industry company. I've worked for this company and it's divisions for almost 14 years now doing everything from creative work (designing children's furniture) to heavy business related tasks such as distribution, contract negotiations, finance, and managing a 12 person sales team. In 2000, I started getting involved in game development mostly from a hobbyist’s point of view. In 2001 the mod I was working on as a level designer was published and I've since continued to make levels for various games/engines. So, I’ve decided it’s time for me to get serious about doing something I know I’d love to do… and that’s to work in the games industry in a business related position most likely. I'd like to think there's a need for someone like myself who comes from a business background who can relate to both the creative and bottom line aspects of the industry. Perhaps some of you could give me an idea of the management/business types of studio positions and what they most entail? I’m not opposed to doing level design, I’d love it.. it’s just that realistically I believe I could offer more to a studio from a business standpoint.

There are quite a few of you out there that I have great respect for and I know would be able to give me some honest advice. I would appreciate any insight, especially from those of you who are industry veterans.

Daz

With some concept of realtime 3D and a business background, sounds like a producer role might work out? Without a solid industry background, I think you're better off looking at the larger studios/companies. They have more roles that tend to be suited to people coming in from other industries.
Are you willing to relocate? I'm not suggesting you work for EA, but If you look at their jobs page for example, it might give you an idea of the kind of roles that are around that are not hands on and thus give you an idea of the job requirements: http://jobs.ea.com/pljb/global_jsp/appli...n=&orderby=

Leech

You might be able to swing a producer job. Odds are stacked against you though because you actually sound competent.

Seriously though, have you thought about recruitment? You get to tell everyone how great the jobs are and fill chairs.

If you've made fun, playable levels - mainly single player levels, you have a good chance of landing a design job.

There are also asset management jobs out there - sort of a specialized producer role tasked with co-ordinating within a a division(art/design/code).

Ideally your skills sound better fitted for a smaller company or startup. They usually have one super biz jack-of-all trades guy. Not to say you couldn't do that for a larger company, but they usually have teams for that. You might want to try hooking up with one of those vc boards out there that link people with startups. This all depends on your financial situation - basically if you want to take a risk.

Feel free to private message me if you want some portfolio advice.

steady

This thread is of much importance to me as well, I am an undergrad student about to graduate with a degree in general business, while doing art with my free time. I don't know if I am good enough to do professional art quite yet but I would like to get a job atleast some what close to where I want to be. Do the big companies hire new graduates fresh out of college? An asset management job doesn't sound to be that bad.

lkraan

I just broke into the game industry as a project manager. Having worked in a corporate culture as a consultant for about 9 years I really wanted a chance and something to do with video games.
As much as I like to make game art as a hobby I couldn't see myself pushing pixels and vertices around all day (besides the pay cut that an artist position brings) so this type of position is a perfect and challenging solution for me.

These type of functions come around every now and then.
Blizzard is looking for a project director...
http://www.blizzard.com/jobopp/project-director.shtml

Paul Jaquays

If you've got a family (spouse, kids, etc.), I would definitely make sure you are all on board with this. It will be a major change.

Level design is definitely a fun creative career if you've got the knack for it, but may be less financially rewarding than your current income level and also less than you could make on the biz guy side of game development.

Many small to mid-size type studios have a serious need for someone to run them as a business. id Software didn't take off financially until Todd Hollenshead took over the biz side. Ensemble Studios has run from the start with solid biz guys running it.

eXpendabLe

Thanks for the responses so far. I'm glad to say my wife is the one who started my push so thankfully she's onboard and ready to relocate if necessary. I'm in a fairly decent financial situation, so a salary cut wouldn't be a problem, and I actually expect it. I noticed that Rainbow Studios is looking for producers and executive producers.. I havent put together a resume in years so what should I be sure to highlight in a resume that would be attractive to a studio? I'm thinking of having a pro resume service help me put it together. Thanks again for the advice.. keep it coming!

Paul Jaquays

Note your experience at Scheduling of people. Management of people. Budget stuff (setting and keeping within).

lkraan

Maybe I was in about the same kind of situation the last years...
I'm early 30's, been with the same corporate company for a decade, want a carreer change to the game industry, family, need a steady and not too low of an income, etc.
I was a bit scared to change industries because it's a pretty drastic change when you've been with the same company for years and besides that the game industry isn't very solid.
I've been working for a game dev company for a bit over 2 months now and it's soooooooo worth it.
A project manager position was perfect for me since it allows me to combine my professional experience with game development.
Besides that I can create some art assets on the side so in the end I can also say when the game is released "I made that!"
Should anything happen I can always fall back on my skills and get a job in a different industry without having "wasted" time in a different industry.
What landed me my project manager job was a resume along with a letter that illustrated my knowledge of game development, love for games and MOD experience.
My resume is pretty corporate but it outlines clearly my business experience and responsibilities. Managing people, operational skills like planning, budgetting, people evaluation (HR stuff), consulting skills, technical modelling skills etc.
I guess the combination of business experience with a love and some knowledge of game development is what made them pick me.
In a way a game development project isn't THAT different from a business development project if you look at the core activities. It's still a group of people with different disciplines which develop things that have a certain dependency on eachother.

eXpendabLe

Excellent. sounds like I'm nearly following in your footsteps Ikraan. The producer/project manager type roles sound perfect for my experience and background.

Do numbers mean much such as the revenues generated by projects I've led.. or would complexity and depth of a project be better to present?

lkraan

I would focus more on complexity and depth of your projects. I would also throw in project duration since game dev projects are fairly long.
Mention experience with or knowledge of risk management since there are so many unforseen things that can go wrong with game dev

Personally I wouldn't mention revenue generated by your projects because it says more about the end result of a project which often isn't the task of the PM but more the "designer". A project that runs over it's deadlines and costs twice as much as budgetted can still have great results. The PM hasn't done a very good job then

oXYnary

This thread gives me hope.

Please keep us updated eXpendable.

Kwramm

Studio manager, Producer role, HR, Account management, Marketing, Department manager are all roles held by more business oriented types. Of course there's less positions available, but they pay is better and the work may be more diverse, and the job may be more secure. You still deal with creative work, you may go to exhibitions, meet clients, check out game prototypes, etc.

Creative positions are often expendable, especially the ones filled by people of anything less than stellar skill (i.e. most of the regular folks who's names you never hear on sites like cgtalk, polycount & co). Plus it takes a lot of work and dedication to become a stellar artist. Or you have advanced technical knowledge such as rigging, animation, dynamics, scripting, etc.

When I look at linkedin resumes people in creative positions usually worked their way up through the trenches, whereas for non-creative managerial roles it's not unusual that they're filled with people outside the games industry.

Skillmister

Kwramm wrote: »

Studio manager, Producer role, HR, Account management, Marketing, Department manager are all roles held by more business oriented types. Of course there's less positions available, but they pay is better and the work may be more diverse, and the job may be more secure. You still deal with creative work, you may go to exhibitions, meet clients, check out game prototypes, etc.

Creative positions are often expendable, especially the ones filled by people of anything less than stellar skill (i.e. most of the regular folks who's names you never hear on sites like cgtalk, polycount & co). Plus it takes a lot of work and dedication to become a stellar artist. Or you have advanced technical knowledge such as rigging, animation, dynamics, scripting, etc.

When I look at linkedin resumes people in creative positions usually worked their way up through the trenches, whereas for non-creative managerial roles it's not unusual that they're filled with people outside the games industry.

7 year bump