Layoff update
Hi Polycount! 
It’s been a while. So a while back I posted about being laid off from my last job as a Lead 3D Artist. I am sure I speak for many people here when I say that I really really dislike the job search.
I interviewed at many of my “Dream” jobs/studios. But unfortunately I never had a chance to get past the filtering stage in the interview process.
Most of the jobs that I got offered either paid laughably too little (think 50% pay cut), or ended up just asking me to manage the outsourcing department.
I feel like I am a world class 3D artist now, but most of the IC (individual contributor) jobs are simply moved out of the US mostly due to outsourcing.
In a few years I’ll be 40 years old… So at this point I’ve settled on the reality that I’ll likely never get a chance to truly work onsite at my “dream studios”...
Eventually I landed on the idea that I am just going to make my own game using AI to fill in for all of the technical gaps like coding. I am 1 year into that journey, my game is on steam now and I am running public playtests and hoping to launch the demo in a few months.
I say all this here because I am actively reading Polycount everyday, and realized I almost never post. So here is my update. I am still making art, it’s just not the kind of workflow I had hoped to be using. I landed here because I simply couldn't land the kind of job I wanted that would actually pay my US living costs. Also, it was a bit embarrassing going through so many interviews where it felt like nobody cared and I was just a number in the process.
I don’t know what’s going on with the game industry, but 2014 felt like a magical time to me as I started my first 3D art job. Now it’s just quite disappointing seeing layoff after layoff from many game studios.
Here is a screenshot of my game:
Here is the link to my steam page for those interested:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4003040/Dino_Card_Hunt/
Replies
I'm heartened somewhat though by knowing there are lots of opportunities for 3D artists if you're willing to branch outside of game development. That's been my personal experience, I haven't worked in gamedev for nine years now, but have managed to stay employed, and do work I personally find interesting and engaging, working with and learning from talented people. So it's actually much the same.
Thanks for the responses everyone!
Thanks Eric!
That's a great point and it’s something I am learning now. On a positive note, I am having a lot more fun now that I get to work on my own things, even though I am making negative money doing it lol…
Zetheros, I still don’t know how bad it is. I just interviewed for a few months and noped out. My experience is not even unique so I don’t need to go into details. I stopped logging into Linkedin 7 months ago because it was just sad seeing so many layoffs in my network.
Jaisheel, my portfolio is in my signature area, click on the text that says “Artstation”. Sorry for the disheartening post. I am hopeful, it’s just going to take some more work for me to make this right.
Thanks sacboi, yea I agree. I am just a bit burnt out from the 2 major layoffs I’ve experienced in my career. I’ve worked at 2 different studios 5 years each (10 years total), and the way management laid off the art team has been the fuel I need to find another way to do what I love.
The game is almost done, by the time it's released it would mean I have spent 2 years working on it 8-10 hours every single day.
It might make $0 and I am fine with that.