#career-chat

1 messages · Page 12 of 1

plucky hatch
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I know I have 2 years of QA experience

ivory echo
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and it pays poorly, tho it might be a good foot in the door

earnest pecan
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how did you manage to watch a 11 hour long video accomplishing nothing?

ivory echo
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it did alot of things, it just didn't accomplish the actual goal of making an RTS

earnest pecan
chilly sundial
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QA and 3D art are some of the hardest roles to fill as im led to believe

plucky hatch
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but they keep asking me trick questions during the interviews

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and I panic

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and I end up getting rejected

granite solar
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Well it seems you know what you need to work on next at least.

plucky hatch
ivory echo
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well most of them are just regurgitating the same questions, so each time you fail, learn how to answer that

earnest pecan
chilly sundial
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thats probably why then. you need to prepare yourself more. do some mock interviews with people if you can

earnest pecan
chilly sundial
plucky hatch
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but the pay is shit tho

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lol

ivory echo
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I've also had chatGPT tell me what kind of questions I should expect, then I took time to answer them and had notes ready (for online interviews)

plucky hatch
granite solar
plucky hatch
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but I know its not true

chilly sundial
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loads of people migrate to it because they don't think it's as traditionally skilled as other roles.
then they get the job and realise their mistake

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idk why theres such a huge misconception that its easy work

earnest pecan
chilly sundial
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those people that break into the industry with that mindset realise that it's not what they thought

earnest pecan
earnest pecan
plucky hatch
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there's also the interview that is a big issue. These recruiters will deny you because you messed up questions due to stress but you could be a good employe

earnest pecan
round radish
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That is almost the literal definition of a lack of critical thinking.

plucky hatch
ivory echo
round radish
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Critical thinking involves examining sources, motivations, etc. If you just believe the guy on youtube, you aren't doing any of that.

earnest pecan
plucky hatch
chilly sundial
earnest pecan
plucky hatch
ivory echo
plucky hatch
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and the people interviwing me looked like they didnt even wanna be there

plucky hatch
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complete dogshit

granite solar
earnest pecan
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what I would do is trust my gut

if whatever is being asked doesn't make sense (to you), then just say that

round radish
ivory echo
earnest pecan
plucky hatch
chilly sundial
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While you may not be able to tell the good from the bad, you can learn to give everything cautious optimism, and not commit it to muscle memory straight away :P.
and look around for other opinions

ivory echo
earnest pecan
granite solar
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Blindly following a youtube creators content as gospel is also not feasible.

ivory echo
round radish
round radish
earnest pecan
granite solar
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If I'm looking to get into say, wielding. Before I follow any one persons advice I'm gonna question "What suggests this person isn't talking out their ass?" I'm not gonna feel confident in learning from a "wielder" that never worked a day as a professional wielder in his life.

earnest pecan
ivory echo
chilly sundial
granite solar
ivory echo
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yeah, I think the initial "instant gratification" from a tutorial that just does what you envision is nice, but then you realize it's better to actually understand wtf is going on

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so it's ok to start there just to get excited by gamedev, but then quickly move on to find actual good resources

earnest pecan
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no clue what's going on

round radish
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All content, in some way, can be helpful. You can learn basics from it, even if they use the basics the wrong way.

earnest pecan
round radish
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Unfortunately you need to learn the right way yourself. it's not easy.

ivory echo
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tbh even that tutorial I mentioned taught me a few good things early on (i.e. how to use components for modularity for example)

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even tho it did a terrible job at explaining the point

chilly sundial
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but anyone getting into gamedev thinking it was easy had already set themselves up for an extremely bad time

earnest pecan
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datatables, structs, animBPs, etc etc

ivory echo
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yeah, even a broken clock shows the correct time twice a day 😄

granite solar
earnest pecan
ivory echo
round radish
chilly sundial
granite solar
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ew get me away from those snakes

ivory echo
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zero compile time, no performance

chilly sundial
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wait no we're meant to be making it easy

round radish
chilly sundial
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i dont wish tkinter on my worst enemy

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it is awful

earnest pecan
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but I know people can be delusional

granite solar
round radish
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I hate that people try to come into it without any idea how to program too.

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It's like, "I can just use blueprints, don't need to know that."

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Like if you know anything about OO programming, 99% of BP questions just disappear.

earnest pecan
chilly sundial
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doesnt help that youtube promotes blueprints as this magical tool that can do anything with no code. despite it being code

round radish
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Toby Fox?

ivory echo
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Terry Fox's brother 🙃

earnest pecan
granite solar
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undertale guy (is toby fox)

chilly sundial
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Make your toast? Blueprint.
Increase your property value? Blueprint.
Make an MMORPG? Blueprint.

earnest pecan
round radish
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Oh.

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He's either 1) lying 2) got somebody else to do it for him

granite solar
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According to him he went borderline insane while making it 🙃

round radish
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He may not know how to do it well, but he obviously can at least do it if he can make a game.

ivory echo
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well Steve Jobs was not a good engineer, he just knew how to package shit

earnest pecan
chilly sundial
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saw a code breakdown of the infamously awful for just about every reason Yandere Simulator and jesus it was bad.

ivory echo
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Einstein pretty much said success is directly related with how long you can stay focused on something

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"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer."

round radish
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He invented space, didn't you know?

ivory echo
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yeah, he coded it in Assembly

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Who needs space when you have camelCase

round radish
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or_snake

ivory echo
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Python too

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oh, but you could in C, no?

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ah well not inti

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yeah but basic was basic af

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😛

chilly sundial
ivory echo
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I only played Alpha Centauri and Alien Crossfire

plucky hatch
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Does anyone know if they actually call previous employers to ask about a person they wanna hire?

round radish
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Some do

ivory echo
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Sometimes they ask you if you’re ok with contacting them

plucky hatch
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Has anyone here actually got a job in the game industry without any degree in that specific position?

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Just a good portfolio but no degree

spice dagger
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Yes

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There are plenty of self taught individuals in this industry.

modern relic
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I've seen some game dev courses from universities in my area and most of them are either highly specialised for a particular engine/work flow or are garbage. So self teaching is an excellent skill to have for game dev, especially as you get more in the niche areas where there's less videos and write ups/documentation to help you out

brave forge
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Self teaching is essential. Regardless of course/education.

modern relic
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If only there were more write ups on k2 stuff

lucid dagger
brave forge
tacit tusk
# plucky hatch Has anyone here actually got a job in the game industry without any degree in th...

👋 - Been a designer for 6 years now. Started as a passionate community member in a alpha test of a game. Left tons of feedback, reported bugs w/ repro steps, made a giant excel spreadsheet breaking down their progression systems...

Couple months later I was asked to be an associate / junior designer / qa. Im now a Senior Gameplay Designer at a new startup.

Zero background in any kind of development. I had a small background in Graphic Design but I wouldn't attribute that at all.

rustic furnace
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I think a lot of people are also treating it as a 'foot in the door' for the industry

rustic furnace
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I can see why you thought it was a trick question though because my brain went straight to 'well it would depend on the bug' but I guess that's literally the answer

woeful iron
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aren't acceptance criteria on features mostly though

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seems strange to have them on a bug

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for us it's basically a "given-when-then" structure that defines how a feature is expected to work

spiral dew
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@charred sentinel Are you serious?

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Wow, I am surprised, is it like limited hours?

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40hrs/week $100/hr

mystic cloud
spiral dew
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God damn, most of the computer science field jobs pay like half of that

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The avg for my university is like 72k

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What do you do in UE that makes it such a lucrative career?

woeful iron
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I feel like I missed some conversation 🤔

spiral dew
tropic lark
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it's been deleted

spiral dew
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Is it in the CS field then?

tropic lark
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$100 * 40 hours * 50 weeks = 200k

mystic cloud
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100usd per hour for a seasoned programmer isnt uncommon, sometimes even low i guess

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i saw beyond 250

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for AI/ML related jobs

mint skiff
spiral dew
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Yeah, 0 yrs program experience lol

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Imagine

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Love the industry though, you join your first job, then yeet off after a year

woeful iron
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I knew a guy that specialized in physics but like the really advanced whacko shit, and he charged like 650 an hour

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if you're good and specialized you can make bank

mystic cloud
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650 is crazy

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was he simulating big bang in UE

woeful iron
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pretty sure he came up with the big bang irl /s

spiral dew
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I know a lot of guys that make like 20-30$/hr in CS jobs with like 3yrs experience

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They keep complaining but can’t seem to find other jobs

woeful iron
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move to low cost shithole, work remote for US company, gg

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not that I do that

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but it's a strategy

spiral dew
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Is it lucrative to go into contracting for CS, especially for consulting?

mystic cloud
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Thats a common strategy in Turkey and if I would work a few years I could do that too

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I survive by working two weeks each year for 30usd per hour

spiral dew
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So get a couple years experience in your field while doing actual useful shit yourself, go into contracting and offering specialized services for a much higher contracted rate

woeful iron
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if you have something to offer

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see I just suck at everything, that's why I'm not a millionaire yet

spiral dew
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I’ve really been wanting to do something with AI, just haven’t really taken the first step yet.

mystic cloud
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I keep hearing everyone is desperate for a senior graphics programmer these days

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willing to pay 2x salary than usual even

woeful iron
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join the other 70 million people interested in ai that haven't done anything with it yet

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I liked graphics programming a lot back in the day

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but now haven't done anything with it in years

mystic cloud
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Even reading graphics word gives me fatigue when I think about implementation details

woeful iron
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have other shit to do

spiral dew
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As long as I find a pathway or are introduced to something, I get really competitive and invested quick

mystic cloud
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Its also another struggle to make things compatible with each other

spiral dew
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Laura please impart your wisdom, I really don’t want to end up typing scripts for some shitty large company for a meager salary.

mystic cloud
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Like abstracting for both vulkan and dx12

mint skiff
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And one of them's at Epic

spiral dew
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Coming out of College, what can I do to attract employers?

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Have a large portfolio/github?

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If I get a job in any CS* field prior to graduation does that make me a more attractive pickup?

mystic cloud
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I'd say focus on one interesting thing for portfolio rather than many generic things

spiral dew
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My gpa isn’t the best, a lot of really exacerbating classes that don’t have anything to do with CS

woeful iron
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no one ever asked me about my college grades

spiral dew
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The college integrates it into our job fairs

woeful iron
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but also, I'm not american

spiral dew
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So we have to show them our gpa

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To even meet with them

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I have taught myself everything I know and going through this slog called college, it hit me quick this was just busy work

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College is for academia and research, nothing else

woeful iron
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what are these garbage schools you guys are going to lol

spiral dew
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We don’t actually make a full fledged project until our senior year

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Just shitty little “programs” on vscode

woeful iron
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we had to make a full game in our first year

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physics and all

mint skiff
spiral dew
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We have used Python and C++ on VScode for 2years and other than that is just theoretical math

mint skiff
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And people go in expecting programming

mint skiff
spiral dew
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The math part is helpful

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The projects are busywork

woeful iron
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I did not do CS though, I did game development specifically

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and now don't even work in games 😎

spiral dew
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Linear Algebra is very easy

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The thing with linear algebra is that it is just in it’s nature, tedious

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Which means you are constantly trying to find a way to optimize

woeful iron
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I didn't get vectors for like 3 months, but then went to a guy talking about bivectors and then everything just made sense

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good times

mystic cloud
spiral dew
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Every single formula, like with matrix multiplication just trying to improve that time complexity by just 0.0000..1

woeful iron
spiral dew
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We have a houdini class in our school lol

woeful iron
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to really simplify it

mystic cloud
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I'd rather try to implement vulkan instead of solving something related with this

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graph theory sucks

brave forge
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As someone who worked for a few years and then went to uni, I can definitely say uni was more "theoretical" rather than practical coding skills, however that definitely improved my approach to solving problems. The maths, graphs, algos, etc all levelled me up in a big way. There is value to a decent uni education

woeful iron
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I never even learned about graph theory lol

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you guys ever use it?

brave forge
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Yep

mystic cloud
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Isnt this used for meshes

woeful iron
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I know some pathfinding algorithms

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are they all just graph theory in disguise

brave forge
woeful iron
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I've been bamboozled into learning theory 🤢

mystic cloud
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lol that was exactly whats going on my mind

brave forge
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Yes that's a great example of graphs

mystic cloud
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I wrote a depth-first AST with a relatively simple parser this month and didnt encounter anything related with graph so far

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I guess it happens after you make it more complex or generic

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Isnt it just about the traversal* method you use?

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First order traversal*, last order traversal etc.

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I know some compiler developers are into graph theory too much but they're on extreme levels of code optimization frontiers

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Never saw someone doing constant folding or dead reckoning with graph theory for simple languages

brave forge
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Some optimisation problems can also be thought of in terms of graphs. It's useful stuff even if it just makes you think of problems in new ways

mystic cloud
woeful iron
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Rust is the new haskell

mystic cloud
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Any existing open source compiler using graph theory on their AST btw, that compiles to bytecode instead of machine code possibly?

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I'm curious

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If its as complex as clang I dont think I'd understand that

woeful iron
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you should make an ErenLanguage, but then shorten it to Erlang

mystic cloud
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adds expertise on graph theory to his CV

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meanwhile expertise is doing this:

struct Node
{
  TArray<Node> ChildNodes;
}
woeful iron
mystic cloud
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never realized

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Reading LLVM's docs suddenly made everything more senseful Thonk

spice dagger
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Back ontopic please.

plucky hatch
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Might aswell not send anything lol. This email was so useless. lol

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Im a great canditate but then you say its competive so we choose someone else....??

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What's the point of this email lmfao

brave forge
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Yeah, cos being ghosted is so much better /s

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Atleast now you know

mint skiff
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Weren't we complaining earlier about not getting rejection letters..?

modern relic
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Maybe they figured out you were talking shit in career chat 🤷

plucky hatch
ivory echo
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Just take it as not good enough for them and move on

mint skiff
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"You are a great candidate" is more than most would say lol

ivory echo
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Truth

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Usually it’s due to high number of candidates you’re not it

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If you get any response that is

modern relic
ivory echo
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There’s always getting ghosted after 1 or even 2 interviews

white steppe
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I think it is still better than ghosted. Then you can clearly move on to the next application.

rustic furnace
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Yeah it's the ambiguity in between that is excruciating

noble cedar
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In Germany companies are very reluctant to give any feedback on your applications (esp. if they rejected you) for legal reasons. So they give really vague excuses that aren't helpful to the rejected applicants.

Job application is just a number's game. You aren't "good" enough for some companies but you're a great asset to others 🙂

ivory echo
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"Ja, und ve vere going to hire you, but the water pipes are broken now, ja, so, auf wiedersehen! "

chilly sundial
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I think we've all said this about 4 times now lol. But yeah. You gotta remember there are tons of other people. Someone else was probably just more qualified for less pay

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Or hell, maybe a different applicant has cooler shoes. It could be anything.

ivory echo
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or more excited about micro-transactions lol

chilly sundial
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Or willing to work 90 hours unpaid overtime

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Damn beaten to it

shell cipher
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It could also be down to personality, some people just click better with others and might fit the team better even if other candidates are more qualified or of similar levels

ivory echo
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yeah, the good old "culture fit" 🤢

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there's also the fact that people could refer their friends and those are always given special consideration, at least to get an interview

chilly sundial
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CYA?

shut token
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Cover your ass

ivory echo
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sort of a double-meaning here, since it's also a cya!

chilly sundial
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Ah

plucky hatch
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If you sue where I live you win pennies

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These compagnies will keep rejecting without telling me what I'm doing wrong and having me go around in circles

ivory echo
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I understand your frustration, as I’m experiencing it myself currently, but beyond the “that’s how life works” advice given so far, there’s not much else to say

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Just run all of your interview experiences by Laura 😀

plucky hatch
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Tired of staying home all day like a loser

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ya sure I'm working on making a game but still

shut token
ivory echo
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Well, there's you, + the unemployment rate 🙂

plucky hatch
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Why is it that everyone I know has never been in this exact situation lol

shut token
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Must hang around an extraordinarily small crowd

ivory echo
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you don't know enough people lol

plucky hatch
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some people find a new job in weeks

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Im 3 months now no job

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losing thousands and thousands

shut token
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And some people take years to find a job. What's your point?

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Sitting on discord ain't helpin' much

plucky hatch
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you go homeless

royal lintel
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Maybe revise that to "without a career in an industry I like".
There are lots of people who job hunt for quite a long time while doing either very minor freelance work or something completely unrelated to their chosen career like retail - whatever is needed to pay the bills. It absolutely sucks, but you're not in a unique situation.

ivory echo
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hell, there's people in this country that came here with pHDs , even M.D.s in their own countries and now they're in retail or janitorial

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because their degrees don't mean SFA here

plucky hatch
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how

ivory echo
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If you're from a 2nd or 3rd world country, you have very high chance that your education will not be recognized

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so you either have to spend thousands and years to redo it all or...

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even if you do equivalency, you can still be discriminated against for not being part of some selective group

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my dad has a pHD in Chemistry but was not part of the Order of Chemists here, so for years he got paid garbage

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meanwhile my spouse's coworker just left her current 97k/year job to go to a better one and now my spouse will have to do her job as well for a lot less money

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chuck it to "life is not fair" , shove it down and keep trying, that's all you can really do

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and if I can offer some advice I wasn't able to take myself, network and make friends, a lot easier to get in somewhere with a reference

white steppe
ivory echo
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Yeah prly

white steppe
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But the good news is for game industry, you don't need any degrees usually😜

ivory echo
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That’s blown out of proportion

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Really talented people sometimes get lucky

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But the statistics say majority of employed game devs have a degree

wary idol
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Some of the most talented people I know have no degree

Degree rarely matters for game dev, if you have skill to show absolutely no one is going to ask you about a degree

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(it could matter if you are getting a job in a foreign country)

royal lintel
# ivory echo But the statistics say majority of employed game devs have a degree

Yes, but that could be due to most people that want to work in the field getting degrees. Which could be because most companies require it, or it could be because people want or feel the need to go to uni first, or it could be a self fulfilling prophecy where people make the assumption they need a degree which results in most people having degrees.
More confounding variables would include people who already have skills towards game dev having an easier time getting a degree, or being more likely to want a degree, or lots of other things.
tldr: the majority having degrees doesn't mean the industry necessarily requires degrees. It certainly is one less reason for a recruiter to throw out your resume if you're at entry level though.

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I think the safer statement to make is that if you're already skilled a degree is unnecessary. It might make getting your foot in the door easier, but part of that would be the knowledge you hopefully gain from it too.

wary idol
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Also at the same time a degree doesn't instantly equate to knowledge and skill

royal lintel
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Right. At best a degree alone gets past some very early recruitment filter - which is a valid concern (especially at entry level) but not something every company is going to have. Would be interesting if there are statistics on that but I doubt there are.

wary idol
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Yeah

royal lintel
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A good portfolio is generally enough to get past that anyway.

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If you don't have a degree or a portfolio (or prior work history) then yeah, barely anyone is going to hire someone who has nothing to show for their supposed skills. That's, in theory, why degrees are desired in the first place.

white steppe
#

If you've created something amazing as a prototype by yourself, the degree is totally meaningless for this industry in my opinion. At least, if I'm going to recruit some people, I just prefer to see the work he did rather than a degree.

round radish
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The degree might get you to look at his work, though.

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It's kind of a feedback loop. You need a hook to get them to see more and that prompts them to see more, etc.

plucky hatch
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Want to get my foot in the door for the industry, but worried about my skill level. I feel like I'm racing against the clock to develop my skills to a stage where I'm a viable level for an entry into the industry. Does anyone mind sharing their experiences with how they got their first job in the industry and what they did leading up to that point? I'm worried about a job outside of the industry taking up too much of my time for me to develop my skills, so I'm wondering how you guys started.

round radish
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Tbh a lot of people are going to fall into 2 categories: people with degrees (job=skill up) or hobbyists (job + skillup)

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What makes you think you don't already have the skills?

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And what makes you think you can get them if you don't already have them?

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I don't mean that in a negative way. Just like, do you have any related experience or something?

plucky hatch
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Yeah I got a diploma in game dev and I did go to university for 2d/3d animation but I had to withdraw from that because finnancial issues (my family basically lives off benefits)

round radish
#

So you've probably already got quite a few skills!

plucky hatch
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I've been making a game nonstop for the past 23 days and I've learnt a shitton but comparitively to peoples portfolios on artstation and the like its not that good

round radish
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Do you fancy yourself as a programmer/designer or an artist?

plucky hatch
round radish
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Ah, so you chose the hard path!

mint skiff
#

The better path 😎

granite solar
# plucky hatch Want to get my foot in the door for the industry, but worried about my skill lev...

I was at the end of my last semester of college. A senior engineer at a studio was reviewing my resume for me. After the final revision, he asked if I was cool with him passing it to HR directly. Within a couple weeks I got an email from their recruiting team asking if I wanted to have an interview. I had two degrees at that point on my resume, but we didn't discuss those much at all during any of the interviews. The extent was them just acknowledging that it was listed on my resume. Everything else discussed was about what I've done on my own. Idk if they played a role in the recruiter-looking-it-over part, but they seemed completely irrelevant to the actual interviews with their engineers.

ivory echo
#

lol yeah, like I said, if you have a reference, you've got a really strong chance already, they may or may not even care about degrees at that point

dapper topaz
round radish
#

Nahhhh

dapper topaz
#

Hi guys, can I post my portfolio here and get some feedback what people would want to see in a game designer portfolio?

woeful iron
#

sure

dapper topaz
jagged plume
#

Hi! After >15y of working with C++, I decided to switch gears a bit and go gamedev. Finished some UE5 courses, participated in an indie project for a bit, and now I need to understand where to move on. I feel like I need more practice with the engine, so joining another indie team sounds promising, as I keep my current full-time job.
So, could you guys give a hint on where to find an actively developed project that I could help and improve my skills along the way? European timezone preferred.

modern relic
#

Best place to find work here would be in the job boards categories

jagged plume
# modern relic Best place to find work here would be in the job boards categories

Thank you. I should have been more precise. I was interested in places outside this discord server, like game labs, or indie hubs, or something I have no idea of. I have checked the job boards here, of course, and it didn't seem to have suitable offerings. My interest is to work for free in my spare time, but being limited by 8h weekly max.

ivory echo
gentle cypress
#

hey everyone, taking the RT Hub bootcamp - was wondering if there is a specific career trajectory for an 'ideas' scriptwriter type of person? also, what is standard going rate for a junior developer? also what AI programs are out there that will impact a junior developer's job chances?

modern relic
#

the industry in general really doesnt have a position for "ideas guy". if you have ideas, thats great so does everyone else. what makes you valuable is your ability to execute on those ideas and contribute to a project

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as for your question about salary for junior developer it depends a lot on where the job is and what part of game dev that junior position is in

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and there are no AI programs that will impact your job chances and any employer who says otherwise is full of shit. things like chatgpt and copilot and whatever else are tools not replacements

modern relic
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i had to read that twice because the first time i thought you were saying that experienced developers only use junior developers for the most menial things which... i mean its probably true

winged nest
#

I wanna get hired as a programmer

brave forge
modern relic
#

look mate if you are interested just DM them like they said

brave forge
#

Will do!

round radish
#

A programmer that can't read the rules probably won't follow company coding standards either.

#

That says a lot about the company!

heavy cradle
nova coyote
#

what did you do?

image.png
nova coyote
chilly sundial
#

it was literally 4 messages above bruh

plucky hatch
#

Where can I find a QA job?

spice dagger
plucky hatch
#

can't find any

spice dagger
#

Then look elsewhere?

#

Linkedin?

#

The Forums?

#

Studios you are familiar with that maybe hiring?

ivory echo
#

Indeed prly has a few too

round radish
#

If you like playing games, I wouldn't get a job playing them. You will very soon not like playing games.

ivory echo
#

I’ve done a few playtests and closed betas in my life and that was more than enough “QA” for me lol

#

And that’s more on the voluntary side of reporting

coarse pilot
#

Whats the best path to take a development path or artist path?

woeful iron
#

depends what you like more I guess

#

I guess as developer you have more options ouside of games as well

#

but really only you should decide what to go for

#

do something you enjoy

coarse pilot
#

Well for me i know what fits, asking for someone who doesnt

chilly sundial
#

well we can't really decide that can we

#

since it's entirely based on the individual's skillset and passions

nova coyote
#

i can and i say you should be a plumber

chilly sundial
#

there is no "best" path, there's just 2 paths

chilly sundial
nova coyote
coarse pilot
#

Thats obviously true but looking at it lets say time to get qualified, how fsr can education and what is its impact? Whats the competition?

#

Every path is characterized differently

chilly sundial
#

again they're all subjective. how long ti takes is down to the individual. education alone gets you nowhere for either paths, and both paths need years of self development of the skills

#

and portfolios and such

#

which again all comes down to the passion thing

#

its gonna take you a lot longer to make a good code portfolio when you hate coding

coarse pilot
#

True

#

Which one is better compensation wise

#

Id assume a dev

chilly sundial
#

typically yeah

#

although gamedev pay is low across the board

#

comparative to other industries with the same skills

nova coyote
#

game companies exploit the fact that most game devs are passionate with their craft

#

rockstar often justify crunch not by pay rise or benifits but the fact that "you're working on a rockstar project, you should actually be thankful"

coarse pilot
#

damn

#

do you have numbers to compare the salaries in this industry compared to others?

chilly sundial
#

i dont, but glassdoor is very useful for this

#

use bugmenot.com if you dont want to be annoyed by it's persistence to leave a review

#

then just check salaries for a gamdev position, and the equivalent elsewhere

earnest pecan
#

I might've fumbled this up but I hope you understand what I just said

thick nimbus
#

Where can I send a resume ?

earnest pecan
#

to whom?

thick nimbus
#

anywhere

#

no particular target

earnest pecan
#

you mean you want to post your portfolio here?

thick nimbus
#

yeah sure

earnest pecan
#

try looking at any of the channels in the community creations category

thick nimbus
#

or if u think its better to send it somewhere else, it can be somewhere else

earnest pecan
thick nimbus
#

i would just like to take part into something real

#

i feel like i gathered enough knowledge to be part of a team

earnest pecan
#

ahh you should try game jams then!

thick nimbus
#

hm

earnest pecan
#

brackeys announced a new jam just a few hours ago

#

maybe look into that

thick nimbus
#

im focused on the 3d design an animation aspect

#

I know how to create videogame in UE5 tho

#

but im not the best i would say

earnest pecan
thick nimbus
#

yeah, Teamwork is really good. Solo work is pipedream 99% of time

earnest pecan
#

good, it takes years for people to realise that usually

#

oh I wasn't expecting that to happen

thick nimbus
# earnest pecan good, it takes years for people to realise that usually

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N3N1MlvVc4

YouTube
orijimi
Mad World - Gary Jules

The original video of Gary Jules' and Michael Andrews' cover version of Mad World, directed by Michel Gondry. Throughout the video children are making animated figures on the sidewalk below. (the song was featured in the movie Donnie Darko. If you haven't seen it, seriously consider it.)

Directed by Michel Gondry www.michelgondry.com.

▶ Play video
#

😄

thick nimbus
earnest pecan
#

at least in this server

thick nimbus
#

cool

earnest pecan
#

jams usually have a teamfinder service that runs from when the jam has been announced till the time it ends

#

look into that too if it's for you

thick nimbus
#

this ?

earnest pecan
#

they happen every year

#

two of the most popular ones are the brackeys game jam and the GMTK game jam

thick nimbus
gentle cypress
#

doing rt hub bootcamp rn, learned some film in college

#

so hoping i can make a career path where i stand out for what i'm best at

earnest pecan
ruby relic
#

It's hard to get job based on blueprint knowledge only. Most companies look for c++ developer.

chilly sundial
#

You'll probably only get a blueprint developer job in something like #rev-share-jobs :P

modern relic
#

what do you mean i cant earn over 100k/yr with just blueprints

#

gimme them 🇿🇼 dollars

ivory echo
#

🇻🇪

woeful iron
#

lol bohemia wanted to recruit me a few years ago but I said I wasn't interested in moving there, now they sent me a follow up mail that they have remote positions now

#

wild that I was still on their radar

#

not that I have done any game development in the past three years

modern relic
#

just forward that email to me if you dont mind

#

ill assume your identity

woeful iron
#

it would probably be a step down from Supreme Chief Executive Senior Lead Game Development Director though

modern relic
#

its a sacrifice im willing to make to get paid

spiral badge
#

Hey any clue what these "strip thumbnails" are officialy called?

Looking to up my portfolio

image.png
modern relic
#

vertical strip collage maybe

ivory echo
#

Palette 🎨? 😀

round radish
#

Overall very cool, though.

spiral badge
#

ive tried looking around and cant find anything.. weird. Looks cool as a thumbnail tho

cyan heath
#

hey guys,
I have a question, how do I even start _(:3J ? I have an ok tutoring and years of solo exp in UE, but I don't know how to get involved in anything team based (internship/job)

#

can somebody please provide some good info / advice?

earnest pecan
cyan heath
#

um check my about me section

#

not a site, but I have some achievements in the forums (marketplace asset creator) I have a YT channel where I showcase what I make there

earnest pecan
#

maybe start with a portfolio then

#

google sites is free

cyan heath
#

ok, thank you

mint skiff
#

If you're an artist just use artstation or similar, rolling your own site is hard, easy to fuck up, and won't make your pieces better.

dapper topaz
#

I updated my Portfolio

#

any other VR users here? i feel like VR shld get its own channel

mint skiff
#

It does

dapper topaz
mint skiff
pastel estuary
#

portfolios should prolly be posted in the community creations section, or if its for work, on the job board.

dapper topaz
#

oh, thank you both

pastel estuary
#

unless you want opinions on it

#

then here is ok

dapper topaz
#

im always open for feedback on my portfolio

lilac walrus
ivory echo
#

Maybe they’re hiding among us on this discord and approaching every one of our celebrities 😀

oak helm
#

Hey guys, I'd like to apply for an entry level job in 3D (Junior) but just as a self taught artist, probably in the field of cinematography or similar. For that, I created this trailer to be used in my applications. Do you think this is something that could get me a foot into the industry or just a 3D work in general? Right now I'm just wondering why anyone would hire a self taught artist rather than one that went through an entire degree..? Is there anything you'd recommend me to do better before applying? I'd send a detailed breakdown of all scenes in my applications of course. Thanks for your feedback, I'll read through all of them tonight, cheers https://streamable.com/axns0w

Streamable
Multiplier
▶ Play video
pastel estuary
twin warren
#

Quick question for you guys. I have interviewed for a job at my alma mater; I find out next week whether I have the job. A different campus of the same university just posted a listing for basically the same job. They use the same job portal specific to their university.

If I apply to the other job, will that make me look like I don't want the position that I'm waiting to hear back from?

woeful iron
#

I don't think so, but if its handled by the same people it depends on those people I guess

#

the real question is do they know about eachother

hollow vine
#

All I can tell you is that I used to interview and hire in a different industry, and I do not recall ever caring what other jobs someone had applied for

twin warren
#

The other job is for the main campus

woeful iron
#

I'd say just go for it

twin warren
#

🤦‍♂️ I have to delete my old documents, CV, resume to post my new ones

#

Would it hurt to wait a week?

woeful iron
#

lol you can only upload one letter?

#

great portal

brave forge
#

Id say go for it. If it was the same people handling the applications and you had a shot, they'd likely offer you the second one if you missed out on the first

#

So nothing to lose really

twin warren
#

Aaaaand it's done

#

ya boi gonna get out of his fast food job...someday

dapper topaz
#

ugh, i hate redoing my resume

#

lol id rather just focus on portfoliostuff, its more fun

warm coyote
#

Is being a software engineer in a game studio much different from regular software engineers?

woeful iron
#

yeah

#

you get paid less

warm coyote
#

Oh

woeful iron
#

other than that depends where you work I guess

warm coyote
#

I was just curious, I'm joining college for a CS degree next month and I was looking at what paths are open for CS graduates

#

I did game dev as a hobby in the past for a few years, but the general consensus I see online is that it pays less for slightly more work pressure

#

(in general terms ofc, I know it must vary from place to place and from team to team)

nova coyote
#

yeah generally game dev positions pay less cause the companies are abusing the fact that most employees are passionate in their craft

warm coyote
#

I see

nova coyote
#

your best bet for better pay and hopefully work/life balance is to work at a "traditional" software company

warm coyote
#

A lot of people in my country just shift away from software engineering nowadays and just go into finance, consulting and quant

#

But at the moment I'm more interested in the traditional software engineering

#

but that might change

#

as I go to college and meet people

nova coyote
warm coyote
#

Hmm

woeful iron
#

do something you like though

nova coyote
woeful iron
#

don't focus just on money

warm coyote
#

Game dev seems one way to me though

nova coyote
#

great opportunity to experiment!

warm coyote
#

But I won't keep it as a priority, since I'll have to move overseas

nova coyote
#

for me i thought i was enjoying game dev but i found to be app development to be as enjoyable

warm coyote
#

How can I explore what kinds of roles are availables in what industries in a 'software engineering' sense?

#

Alright, thanks for the advice

chilly sundial
#

Yep. When I was applying just searching for software engineer on an application place gave me many options, from aerospace, to finance, to gamedev, to distribution

ivory echo
#

there's an idea, just pretend you live there 😄

#

I hope you got yourself a shiny new bunker for those guns

nova coyote
#

not necessary. they just need a brand new shining ar-15

ivory echo
#

she already has the guns 😄

ivory echo
#

wait, I hope that didn't come off in some weird way, just poking fun at the gun craze

#

but anyways point being US is not necessarily as keen at bringing in foreigners to work as other countries (i.e. Canada)

wintry forum
ivory echo
nova coyote
sick stratus
#

There's any known plataform for unreal developers/programmers, like ie. Artstation for artists ?

nova coyote
ivory echo
#

mb if I misunderstood

nova coyote
#

i mean i dont understand what they want at all so you're good

shut token
#

The closest "artstation" like site you'll get for programmers is probably going to be github.

#

For UE devs specifically, probably Epic's site.

earnest pecan
#

I answered it before but you could use itch.io

#

depends on what you want to do

ancient cosmos
#

Hey guys! I'm thinking about doing freelance work to get some experience under my belt before I'm able to get into the industry big time, but I've never put myself out there like that. I was hoping you guys could give me some start up advice? Some do's and dont's on how to be successful? Thank you so much I hope you have a beautiful rest of your weekend friends!

ancient cosmos
#

That's a good way to do it as well, I'm just not sure I'll be able to get anything solid (I graduate next July) fresh out of school, because the way I've heard no one wants to hire graduates so I've been thinking about how I can get experience to show them I can do it.

mint skiff
#

with no industry experience you're asking to be ripped off as a freelancer (if you do secure some gigs)

#

also you expose yourself to a degree of liability that I don't think you really want

ancient cosmos
#

I'm an environmental artist.

#

Ahhh okay well that's why I was asking people who knew they were talking about 😂 okay so you guys suggest I just keep looking until a company is able to hire me?

mint skiff
#

yeah

#

make sure your portfolio is up to scratch, get some people to review it

ancient cosmos
#

Okay I will definitely do that. Thank you!

woeful iron
#

I'm not sure if starting of freelance without any experience at all is doable though

green oyster
#

Proper freelance is like a late stage in your career, but to get some experience so a studio hires you - maybe find some indie projects you like and get in touch. It won't be much and nothing like working in a studio but I guess it helps a bit

rustic furnace
#

I feel like you probably need to grind in a studio environment (or even a startup one) for a bit to get used to having to learn things and skill up quickly before being able to go freelance, since as pointed out before your ability to get your bearings and give an accurate estimate of work is critical

unique yoke
#

Hey guys. Where can I find portfolios here. So that I can review it and develop mine

round radish
#

You could try the jobs boards.

mint skiff
#

What kind of portfolios

unique yoke
#

Unreal Development portfolio

mint skiff
#

programming or art

unique yoke
#

Programming

mint skiff
#

Some of the people that hang around the programming channels have their work in their bios, that's somewhere to start.

unique yoke
#

Wooo

chilly sundial
#

It is worth pointing out that it can be quite region and experience dependent.

For example, when I was looking around, few senior positions required a portfolio, but every single entry level one did.

modern relic
#

as an aspiring professional programmer i have great difficulty in selling my skills and experience so my portfolio looks like shit and if someone sent me my resume i would immediately not hire them probably

#

ye its really a stupid game. unfortunately though i need to eat and have shelter so i cant really afford to be as picky as i am :(

rustic furnace
#

I don't know if it's just boilerplate shotgun recruiting text but anyone that has contacted me first for a job has made mention of my portfolio

#

Although given I'm currently happy where I am I didn't see a reason to keep paying for hosting costs so that's down now, so if someone says that now I know they're full of shit

mint skiff
#

You 100% need one as an artist

#

In fact you could even get away without a resume, but not without a portfolio

rustic furnace
#

Oh yeah woops let me clarify i'm also a programmer

#

From what I hear from my artist friends portfolios are absolutely necessary

#

I wonder how much I'd be able to get away with just saying I worked on 'game X' that you've almost certainly heard of, or whether I'd need to go into a lot of detail in terms of my contributions

I guess as long as I focus on outcomes on a game that's already out there shouldn't be any NDA issues

#

It's just if I started talking about process and stuff specific to the engine that would probably be yikes territory

#

Hmm okay, that could work

#

Either way I guess I can always run it by legal first

oblique ice
#

Well, even my instructor has NDA, but can only share their own personal works

steel creek
#

You don't need a portfolio you need to know somebody

frail bolt
#

Does advice on making a gamedev club in college count as career chat?

woeful iron
#

I guess

pastel estuary
#

its practicing for a career, I'll allow it XD

frail bolt
#

Nice~ so a bit of background ( skip to paragraph 2 for the actual problem ),
me and a few buds of mine were thinking to start a club for game dev in our college.
Most of us lack any proper game dev experience but given we're a technical college we're mostly familiar with the basics of coding.
The problem lies with regards to a proper system for our club .

Game dev isn't exactly a practice in the country so we have no idea with regards to running a dev club ,
or managing people of different skill levels and the whole lot.
I do think we should just get going and just let things work out but most of our college clubs shutdown within a week
while following that mentality so i hoped to see your views and opinions with regards to that
zD.

#

Also is anyone aware of any Game Dev Supporting Platforms that have Offical Support Programs for Colleges like the GDSC ( Google Developer Student Clubs) thingy that is for Cloud Learning

woeful iron
#

what is it that you want to achieve in this club?

#

discussing games? discussing game dev? actually making a game?

frail bolt
#

I'd be happy if i have a team or two who participate with me for gamejams and the like .. so option 3 basically (- m - )

pastel estuary
#

I'd hang some flyers and see if there is animo for such a club.
If there is, meet up with people and discuss what they desire/would like to see in regards to the club. then take it from there.

frail bolt
#

Thanks ! I'll start from there then !

hearty zephyr
#

Get a version control Software setup, Github is free, Perforce is better but costs $$. Get a base project set up on the Depot and make sure everyone knows how to Pull/Edit/Push without messing up other teammates work. Once Everyone can use that comfortably you can actually plan out a game in a GDD and start prototyping it in engine

woeful iron
#

I feel like that's already a few steps too far to start out maybe

#

you'd want to investigate what to do first

#

maybe discuss other games

earnest pecan
#

there is a guide on version control pinned in #ue5-general, it's aimed for beginners if you want to use it

#

(it's written by me!)

steel creek
#

welcome to career chat, the self-promo channel....

rustic furnace
#

Getting a career is mostly self promotion after all kappa

lapis sage
#

I thought that was what this channel was honestly lol

round radish
#

It's for talking about careers, not looking for them.

#

There's plenty of jobs channels you can use for that #instructions

lapis sage
#

I am not looking for a job I was posting my career wrok

#

a free pack

round radish
pastel estuary
#

removed, because job posts should be on the job board.

sage barn
modern relic
#

But advice and a job post are separate things

woeful iron
#

that's what they want you to think

round radish
#

"I'm looking for a job, here's my portfolio, any advice?"

#

ITS BOTH

sage barn
sage barn
tidal herald
#

Just to know this information ahead of time as I'm learning, would you recommend a variety of games for creating a game portfolio as a developer? Is it okay to do recreations of games we've enjoyed in the past or companies look for creativity?

ivory echo
#

sure, afaik portfolio is meant to show what you can do, the actual concepts within are less relevant

round radish
#

Depends what you're going for as well.

#

As a game designer you want originally and well fleshed out ideas.

#

As a game programmer you want well implemented code.

modern relic
#

What about for Supreme Chief Executive Senior Lead Game Development Director ?

ivory echo
#

No need for a portfolio then, the title says it all ofc

plucky hatch
#

Guys what does it mean interpersonal skills and allat. I'm an introvert programmer I don't speak mich is it bad

#

What do they expect a community manager thay speak a lot for amy role or what

#

I can certainly contribute valuable ideas but most of the time I think I'll be silent

brave forge
#

So making sure you are able to see an issue and present it as "hey, I don't think that works in this situation, or this could be better and handle more situations if solved this way instead" vs going "that idea sucks, you suck, you should feel bad"

plucky hatch
#

I absolutely agree. Thanks man.

plucky hatch
#

Seeking advice. What's best: working remotely earning dollars in a broke ugly ass country and living like a monarch or emigrate to the first world and live normally? I want to make an informed decision.

round radish
#

Depends what living like a monarch actually entails in a broke arse country.

#

If the local doctor still uses leeches, probably better to move?

earnest pecan
#

his profile says he's from Spain

#

or somewhere in South America but iirc España means Spain

#

exactly

#

that is a very broad term

#

there's Afghanistan shithole and then there's, uhm

#

fair enough

plucky hatch
#

i think better leaving

plucky hatch
round radish
#

It's not about hte cost of living, it's about the standard of living.

#

Plus the things Laura mentioned.

small marsh
#

as a new game devewloper, whats the best use of my time? volunteer projects, youtube tutorials, all together perhaps?. thanks for the advice.

spice dagger
#

Doing something is better than doing nothing.

mint skiff
#

just have fun :D

round radish
#

Also depends how new you are. And what you want to do. Do you want to design games? Program them? Make assets for them? Play them?

hallow marsh
#

How do people recommend meeting other gamedev enthusiasts in person? I checked meetup.com but doesn't seem to be many gamedev events soon in my area (I live in LA area, so this came as a surprise). How else do people go about meeting other gamedev peeps? I would like to work on a project with an artist, but ideally someone local to my area. Also, I have to get pre-approval for any project I work on through my job, so it's not necessarily easy for me to just join a random group of developers

regal perch
# hallow marsh How do people recommend meeting other gamedev enthusiasts in person? I checked m...

When I worked at Blizzard as a Senior 3D artist on Titan (10ish years ago) we used to go to an orange county dev drink up at one of the local pubs. It might be still running. Also you could hit up some of the local colleges, AI of orange county has a bunch of upcoming talented artists. Art center always produces strong concept artists, Laguna art center is also really strong. There are a lot of different avenues.

Yep it looks like it still going. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/igda-oc-monthly-game-developer-mixer-meet-up-tickets-548249407737

Eventbrite
IGDA: OC - Monthly Game Developer Mixer Meet Up

That's right, you read it correctly - we're back! Kick (re)starting the monthly IGDA: OC Game Developer Mixers in this post-COVID world.

woeful iron
#

there's IGDA meetups all over the world

#

we had them in finland as well

nova crag
#

'ello, How do I post my portfolio? I'm pretty sure it needs to be in #⁠⁠freelance-jobs, I found the instructions, but I don't understand them, also noticed I don't have the permissions to post.

#

These are the instructions for posting my portfolio, but when I go to any of the job boards to put in the command, I have no permissions to post anything, hence why I'm trying to get help

image.png
nova coyote
#

you'll need to be active for a while before you can try any commands here

#

you'll know you were active enough when that little icon besides your name is gone

image.png
nova crag
#

Thank you for this information, I guess I'll just wait a while

royal lintel
#

pretty sure you just have to send those commands in literally any other channel

#

you can't post in the job boards because no one except manny can post there

#

that's why the instructions say "type one of the following commands in any text channel"

nova crag
nova crag
plucky hatch
#

I've decided I wanna be a game programmer but what tho, gameplay, ai, psychics, audio, tools, networking, engine, UI, even niagara(?)... lol

spice dagger
rustic furnace
modern relic
#

tooling is also a completely valid path to choose. not all programming has to be game programming

rustic furnace
#

Don't think anyone was saying that

steady pewter
woeful iron
pastel estuary
#

@unreal finch sounds too much like a looking for work ad. im removing it.

frozen moat
#

@unreal finchthat's $130ish a day, I think it's fine, but not for a junior. you need to up your skills and CV first and then you can ask for even more.

#

uhm... Luos, I think the guy was rather asking for advice. but maybe ur right, dunno.

pastel estuary
#

50/50

frozen moat
#

yeah, fair enough

pastel estuary
#

I didnt strike, if Shmordan wants to rephrase it, he can :)

unreal finch
#

Advice

#

Not looking for work at all

#

I just don't know how to handle this situation like how much to charge for someone who is beginning and stuff like that

unreal finch
pastel estuary
#

all monthly expenses you have to live (rent/food/bills) divided by work hours/month
then you know what your super minimum is, add money upon that that you feel comfortable with asking.

frozen moat
#

anyway, as general advice to any artist or dev, I think it's best to focus on One thing, like modeling in Shmordan's case. don't muddy the waters, have a portfolio that clearly demonstrates your main skill. to ask for a decent amount of money you have to have skills, demonstrated by a portfolio, and then enough experience, listed in a CV/linkedin. there are some people who go the Generalist direction, and that also works if you want to handle an entire project on your own. but if you want to work for big studios, as an employee or even freelancer, you have to specialize. so, in this case, modeling and animation are entirely different worlds/areas of 3D. the professionals dedicate a lifetime [well, let's say at least a decade] to getting really good at One thing, like character art or environment art. think specifically! if you love environment art, get really amazing at creating environment assets and so on.. and build an amazing portfolio. ok, so while doing this, you work and you get payed, of course, but the pay increases as your xp increases. I don't think there really is any unfair competition from low-wages countries, as great artists can come from anywhere and they are, and should be payed competitively. on the other hand, there's nothing sketchy about asking for either more or less, if your skills match your pay. try to ask for more and then negotiate, adjust, learn from the experience, so on. : >

muted widget
#

Why cant post in the freelance for hire channel?

#

Cant seem to find the bot that I used to neet to message

half shale
#

Hey, Level Designers: How do I estimate how long level design work will take?
I'm putting together a publisher pitch deck and I'll need to hire a level designer, but i have no idea how to even start budgeting for that. I know the scope of the work, but not how long it would take someone.

earnest pecan
half shale
earnest pecan
#

for example, a 10 minute shooter level will be much smaller than a 30 minute detective mystery level - both in area and of course, time

half shale
#

Well, maybe not in area! A detective game could spend 15 minutes in a room a shooter game would run through in an instant.

#

But estimating by time played is a great idea

half shale
earnest pecan
earnest pecan
earnest pecan
#

if they are there from the beginning of development, there's a good chance nothing exists yet

half shale
#

aaah good point. My main mechanics have been done for a WHILE so it didn't occur to me that might not be the case

earnest pecan
#

I speak from experience haha, this has happened before to me

vestal grotto
#

Los Angeles vs San Francisco? I'm currently in Central California. What area should I settle in for my best exposure to the Industry?

unreal finch
rapid iron
#

Is there any study material you guys would suggest to set myself apart as a Gameplay Programmer?

I can work with C++ fairly well, know how to use subsystems, have started to get used to thr Gameplay Ability System (no multiplayer sadly).

What is the next big step I can take in terms of knowledge?

shut token
#

know how to use subsystems
Weird thing to use as a highlight to be honest.

tall ledge
#

I am curious, where is the best placw to find freelance 3D artist, who have work they want to sell? it can be all from full house to funitures inside the house.

ivory echo
tall ledge
quartz viper
#

Anyone has good hints where to look for level designers?

#

and how to pick a good one in general

ivory echo
left gulch
#

Excuse me, is this the channel where I can recruit people?

wary idol
vestal grotto
rapid iron
lilac walrus
#

you can't write gameplay code for a multiplayer game without handling replication, so if you don't know anything about it you would be at a disadvantage when applying to jobs that require it

#

this said, it is something you can learn on the job, if you are already a proficient programmer

brazen shard
#

Hey everyone, I'm an dev who got his first Unreal dev job and that wants to make that his career. But I'd like to have some information on the market about UE5 devs. Any resources you can share ? I'm mostly after the salary ranges, the market (are there a lot of jobs out there), anything really that can make me learn stuff about this sector of work

mint skiff
#

Talk to your coworkers tbh

lilac walrus
#

salaries range dramatically depending on location, experience, company etc, so that's a "how long is a piece of string" question tbh

#

best you can do is try to talk to peer and people working in similar circumstances

brazen shard
brazen shard
pastel estuary
#

if you know your thing, you can make a decent living in Belgium. quite a few of my colleages and friends are from Belgique

woeful iron
#

I worked for one belgian game company and the salary was disappointing at best

#

but can vary a lot by company of course

brazen shard
woeful iron
#

there can be only one, please leave /s

brazen shard
woeful iron
#

it was a small indie studio

#

virtual production in belgium pays quite decently afaik

pastel estuary
#

@vital topaz is also from Belgium, at least, he was last time I spoke with him XD

woeful iron
#

and my experience is just my experience of course, it can vary

woeful iron
pastel estuary
#

there can be only one Flemmisch fry

brazen shard
#

"One Flemmish" then thank God I'm from Brussels alex

earnest pecan
#

turns out the studio name I was thinking of since the last 3 years is already taken (it's on me tbh; I somehow managed to not google the name) and now I need to think of a new one

#

how does BranchingTalesTestTube sound? (BT3 for short) or DEMO Studio (Destruction, Explosions, Mods and Optimization)?

#

these names are prolly stupid asf

#

but I'd like your opinion

woeful iron
#

first one is too long and strange

#

demo studios would be cool but could give of a vibe that you don't finish products

earnest pecan
earnest pecan
#

thanks for your insight!

vital topaz
#

But yeah, managing partner at Mantis Games (Gent) here, living in Gent with a spelfout (Genk) 😂

#

& VFX artist!

#

I think salary for a starting gamedev in Belgium might be around €2000 netto, excluding other benifits such as free internet at home, maaltijdcheques, bicyle or car, etc etc

#

@brazen shard 😉

#

You make more as a freelancer because sucky Belgian taxes take 236% of your income and your firstborn son, however you need to hassle with paperwork and find clients etc ofc

#

(Also, talking about a 38hr workweek)

vital topaz
woeful iron
#

I had convinced our boss to go to unreal, but then the company went bankrupt and the sister company just continued with unity 🥲

#

how that man is allowed to lead a company is beyond me

vital topaz
woeful iron
#

Warcave

#

Which was founded by the same guy of Crazy Monkey Studios, later renamed to RogueSide

vital topaz
#

Ah yeah, not really bankrupt though

woeful iron
#

Warcave is

#

RogueSide is continuing

vital topaz
#

Yeah RogueSide is in the same group as Mantis Games 😄

pastel estuary
#

just not in the same league XD

woeful iron
#

isn't everything in belgium owned by Cronos

vital topaz
#

Haha not really, maybe 3 studios atm

#

But too much spam on career chat I think 😁

woeful iron
#

I don't work in games anymore so not really following all the details anymore

#

but there's a tax shelter now, it's something

pastel estuary
#

well, it was still related to working in the industry, somewhat

chilly sundial
earnest pecan
#

it's so difficult lol

chilly sundial
#

I think it's why so many people go for [Descriptor][Object] Studios

#

Pretty common template

earnest pecan
#

I actually want to avoid the words "studios", "games" and "entertainment"

#

but looks like I can't

woeful iron
#

call it bb games for bonkers brothers

shut token
#

"Big Bit Games"

earnest pecan
chilly sundial
#

Or perhaps WhyCan'tAnimBPsJustWork Interactive

nova coyote
#

i like "bonkers software"

earnest pecan
#

BooAnimBP Games Presents:

earnest pecan
woeful iron
#

BonkerSoft

nova coyote
earnest pecan
brazen shard
vital topaz
woeful iron
#

Neopica also uses it afaik

brazen shard
#

Ok thanks to both you, I might be back for more though ^^

delicate lion
#

I need help

earnest pecan
#

don't we all?

delicate lion
earnest pecan
#

exactly

delicate lion
#

I just needed a quick question about how to write the command block for finding someone who can work for me to help me out on a game

earnest pecan
#

use /

delicate lion
earnest pecan
delicate lion
earnest pecan
#

no one will see your messages

delicate lion
chilly sundial
delicate lion
woeful iron
#

is for revenue share obviously, so not necessarily payment up front

chilly sundial
#

Yeah

delicate lion
#

Thank you

rancid hedge
#

I think people are not hiring me because my last position I had in the field im applying for was in 2020

rancid hedge
#

I was in College

brave forge
#

That's usually a fine explanation. I doubt that's the reason

chilly sundial
rancid hedge
#

during my interviews yes

#

but they can also see it clearly in my CV

chilly sundial
#

Just making sure.

stark anvil
#

Hello

atomic veldt
#

I think some people don't see college as a valid excuse. At least that's what I've been told in general

chilly sundial
#

Yeah, you can have your personal reservations about whether it's a waste of money or not, but if you don't think it's a valid reason to have a gap in work, you're severely disconnected from reality

rustic furnace
#

Trying to do college and work at the same time is awful, do not recommend it

earnest pecan
jagged leaf
#

would this be the channel to get information on if developing graphic assets can be decent enough to make some side money, or even live off of money?

chilly sundial
#

It can be, but those people normally have years and years of industry experience beforehand

jagged leaf
#

more wondering if it's viable at all before I start going down that road.

brave forge
# jagged leaf more wondering if it's viable at all before I start going down that road.

I mean, it can't hurt to make some money off a learning experience anyway.

I sell a code plugin, not art assets so my experience is a little different. From what I've gathered from previous discussions on similar topics here specifically art assets, the really successful sellers have consistently high quality, follow best practices, and do reasonably good business through repeat customers, so building a library of many products is important.

#

and ofcourse "live off" money depends entirely on where you are and what a living wage looks like

jagged leaf
#

I suppose the next question would be good tutorials for building quality asset packs, best practices, and well, anything of use really

brave forge
# jagged leaf I suppose the next question would be good tutorials for building quality asset p...

I'm not really an artist so i can't recommend any. But things i look for when buying:

  • Decent UV setups so things can be customised.
  • Efficient map/texture packing
  • Modular and fits together well
  • Comes with a decent example map, not just a collection of assets

I'd say checkout the popular assets in the category you are looking at on orbital marketplace, pick up a few of them if you can, and break down those and why they might be good

#

although having said that, just because it's popular doesn't mean it's great, but a high quality asset has a higher chance of being rated higher

jagged leaf
#

thanks for the reply on that. I'll give some a look see to see what they consist of and go from there. For questions regarding this, is there a channel that would be a better place to ask questions about this topic?

brave forge
#

Probably still here for general career stuff, #fab for marketplace stuff, but anything under the content creation category that most closely matches the topic of your question really

silent yacht
#

If working on a project with others. What type of naming convention do you all follow

proper breach
#

A quick question! (👋 again, Laura!). Does anyone here recommend a course or an online program that goes deep into the workflows of environment artists? I’ve been looking at this one at Gnomon Workshop, but would love to hear anyone’s thoughts before buying. Here’s the Gnomon link: https://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/tutorials/creating-a-medieval-castle-in-unreal-engine-5

Creating a Medieval Castle in Unreal Engine 5 | The Gnomon Workshop

Learn how to master natural-looking environments in Unreal Engine 5 using up-to-date industry techniques. In this 4-hour workshop, Phil Stoltz, a Senior Environment Artist working in the videogame industry, reveals his tips and techniques for creating a photorealistic medieval castle scene.

The chapters of this workshop detail the environment c...

steady pewter
#

There are plenty of cheap/free videos from which you can deduce workflows. However, you won't have that personal feedback until you put an effort on your advertisement.

proper breach
#

Not really sure if I understand your second sentence, @steady pewter 🙂

#

But I agree that there are a lot of free tutorial videos on YouTube and other sources

#

I just think I’m looking for something that goes a bit more in-depth. I also find some great resources in the Epic Learning environment

steel creek
#

on the VFX side, Gnomon is a pretty solid standard for training material. I know the studio I have populated have carried their dvd libs and have since moved to the digital subs for in-studio training. I dont use their stuff much anymore, as it was what we had 20 years ago, and have since moved along, but, all the content I have ever seen, from the early days of Maya 101 NURBs modelling to the last thing I watched there (Techniques of Syd Mead), was an excellent production. They are expensive, but the quality is worth the price. They are not the typical Gumroad/DigitalTutors/Pluralsight/Udemy/Skillshare/Udacity... tutorial.

Dont know that specific one, but the trailer and reading up on the author, seems legit.

rancid hedge
#

How am I supposed to compete with 1000 people on this job application

#

Would you apply to a job with 1000 applicants already?

rustic furnace
#

Sure why not

nova coyote
#

a job apportunity is a job apportunity so why not take it

steel creek
#

1 out of 1000 is better odds than the lotto ;p

modern relic
proper breach
oblique ice
#

unfortunately competition is always there 😕

chilly sundial
#

Can you pull moves like "I think you should pay me more"
"Why"
"Why not"
😆

#

100% professionalism

rancid hedge
nova coyote
chilly sundial
#

Not applying somewhere because it has a high volume of applicants lands you exactly a 0% chance of being hired.

Even just applying is an infinitely higher chance of getting the job

#

Why wouldn't you apply for a job that has had a high volume of applicants

#

You have literally nothing to lose

nova coyote
#

^ you miss 100% of the shots you dont take

oblique ice
#

yes, specialise are really needed

coarse pilot
#

when you're looking for a job, your job is to get the word out. even applying to the "wrong" roles might result in the same company going "but wait, we do need someone who can do <insert what you do>"

plucky hatch
#

Even if not meeting all the requirements it's a good idea to apply

plucky hatch
#

Is volunteering experience ?

proper breach
#

Hey @charred sentinel , you’ve been so helpful earlier on so I hope you don’t mind me tagging you directly with the following ask. I was wondering if you recommend any physical books on UE(5) for beginners. I’m pretty oldskool when it comes to learning through reading, so any one or two recommendations would be very welcome 🙏

#

Yeah, I thought as much… and diving deep into C++ isn’t exactly on top of my list to learn haha 😅

#

Even though I have big respect for people who write this language with ease

small marsh
#

does asking for a lower salary increases chances of getting a job or implies a bad impression, alck of proffesionalism and experience?

patent gust
#

I have a question as i came from Unity (i just used UE4 to do environments/materials).
To go to a full career, its valid to work as a volunteer in projects to gather experience or should i focus more into developing a portfolio with studies/etc?

I was thinking in making some asset packs for marketplace (modular buildings, etc as i'm a 3D artist) to use as a portfolio too and its something active.

small marsh
#

all great

mint skiff
#

All of that basically counts as developing a portfolio

#

Just make sure it's good, and make sure it's central & visible to employers.

small marsh
#

assets packs for marketplace is a great investment of time

patent gust
#

Oh yeah, so im gonna focus heavily on it

#

I appreciate all you lads, thanks again!

plucky hatch
#

Devs leaving = Red Flag?

nova coyote
#

depends. but if they're leaving in groups then it might be bad. i recommend asking one of them for why they left

woeful iron
#

if they'r all leaving one after the other then there might be something fishy going on yeah

#

but if it's just one in a while that's normal

fluid cedar
#

Hi all ! I want to be a engine programmer or graphics programmer in the gaming industrie. Just for information I have a master degree in graphics programming ( lot of different thing not only one specification).So I need to learn Unreal engine 5 for this jobs. Do you have some ressources ? Like good tutorial, i only got some knwoledge on Unity about game engine. Also one question about unrealXwantedjob- do i need to use blueprint ? Not only c++ ? How can I learn. This type of job specially ?
(Sorry for my English also sorry if im not too precise in my question m)
Thanks all !

woeful iron
#

like unreal 5 in general, or graphics programming in unreal specifically

fluid cedar
#

I don't knwo, i think i need first to have some knwoledge on unreal to then choose a specification ?

woeful iron
#

also see pins in #cpp

fluid cedar
#

thanks

woeful iron
#

oh, I was assuming they wanted to apply to unreal specific job already

#

true

fluid cedar
#

yes i knwo, i started to learn vilkan, but in some interview they ask me about unreal because they use unreal

small marsh
#

if game programmer do you need a protfolio or just including in cv released titles is ok?

earnest pecan
#

it's both

#

they need a demo of what you can accomplish

small marsh
#

watcha mean\

earnest pecan
#

they need to know what you can do

small marsh
#

isnt cv ewnouh

earnest pecan
#

huh?

small marsh
#

isnt it redundant

#

cv is enough

earnest pecan
#

does your cv show them that you can do something?

#

or does it list what you did before?

small marsh
#

the4 second

earnest pecan
#

exactly

small marsh
#

what that mean

woeful iron
#

if nothing else having a portfolio can make it a lot more visual and a lot more detail

#

it is also more "proof" that you actually did it

#

you can write whatever you want on a cv

#

yeah outside of games nobody cares mostly in my experience

patent gust
#

Im trying to get into the market, but i think im gonna need a new portfolio as my graphic design portfolio doesnt count for the role im getting into xD

chilly sundial
# small marsh cv is enough

A lot of roles require at least a GitHub of work. Otherwise you can't prove you can do the work. I have heard once you have a more established career it's less necessary. But for breaking in it's super necessary. Unless you're lucky and know a guy who knows a guy sorta thing

round radish
#

I got hired because somebody randomly found my github account.

woeful iron
#

no one ever checked my github for a job I think

#

at least they never mentioned it

#

it's quite dead over there tbh

earnest pecan
#

wow, did NOT know that people check github before hiring

earnest pecan
#

mfw when i see this

image.png
#

but i think i'm private already

jagged magnet
#

Hi all, I'm relatively new to UE but I've spent this past summer trying to commit myself to learning and am trying to break into the game dev industry. I'm going into my last year of university and am planning to apply for some Gameplay and Engine Programmer roles at Epic and Insomniac later this week, and would really appreciate some feedback on my resume. Also would love to here any advice from people who work in the industry on how they landed their first job and got to where they are today. Thanks!

Anonymous_Resume.png
plucky hatch
#

The real John Doe

granite solar
# jagged magnet Hi all, I'm relatively new to UE but I've spent this past summer trying to commi...

I'd put C++ first under programming languages if you're looking for gameplay and engine programming positions, at studios that use C++. With naturally reading left to right, they'd see that immediately upon glancing at "Programming Languages" instead of "digging" for it. It seems a lil odd to me to have education placed at the top. At least in my case, my skills and projects had more to say than my degrees. Overall I think your descriptions are well done, the information content seems good, just placement made me feel like I had to look for those things more than desired. The first people to look at that are most likely only going to spend about 10 seconds (?even that feels generous tbh). The sooner they find the important info (like seeing you have C++ as a skill for an engine/gameplay programming position at a studio that uses primarily C++), the better.
And take my advice with a grain of salt, I've only been in the industry for a lil over a year; far from an experienced vet who's gone through this process multiple times. and obvi has 0 hiring/recruiting experience. :p

jagged magnet
#

Btw if you don't mind me asking, how was the process for you in getting into industry? Do you have any tips for interview prep or other ways to increase my chances?

plucky hatch
#

Is it relevant to have languages section? It seems irrelevant given everyone speaks English xd idc if someone speaks 24 langauges or just English

earnest pecan
#

you'd be surprised how few people speak English

#

also where is the languages part written lol I can't find it

granite solar
# jagged magnet Btw if you don't mind me asking, how was the process for you in getting into ind...

The process kinda went from 0-100 it felt lol. There was a senior engineer reviewing my resume for me (just back and forth sparsely over discord over a few weeks), after a couple revisions, he told me he'd be willing to pass it to HR for me because he liked what he saw. Then shortly after I got an email from the company asking if I wanted to do some interviews. I ended up doing 3 total, and my prep for them was mostly going back over some C++ fundamentals (I never touched C++ outside of UE at that point, and I had hunch the coding stuff of the interview was going to be raw C++) and mock-explaining code to an imaginary person. I really wanted to make sure that 1) I wouldn't forget some fundamental stuff. That'd look real bad. 2) be comfortable explaining/thinking out loud. Which helps in not forgetting everything I know about programming 😛 As for the interviews themselves, I had 1 "screening" interview which was basically a "make sure this person actually knows how to program" type of thing, maybe 20 minutes. Then two one-hour long interviews with two different teams. I tried to just stay natural during the interviews, basically as if I was just talking code with a friend. No worrying about whether I think I'm good enough; I got no idea what exactly they are looking for. All I can do is present my knowledge and experience. They get to do the hard stuff of deciding whether I'm a right fit or not.

Before that I had 0 luck. I had one interview, a year prior, and I botched it so bad because I didn't even realize I was in an interview then lol.

wild gale
#

Hello I've recently been offered a chance to work on a project where they expect me to do the 3d lifting on said project, after all negotiations and portfolio reviews main questions arose and that is how much to ask for it... As I've not been a part of a project like this yet I would love to get advice on the amount I should ask for.

To briefly describe it, they require me to create a video with renders which I'll be creating from a concept. And to animate it in such a way so the buildings will be built as the camera pans around.

The whole video should be upwards to roughly ~2min

Keep in mind this is an international company with a substantial budget.

here are references they've submitted:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ct1oGOYyKV9/?img_index=1

https://youtu.be/0kz5vEqdaSc

Thanks for any advice!

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jagged magnet
woeful iron
jagged magnet
woeful iron
#

I don't have a master so I wouldn't know. was just wondering 😄

spiral badge
#

Hey, does anyone know any good resume/cv reviewers? I feel my CV is my weakest point of my portfolio

plucky hatch
#

Google cv checker reviewer ats or sum

nova remnant
#

Hey I am a lead unreal artist but I want to switch to a unreal developer down the line does anyone know any prestigious or really good coding courses or boot camps that employers love to see and also teaches super well. I am trying not to go full time for years like an undergrad for computer science

chilly sundial
#

they're all a load of crap tbh

nova coyote
#

ig the epic online courses could count

chilly sundial
#

Yeah but I doubt any course will earn you brownie points over someone with an impressive portfolio or experience

woeful iron
#

from where the sudden change of heart to become a dev, if you're already in a lead position?

jagged magnet
naive palm
#

And why not Tech Art? If you already do art, work the coding and complex systems into your art and your art pipeline. Great way to start small.

nova remnant
nova remnant
#

thank you for your help everyone!

twin warren
#

I received an email two weeks ago with times for a second interview that is on Tuesday. The email said that another email would be sent to me this last week with information for how to get to the interview and what will be discussed in the interview. I didn't receive that email this last week. What should I do?

lilac walrus
#

e-mail them and ask for clarification

twin warren
#

Should I do it right now (on a weekend), or Monday?

#

This is in the US FWIW

plucky hatch
#

Follow up after 3+ days

twin warren
#

Well, that would have been four days ago

#

And if I wait three days from the last day that he would have sent it, that would be the day of the interview

past cradle
#

How hard is it to get into epic games?

chilly sundial
#

without a key the doors are probably locked so it could be quite hard :P

past cradle
#

Lol I mean get a entry level job or software development internship from them

chilly sundial
#

i'd imagine as much as any other place, that is to say, fairly difficult

past cradle
#

You guys have any tips on getting hired by them?

#

Like specific unreal 5 projects or…?

mint skiff
#

Implement skeletal meshes for nanite 👍

past cradle
#

suurre

#

for real though

torn ledge
#

I imagine applying for a role is a first step

past cradle
#

I got rejected a lot from them

torn ledge
#

Or if you have lots of industry contacts, reaching out to folks you know

#

Well then, there you go

past cradle
#

so just quit applying?

torn ledge
#

I mean epic isnt the only game dev around

past cradle
#

true, but then again I cant seem to find a game dev job

torn ledge
#

Its hard

past cradle
#

so, the main reason is i want to make a game , and im studying software engineering

#

I can go for like, embedded software engineering, but I dont know if doing game dev for a studio then for myself is easier or not, im assuming it is

#

if theres no crunch and what not

torn ledge
#

I have no idea what you are trying to say.

past cradle
#

so, either embedded software engineer in the morning and indie game dev at night

#

or i can do game dev in the morning and indie game dev at night

#

i hope that makes sense lol

torn ledge
#

Like for work?

past cradle
#

yeah Im trying to decide if gamedev is for me as a day job

#

becuase i am going to be doing indie game dev in my personal time

torn ledge
#

I mean personally in 15 years of being in the games industry the grand total of side projects ive made that are more than just toys (fiddling with ideas) is 0

#

But some folks love to live and breathe it I suppose heh

past cradle
#

well, the indie game is really important to me, so im not giving it up, but what i need advice the most on is wether i should have a day job as a game dev or embedded software engineer

mint skiff
#

If you're still studying I don't think it really matters

#

Best job is the one you can get

torn ledge
#

Personally I like the gear shift of work being different from personal projects

#

But also work can easily burn out your motivation for doing things at home

mint skiff
#

Yeah my personal output went through the floor when I started working in the industry

#

Itch gets scratched at work, no desire to do it at home 😅

torn ledge
#

Same ahaha

#

The only time I have desire is when I think something I built or worked on could be implemented better