Breaking into the gaming industry - by Gavin Koh

      Posted 03/16/11 11:36:00 am  

My friend had recently asked me: Why do you want to leave your current job and become a game developer?

My answer is always one and the same: I have a passion for gaming. I love playing, analyzing, and designing games. A lot! I have always felt that it is my calling to be a game developer and designer. And, due to circumstances in my current job, it's time to make that career switch and pursue my dreams.

I have often pondered these past few months - How does one break into the gaming industry? I have looked around and noticed good write-ups on the Internet over here and here. On Gamasutra, there is this blog, for starters.

Now, here's my checklist:

Stop procrastinating and take actionI dabble around in the forums over at Garage Games, though not as an overly active member, gotta make a change to that. I have also procrastinated enough and am now actively blogging over at Gamasutra in the hopes of being "talent spotted".

Demonstrate your knowledge about gamesAt the start of this year, I made a resolution to make this work. To demonstrate my knowledge about games and my maturity in providing good game review analyses, I created my very own Daily PC Game Reviews blog site. It's come a long way after two and a half months, and I am pretty pleased with the readership rate and response that I have received so far.

Present your programming skills to your prospective employersBeing so busy at work in my current job, and dedicating my time to the PC game review site, I know I have been neglecting presenting my expertise on coding. I tend to do tools programming pretty well, and prototype pretty fast with VB - that would be an asset to agile software development. I also have some expertise with Torque tools. After some thinking, I decided to create a sister blog called Appetite 4 Coding. I hope to add some videos and articles showing my skill in programming over the next few weeks. I know it's rather sparse right now, so give me some time.

Post your resume and focus on how you can contributeI finally found time today to post my resume on Monster.com. I explained how I would add value to my future employer if they were to give me the job. With my experience in project management, I have confidence that my resume will get noticed. At the same time, I will also post my resume over here on the Gamasutra boards later this week.

Well, that's it for now. Are you also looking to break into the gaming industry? Care to share your experiences? Or perhaps you are already in the gaming industry? Tell me what's on your mind. I'd be happy to hear any advice you have to offer.

I am ready to follow my dreams, even if I have to relocate, then I shall do so.

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