With so many experienced developers on the job market, I have to wonder: What about the graduates?
With so many games industry professionalys having lost their jobs in the last couple of years, competition for roles is intense. So what do graduates do in a difficult jobs market?
Breaking into the game industry was always hard for graduatesand yes, it’s even harder than before. Why? Sadly there are a lot of people who have been laid off (stats suggest a third of games industry folks in the US to 26% in Europe). This means lots more competition for the roles that are available. It means people are going for roles that perhaps a couple of years ago they would not have considered as they perceived that it was a step down. But needs must and people have bills to pay. (I totally understand this - we do what we need to!)
(Image - A Space Invader character street art on a London street. Photo by author.)
As such, senior people will look at mid-level roles and mid-levels will look at junior roles and juniors will look at graduate roles. If you are the person hiring for your studio you want the best person for the role, so you’ll probably hire the most experienced person you can for your budget. That means a graduate is not only competing against other graduates but experienced developers with game credits in their CV. While it makes sense for an individual hire, in the long term this is bad for the industry as we need new people. But it is the cold reality of the market. Don’t hate the players, hate the game.
So if you are a graduate, I’ve been thinking of some things you can do. Here’s a few suggestions of mine and feel free to add more ideas in the comments.
Keep Upskilling for hard-to-do roles. Even at the hardest of times some roles are still harder to fill than others. Network engineers, build engineers, UX UI, monetisation, F2P design, game economy design; these are the roles that in my experience were hard to fill. Check the job listings and see what is coming up more than once and learn the skills for those roles. Even if you don’t get there, you are improving your CV and potential value.
Learn Roblox (or the next upcoming thing; Browser games?) Are you finding that a lack of experience means you can’t compete against developers with years of experience in Unity or Unreal? Learn a platform they don’t know, become a native of that platform. Unencumbered by how things ‘should’ be, you can rapidly adapt to these areas and get a portfolio of projects and skills. (Oh and Roblox does have a funding scheme for new developers!)
Keep networking. Recruitment is still happening. Some will happen via networking, so you’ll hear about an opportunity before (even if!) it goes public. Some will happen when the studio or company didn’t even know they needed someone, until that conversation happened. Being more than just a CV in an inbox can help you be more visible in any recruitment process. So, where you can, keep going to socials, attending events and the like.
(Image - Game-related graffiti in Brighton. Brighton hosts Develop each year in July, a great networking opportunity. Photo by author.)
Keep Jamming. We make games not because it’s an easy way to make money. It’s not. We make games because it’s our medium we are driven to create for it. So exercising your craft always has a value, so find and take part in game jams to exercise your creativity, teamwork and technical skills. Worst case you have more things on your CV, best case you meet people to work with and/or make something special. No game jams around? Set your own up. If you build it, they will come. (Same point for the mod scene - lots of game have active mod scenes and it is a great way to add to your portfolio of work and sometimes the best modders get hired by companies!)
DIY. This is an extension of the point above. The barrier to entry to get a game out is, for good or for ill, really low. This means you can just create and release. Worst case is more experience as a developer. Best case is a breakout hit and you are the one doing the hiring.
Form collectives. This is an extension of the points above; do those things but not alone. There’s plenty of others in the same situation. Gather them, plot together, work together, learn together. Perhaps make a studio together. Perhaps you’ll make a hit game together? It has happened before.
I hope these ideas have helped a little. As I mentioned, if you have other ideas then please do drop them into the comments.
Thanks and good luck out there.
Interesting Gaming Links!
A public server where you can play classic text adventure games for free
That one Time Games Workshop was a Video Game Publisher - Codex Compliant
Thank you for reading!
P.S. This newsletter is a personal one and is done as a personal project and as such is not affiliated with any company that, in my day job, I work with or partner with. Nor do the views I express necessarily reflect any company that, in my day job, I work with or partner with. More on me here.