Careers in Game Design

You might have noticed we have a Game Design course coming up, with the next one starting June 3. Are you wondering if the course is worth the investment and what a career in game design might look like? Playing games is fun, but what kind of work is out there for people who have the needed skills? What can you expect a typical work day to look like?

In today’s professional games industry, the good news is that multiple job options exist for artists and developers. For many companies, you no longer need to spend a good chunk of your day commuting. Now that you can connect to the web at any time from anywhere, the sky truly is the limit! Many opportunities are either remote or offer a hybrid working environment which means only commuting a couple of days a week. Before you begin your search for your next role in game design, ask yourself what you want your work life to look like. I have always found roadmapping to be quite useful in determining what my next role should be. If you’ve never had a roadmapping session, let us know! Maybe we can get a workshop up on the calendar!  This is even more important to do if you plan to be an indie developer, as resources are limited and timing is important.

Now that we know what we want our work life to look like, where are we going to find our next role? A quick LinkedIn search using the keywords Unreal Engine nets me over 7000 open positions looking for someone who is skilled in UE. Narrowing down to Game Design, it’s just over 5000. These numbers can be further refined by inputting other parameters for whether or not you would want to work remotely. Glassdoor netted approximately 500 remote positions. Games Jobs Direct, just over 700. If you’re interested in gig work, as opposed to a M-F 9-5 type lifestyle, Upwork and Freelancer.com have over 400 and 1600, respectively. If you want folks to find you based on your portfolio, look no further than Fiverr where you set your own pricing based on the project. I personally find freelancer platforms a great resource for building a portfolio.  There are also other options available to you, including our own free channels where CG Pro posts jobs sent to us. 

What sets CG Pro’s Unreal Engine courses apart from other courses out there, is that our instructors are actively working in the field at the top of our game.  Three of our instructors (including John Waynick) are Unreal Authorized Instructors (a large number even for an Unreal Authorized Training Center) with two more in the testing phase.  We bring in the latest techniques, many that have been taught directly by Epic Games, and do our best to support you not only during class, but in our private Facebook group throughout the week.  This way you can get unstuck fast.  By the end of the course,  you should have a vertical slice of a game ready as a WIP.  The instructor has kindly offered to continue that FB support beyond the ending of the course.  There are also options for live year round support and connection after the course is over!

One of our favorite differentiators, by far, is seeing the strong relationships among our students leading to post-course collaboration. One of the benefits of participating in our cohorts is the live learning environment where you get to know the other students. As you may have experienced previously, deep bonds with others are often built in educational environments. We continue to nurture those connections via our various social media platforms and community events. Getting to know fellow CG Pro alumni can lead to long lasting friendships, opportunities to work together, teaming up on a start-up, or bringing a CG Pro connection into an opening in your company. 

We look forward to seeing how your journey unfolds!