So I have a million and one questions. As I am wanting to go the route of getting into game dev as a career.
Nice! I don't know if I should wish you GoodLuck, as a dev who is getting out, I would say "be careful what you wish for" :D
I first wanted to ask what made you want to leave the industry and move over to web?
I was already on the web, before and after but I made a big switch: I moved exclusively to back-end, highly distributed huge systems, on a new language and new technologies. Some of the reasons I stated them in other comment dev.to/gmartigny/comment/791n
TLTR: I wanted more tech challenges and a new-age career
Secondly what tips do you have for getting your foot in the door as a game dev?
Read the top 2-3 Game design books to get familiar with the business side, learn optimization tricks in your technologies and just apply like any other positions.
I see you are into C++ and 3D, learn Unreal Engine and play with CryEngine.
And overall what was it like did you enjoy it or did you just eventually get burnt out?
I had a blast! I learned a lot and met wonderful smart passionate people. I learned how to build big things, fast and good, deliver a good user experience and think at all the effects each line of code has, from business to users and tech debt.
I just "grew" up, changed my age prefix, made 2 kids and my priorities changed.
Wow nicely written. I can guarantee that these advice work because I am applying them for years, but never realized that I can summarize and share them.
Time - I have the luxury to choose only jobs with low commute duration, and I apply many Team-management skills to my personal life. The family is a team and can be managed. My colleagues that are living in Rent apartments are always moving near the offices (we moved the office twice). I did 45 min commutes and at my new job I cut it down to 5.
Exercise - I did some A/B testing and a few hours a week are great for me.
Focus - It is all about priorities. Many years ago I realized that I cannot have more then 3 main focus areas at a time, in my life. The first two are family, and as a side effect providing money. The third and secondary targets are switched each year: learning, a hobby or other extra stuff.
The downside is that I had to let go to many other things, so I do better at the main activities.
Brick by brick - I use all the free time I have, but the long projects (that takes more than 4-5 hours) are sometimes finished in a span of weeks. You can accomplish many things if you persevere.
Social activities are a priority for the peers I always keep hearing "I do not have time ...". They do not realize this of course. I cut off from my life many "mandatory events and gatherings", that did not bring awesome in my life. I was wasting time just because of social pressure.
Marathon. I often speak to people that want to become developers, and I am portraying this "IT" industry as a long and hard core marathon. You have to think on the long run. It takes at least a year to get your first job, and many more to build great stuff.
Monitoring - I keep a close eye on everything that is a time Sink. When I realized I was checking social networks every 10 minutes I removed them from my phone and some from my life. I keep away from games (being almost an addict).
I know that it sounds lame and "robotic" but if you think about it, if you measure and improve the mandatory activities you spend time, you will have more time to do fun stuff.
Context: I am doing side projects for at least 7 years, I learn a lot, I have a family, I never had a burnout.
I do not wake up early, I work full time at an office, I always work at projects I like and for free. I take entire days and holidays time off with no computer and apps.
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Nice! I don't know if I should wish you GoodLuck, as a dev who is getting out, I would say "be careful what you wish for" :D
I was already on the web, before and after but I made a big switch: I moved exclusively to back-end, highly distributed huge systems, on a new language and new technologies. Some of the reasons I stated them in other comment dev.to/gmartigny/comment/791n
TLTR: I wanted more tech challenges and a new-age career
Read the top 2-3 Game design books to get familiar with the business side, learn optimization tricks in your technologies and just apply like any other positions.
I see you are into C++ and 3D, learn Unreal Engine and play with CryEngine.
I had a blast! I learned a lot and met wonderful smart passionate people. I learned how to build big things, fast and good, deliver a good user experience and think at all the effects each line of code has, from business to users and tech debt.
I just "grew" up, changed my age prefix, made 2 kids and my priorities changed.
I never burnout, see this topic for more info
Wow nicely written. I can guarantee that these advice work because I am applying them for years, but never realized that I can summarize and share them.
Time - I have the luxury to choose only jobs with low commute duration, and I apply many Team-management skills to my personal life. The family is a team and can be managed. My colleagues that are living in Rent apartments are always moving near the offices (we moved the office twice). I did 45 min commutes and at my new job I cut it down to 5.
Exercise - I did some A/B testing and a few hours a week are great for me.
Focus - It is all about priorities. Many years ago I realized that I cannot have more then 3 main focus areas at a time, in my life. The first two are family, and as a side effect providing money. The third and secondary targets are switched each year: learning, a hobby or other extra stuff.
The downside is that I had to let go to many other things, so I do better at the main activities.
Brick by brick - I use all the free time I have, but the long projects (that takes more than 4-5 hours) are sometimes finished in a span of weeks. You can accomplish many things if you persevere.
Social activities are a priority for the peers I always keep hearing "I do not have time ...". They do not realize this of course. I cut off from my life many "mandatory events and gatherings", that did not bring awesome in my life. I was wasting time just because of social pressure.
Marathon. I often speak to people that want to become developers, and I am portraying this "IT" industry as a long and hard core marathon. You have to think on the long run. It takes at least a year to get your first job, and many more to build great stuff.
Monitoring - I keep a close eye on everything that is a time Sink. When I realized I was checking social networks every 10 minutes I removed them from my phone and some from my life. I keep away from games (being almost an addict).
I know that it sounds lame and "robotic" but if you think about it, if you measure and improve the mandatory activities you spend time, you will have more time to do fun stuff.
Context: I am doing side projects for at least 7 years, I learn a lot, I have a family, I never had a burnout.
I do not wake up early, I work full time at an office, I always work at projects I like and for free. I take entire days and holidays time off with no computer and apps.