01-16-2007, 08:18 PM
One other thing... I mentioned this briefly in my earlier post, but I want to reiterate it... It was advice I heard in Community College in my first math course. I had this really cool teacher who helped make the class interesting, and every now and then he gave us wise advise. And the advice was this: don't look for a job that makes a huge amount of money. Look for a job that you'll enjoy.
He said he would ask students what they wanted to do when they graduated, and they'd say,
That's the main reason I'm pursuing game programming. I *enjoy* it a lot more than other forms of work that I've tried. Don't get me wrong, there are still plenty of days you don't want to look at a line of code, or you're banging your head against the wall for weeks because you can't figure out why Jack is falling through the moving platform when it reaches the ceiling, or you don't know why it crashes on rare occasions when you look at the map screen, or Apple has come up with a brand new OS that's based on Unix that requires you to spend weeks rewriting lots of code, or whatever... It stiill has its challenges and unpleasant parts. But I still enjoy it more than most other jobs, and therefore, if I can enjoy what I'm spending the majority of my life doing, that's a lot more important than being miserable most of the week, and having some extra cash to spend on the weekends.
We live in a pretty amazing country where you can pursue your dreams. Not everyone will be successful in what they try to do (a LOT more shareware authors fail than those who succeed in making a living doing shareware), but if you have a passion, and are willing to spend the huge amounts of time getting skilled in your passion, and then stay dedicated while you build your first products, then you might have a chance of success.
So find what you enjoy, and if you think you can make a living doing it, go for it! But definitely don't think there's any way to do it quick and easy.
He said he would ask students what they wanted to do when they graduated, and they'd say,
I don't care, as long as I make a lot of money.But that's a bad idea! He pointed out that we spend the vast majority of our lives working. So, what good is having a good salary if you're miserable during most of the week? Will having extra cash to spend on the weekend really make it worth it?
That's the main reason I'm pursuing game programming. I *enjoy* it a lot more than other forms of work that I've tried. Don't get me wrong, there are still plenty of days you don't want to look at a line of code, or you're banging your head against the wall for weeks because you can't figure out why Jack is falling through the moving platform when it reaches the ceiling, or you don't know why it crashes on rare occasions when you look at the map screen, or Apple has come up with a brand new OS that's based on Unix that requires you to spend weeks rewriting lots of code, or whatever... It stiill has its challenges and unpleasant parts. But I still enjoy it more than most other jobs, and therefore, if I can enjoy what I'm spending the majority of my life doing, that's a lot more important than being miserable most of the week, and having some extra cash to spend on the weekends.
We live in a pretty amazing country where you can pursue your dreams. Not everyone will be successful in what they try to do (a LOT more shareware authors fail than those who succeed in making a living doing shareware), but if you have a passion, and are willing to spend the huge amounts of time getting skilled in your passion, and then stay dedicated while you build your first products, then you might have a chance of success.
So find what you enjoy, and if you think you can make a living doing it, go for it! But definitely don't think there's any way to do it quick and easy.