Hello Habitants! We have published a book by Maxim Maksimenko (MaximMiheenko), the founder of 5518 STUDIOS, which provides relevant and practical information on how to get into the gaming industry, how to choose a profession to your liking and how to start earning your first money, as well as how to get into the US gaming market, working remotely from Moscow, Kazan, Minsk or Ulyanovsk.
Even at the turn of the millennium, video games were a purely niche product for a narrow fan audience - gamers. The situation is different these days - the games industry generates more than $ 150 billion in annual revenue, surpassing the cinema and music business combined. ALL PLAYING! This figure is given as of 2019, and the dynamics are impressive. World statistics show that the indicators will only grow further. The 2020 coronavirus pandemic and global self-isolation have clearly demonstrated that the gaming industry is now becoming one of the main industries in the world. And you can still enter it from scratch ...
Professions of the future and opportunities for remote work
I've written a lot about remote work, now let's look at this topic from a slightly different angle.
Modern work opportunities are transforming in many areas. More and more companies, universities, clinics offer remote work to their employees in order to compete and reduce the cost of office space maintenance. I will cite as examples just a few organizations that use the teleworking scheme: Automattic, Basecamp, WordPress, Skyeng, Crossover, GitLab, Autodesk, InVision, etc.
You can see that this has become a trend, and I am sure that more and more companies in the future will choose exactly this way of interacting with their employees, especially since modern technologies allow this. And if we take into account the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the consciousness of people, the likelihood of such a choice is obvious.
As for our company, I can say that one of the goals of 5518 Studios is to create an atmosphere in which specialists will love their work and will be inspired, as we provide a creative product to the highly competitive IT market. Our competent employees always have a place to go, and our task is to create such working conditions for them that they would like to stay in our company.
If people love what they do and feel comfortable, then they will deliver a quality product in a short time, enthusiastically discuss and propose ideas. And their differences in nationality and culture, religious and political views, geographic location and age allow us to create a “motley team” that can provide a fresh perspective on different challenges. Also, having top managers in different time zones enables the company to respond to customer messages with impressive speed.
Our company has a large percentage of people working remotely. The teleworking scheme is more convenient and logical in the face of a shortage of highly qualified employees in the region. Not everyone wants to move to the cities where we have our offices, or work from the office. For many, it is important to spend more time with their family and have flexible working hours. This business model helps to reduce the cost of real estate, rent, water, heating, lighting, food, daily travel, which, in turn, allows you to create more favorable conditions for cooperation with the best specialists from anywhere in the world.
Our remote team works well despite the distance. Since they do not have the opportunity to be physically close and discuss work processes, team members place great emphasis on effective communication. We distribute remote employees into teams, creating many small teams. This reduces bureaucracy and management time, frees up more time overall, and makes teams more flexible and reactive.
I have shared with you my thoughts on the structure of our company, a business model that is not really new. This model is used by many world famous companies, it really works and bears fruit.
According to 2019 statistics, 40% of global companies allow remote work, and 16% - completely remote.
According to my forecasts, the statistics for 2020 will differ significantly in the direction of increasing these indicators.
Companies that allow telecommuting experience 25% lower employee turnover than others (according to www.owllabs.com ). I repeat, in my opinion, in the future, with the improvement of security systems and the development of Internet technologies, the percentage of companies supporting the policy of remote work for their employees will only grow. Therefore, perhaps, and you should seriously think about remote work. Now there is nothing shameful in this, the world has already been rebuilt and will be rebuilt even faster. It is important to have time to understand trends and be able to adapt to the new reality. To strengthen my thought, I will share one more observation.
I don’t know if you noticed, or perhaps already faced this at work, but we began to observe more and more often that in many IT companies the conditions for employees began to deteriorate, and not in terms of free drinks, sweets and tennis tables at work at couple with hammocks or massage parlor, pizza on Fridays. Competition among employees has become very high, which gives companies the right to choose and cut costs. Sometimes companies hire five new students instead of one “old” employee to cut costs, because the “old man's” salary has grown, but his efficiency has not, so it is more profitable to distribute his salary among five young energetic employees.
If it still seems to you that it is safer to work in an office, I would like to note right away that many companies already now provide minimum guarantees for employment, and now I mean not only Russian companies and organizations in the CIS countries, but also many Western ones. Everyone strives to cut costs, all on the same wavelength.
Of course, remote work has its drawbacks: for example, sitting at home at the computer all day can feel lonely. And it can be useful to talk to more experienced colleagues. Here I can advise you to read information on forums, participate in conferences, establish connections and keep in touch with the pros, study video tutorials and high-quality content.
For those who are seriously thinking about working on the ocean in shale and with a laptop, I advise you to learn the tools that are very useful when working remotely.
- Slack is a chat for employees.
- Basecamp, Jira, Trello - online project management and task setting tools.
- Skype, Zoom, Google hangout - video communication tools.
- Telegram, WhatsApp, Wechat - messengers.
- Google Docs - Shared online documents.
- Google Calendar is a calendar for making appointments and keeping track of vacations.
In fact, there are a lot of these tools, I have listed only a few of them that I myself use every day.
It's good that we discussed the possibility of remote work in the future. Here's some food for thought, and now I want you to think about who to become, how to be in demand, given the changing reality and unpredictable future.
Gaming professions, choose yours
You've probably noticed how incredibly fast the latest technologies are developing these days? Genetic engineering, development of quantum computers and unmanned vehicles, robots and artificial intelligence ... Virtual reality, 3D printers and blockchain technologies are no longer empty words for us.
It is difficult to predict exactly what professions will be in demand in many years, but the fact is that IT specialists will remain. And in order to be competitive in the face of the penetration of AI and robots into all areas, a specialist will need to learn quickly (after all, the industry is developing at a frantic pace), have a flexible and creative mind, have non-standard thinking and love his job.
The most important product of the economy of the future is your intelligence, health, experience and flexibility.
At the time of the formation of the gaming industry (that is, quite recently), there were no professions as such. The game could be made by literally anyone who knew the basics of programming. A person had to be an artist, a game designer, a composer, and a screenwriter ... Although the first games did not have a script as such - only pure drive. Tetris, Pacman, Frogger - these games were created alone or by a small team of two or three generalists. Now, when more than a thousand people are working on Call of Duty: Black Ops IV, there cannot be such people-orchestras, everyone must do their own thing. And even programmers can be more than a hundred (!) People on one project.
There are over a hundred professions in the gaming industry these days - there will be even more. And they are all really needed. Therefore, today it is impossible in principle to make a game alone on your knee. Rare exceptions in the form of some cult modern indie games like The Cat Lady or Papers, Please are exceptions, moreover, known only to a narrow circle of fans. A large project that makes millions is always the work of a large well-coordinated team of professionals. And soon I will tell you in detail what specializations there are in this matter. You will be able to choose your narrow niche - a specific profession that is in demand in this market.
At 5518 Studios, we incorporate the experience of the giants - Google, EA, Wargaming, Ubisoft, Activision Blizzard. And at the same time we are sharpening our specialists for specific niches, because in the huge gaming industry this is the only way to become in demand.
Why? The fact is that specialists performing some basic functions are now being replaced by robots and computers, for example, cooks, waiters, drivers ... Unmanned taxis are already driving around California with might and main, and how many of them will there be in the world in 2025, 2035? It is important to understand that exactly the same thing is happening in the gaming industry, and we are even going one step ahead: using IT developments to the maximum is in our blood. Therefore, programmers who can write code at a very primitive level will soon be replaced by artificial intelligence. The same will be the case for artists who only know how to texture a simple photo-ril, since the computer will do the same much faster.
When I first entered the industry, art education was not that important. Can you draw at least a little? Sit and model the barrel. Very soon, this 3D barrel will be easily created by artificial intelligence. But what he will definitely not be able to do yet is to come up with the main character of the game, his appearance, character, or to model a well thought out weapon. So far, artificial intelligence cannot take into account all modern trends and human psychology so that the character does not just turn out to be alive, but becomes popular among gamers, like Solid Snake or Shepard.
To create a CG person, you have to be a person yourself! At least for now.
Let's try to figure out whether this or that profession is right for you in the field of developing computer games and applications. When the industry develops and expands intensively, there is always a need for qualified personnel. In the gaming industry, the situation is aggravated by the fact that the clumsy system of obtaining higher education has not kept pace with the rapid changes that are constantly taking place in this vibrant industry. Given the youth of the industry itself, it shouldn't be surprising that people come to it literally from everywhere. Programmers, as a rule, still have experience in other areas of IT. But a person with literally any background can engage in QA testing or become an art manager. The main thing is that he is suitable for the employer in his human qualities and is able to quickly learn new things.
Probably every second gamer dreamed of becoming a computer game developer in childhood. It was this idea that pushed many children in the CIS to enter universities for technical specialties. Getting into gamedev today is easier than ever. Even if there is no university in your city with suitable study programs, thanks to the Internet you have access to any textbooks and online courses, many of which are available completely free of charge. You can master a profession without leaving your home, if you have a desire and a systematic procedural approach.
Let's say there is a desire, but what next? Now you need to understand yourself and honestly answer several important questions: what can I do and what do I want to do? Am I willing to work hard? Am I willing to constantly learn?
Everyone understands that not all of us are born to be a great artist or a genius programmer. But I am convinced that there are no absolutely mediocre people, there are only people without a clear goal. Everyone has the potential, it is important to assess it correctly, set priorities and spare no effort on development. But you need to understand that talent alone will not work for success in the industry. The ability to master new technologies, responsibility, sociability and hard work, even with mediocre natural abilities, are sometimes valued higher than the absurd character of a capricious diamond nugget. Moreover, skill comes only with experience, and even a modest average peasant can turn into a seasoned pro in 3-5 years. If, of course, he will work a lot both on projects and on himself. Self-development is generally a useful activity,but in a high-tech industry like game development, it's vital.
Let's move on from general words to specifics. I'll tell you about the main professions in the gaming industry today and tomorrow. Let me make a reservation right away that the division adopted here is rather arbitrary. I want to indicate only the general directions in which we can develop further.
There is nothing supernatural in them: anyone can get such a specialty, you just need to show perseverance. Let's go!
»More details about the book can be found on the website of the publishing house
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