Following Your Passions: Why a co-worker just left games.

Thanks for the reminder. I find I get all too often caught up in the little things, and forget what I really want out of life. I too, have recently been wondering if game development is my passion. I guess that is something I need to sort out myself.

I think it is awesome when people pursue dreams like that. Kudos to him.

I envy him for being able to so clearly, and definitively state what his passions are.

Kudos to him. I just started as a professional game designer a few days ago, and it certainly isn't something I'd be doing and looking forward to going to work in the morning if I wasn't so passionate about it.

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Original post by zer0wolf Kudos to him. I just started as a professional game designer a few days ago, and it certainly isn't something I'd be doing and looking forward to going to work in the morning if I wasn't so passionate about it.

I found that was the case when I used to work outside the games industry.

Many times I would go to work, and start "watching the clock" a few minutes after getting in. A co-worker would go around the office and jokingly say "You're fired!" to people, and a surprisingly many people were excited to be out of a job. That was a place were people were not passionate about the job.

Here, almost everybody is passionate. This studio is a place where I look forward to working at, and where I occasionally worked overtime hours without even realizing that I had been staying late. There are other passions in the studio, including (as the original message pointed out) tri-weekly sports activities, monthly BBQs, and the Nerf darts that occasionally fly overhead and get lost behind our desks. We have a lot of artwork draping our walls, including some from programmers who don't have the normal 'programmer art disease'.

It is amazing the different environment and productivity levels for a studio full of passionate people who love what they are doing. Jobs where employees are just there for a paycheck feel so sterile in comparison.

I'm not sure if my last post came across how I wanted it to. The work environment I'm in is very exciting, but the whole experience is very taxing as well. It takes a lot of work, and only someone who is really passionate about it should really be at a game studio.

What if your passion may be something bad...like being a brutal dictator or building an army of killer robots? :D

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Original post by slayemin What if your passion may be something bad...like being a brutal dictator or building an army of killer robots? :D

Then following your passions would lead you to a highly enjoyable (for you) career in either politics for the first case, or in nanotechnology or military science for the other.

As for hardened criminals currently in jail, they really missed their true path as corporate executives. They followed their passion for pillaging and plundering, but did it in a stupid way. Always be smart while following your passions.

Follow your passions, indeed!

I got a similar story but reversed. To make a long story short : It's been 4 years since I started working as a Web Developer but in ~15 days I quit my job to go university to complete a Bachelor Degree in Comp Sci and become a Game Programmer.

[shamelessplug]Check this post on my blog for the long story[/shamelessplug]

I love threads like this. It's just asking for everyone's stories and shameless plugs-- and that's okay. [smile]

I love my job, wouldn't change my profession for the world! I dont think there's another industry quite like the games industry. You get to work with some of the most intelligent, most creative, and most talented people in the country. How can you beat that?! Every day I walk in to work with a huge grin on my face - and often start sniggering to myself - just from thinking about some of the experiences I've had with my colleagues! Doing this job has basically been my life long dream, and it's honestly the best job there is!

Wow, employers must love to have employees that are so passionate about working for them. I thought that I was passionate about game development for many years, but I have now lost that passion as well.

Yeah, I started at Merrill Lynch (sure, not a games company, but still) and i'm amazed by how smart, productive, and intelligent the people are, on top of being motivated.

I would really be upset if I lost the opportunity to work there.. I have a real passion to be there. I feel like it's the best place in the world.

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Original post by Benjamin Heath I love threads like this. It's just asking for everyone's stories and shameless plugs-- and that's okay. [smile]

That's why it's in the lounge forum.

I didn't really have anywhere to go with the original. It wasn't a call for comments, nor did I ask a question. It was just a sort of musing on an important topic.

Feel free to muse as well. [evil]

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Original post by bcnyz Wow, employers must love to have employees that are so passionate about working for them. I thought that I was passionate about game development for many years, but I have now lost that passion as well.

Yes, because unlike a job you detest and find it hard to drag yourself to, which is the majority of people I've worked with, you won't be asking for pay raises or complaining about overtimes since you'll be so happy that you'll find it hard to believe anyone is paying you to do what you would normally be doing if you were unemployed anyways;)

[Edited by - daviangel on July 25, 2009 7:03:40 PM]

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Original post by TheGilb I love my job, wouldn't change my profession for the world! I dont think there's another industry quite like the games industry. You get to work with some of the most intelligent, most creative, and most talented people in the country. How can you beat that?! Every day I walk in to work with a huge grin on my face - and often start sniggering to myself - just from thinking about some of the experiences I've had with my colleagues! Doing this job has basically been my life long dream, and it's honestly the best job there is!

That's a bit narrow-minded. You really think nobody else is as passionate about their jobs as game programmers? Lots of developers are passionate just about programming/designing in other areas. And what about engineers/architects/physicists/etc.
Plus I don't believe the games industry has the monopoly on the best programmers or smartest people.

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Original post by daviangel ... you won't be asking for pay raises or complaining about overtimes since you'll be so happy and you'll find it hard to believe anyone is paying you to do what you would normally be doing if you were unemployed anyways;)

That sounds a little extreme to me, even for a passionate person. Are people's passion for game development really this pure? I guess one of the main differences compared to hobby game programming is that someone else (usually the publisher) will be keeping the majority of profits for themselves, providing that the game actually makes money. Can passion really be so pure that people don't mind average salaries and occasionally massive overtime?

Yeah, plus working for a game development company isn't the same as doing it for a hobby. You are making the parts of a game you're told, rather than the whole of some game you want to make. That's why I don't think that prgoramming a game for a job is that different than programming a data-analysis application. You do get to skip all the dull dialog code and focus on real game code, but otherwise at the end of the day you are still coding. The environment/atmosphere might be a lot different though, which could be more of a factor. But people in regualr software jobs work overtime too, just because they want to see the work done...

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Original post by d000hg Yeah, plus working for a game development company isn't the same as doing it for a hobby. You are making the parts of a game you're told, rather than the whole of some game you want to make. That's why I don't think that prgoramming a game for a job is that different than programming a data-analysis application. You do get to skip all the dull dialog code and focus on real game code, but otherwise at the end of the day you are still coding. The environment/atmosphere might be a lot different though, which could be more of a factor. But people in regualr software jobs work overtime too, just because they want to see the work done...

This is the post I was going to make as well. Game Development, I'd guess, is a passion for just about anyone that is a regular to this site. That said, being a game developer in a professional capacity is a "job" -- you're making a product that is, most likely, not your vision. You, as a programmer or a designer, aren't the auteur of the project (unless you own the company) and you will not always be able to get to work on an aspect of the project that you want or to implement the things that you want.

I find programming at work to feel like "work" at times (not always), but I still, on the weekends or whenever else I get free time, program constantly. But it's a different kind of programming for me, it's relaxing, stress-free coding that feels completely different than the stuff I do for a living.

I still love it.

I completely agree with following your passions!! A little over two years ago I was just a school teacher, with no connections into the video or anime industries. While I did have several years experience working with music technology, a masters degree in music and many years performaning and teaching, I had ZERO game or anime development experience.

I was stuck in a job that I hated going to: the best part of the day was leaving. I felt like I was aging four times faster than all of my friends, I was moody, constantly tired and hated what my life had become. This is when I remembered my dream about writing music and producing SFX for video games, films and TV. So I did as much research as I could, started working on free jobs and tried to promote my new career path as much as possible. Now I've been involved with the game and anime industries on a professional, full time basis since Oct. 06. I love what I do and constantly try to better myself and my products.

Once you find your passion, you'll feel like you're getting paid to play. Sure there are stressful times but for the most part it is incredible. The change in me since switching careers has been incredible as well. I'm happier, feel healthier and almost always have a smile.

Whatever your passion is, follow it and never give up. Even if you never truly "make it" you'll always feel better working towards that goal instead of just giving up. If you don't know what your passion is, don't fret. Some people take time to figure that stuff out. Try all kinds of things out, and always keep an open mind.

My aunt was a professional cellist who taught and performed for many, many years. She liked what she did but didn't love it. Then, she took a graphics design course just for fun and LOVED it. So she went back to school for two years and got another degree in graphic design and is now doing that. She is roughly 35-40... (sorry not totally sure on her age) so you never know!