
Ask HN: Career pivot to games, production coordinator in big studio – good move? - AlexKu
Hello =)<p>I&#x27;m 38 years old, been a freelancer or project&#x2F;program manager for the past 20 years. Hardcore gamer before, still love this industry.<p>Hence why i&#x27;ve applied to several studios for the past few years, usually in Production. For two reasons: 1) I&#x27;m not a game designer, programmer, artist... 2) I like enabling teams, some aspects of project management, and want to be better at it and grow in leadership as well.<p>I&#x27;ve got an offer in a big studio for a Production Coordinator role. I feel the level is a bit low for my age, salary as well. But at least they give me my chance (on the contrary to all the other studios i&#x27;ve reached), my manager is experienced and believes in me, and it would be for a triple A game.<p>Questions:<p>- How do you feel about this?<p>- Ultimately, i would see myself being a Product Manager for a tech company, or a Game Director in a studio. So not only managing projects and teams, but also having a vision for the product&#x2F;games. Do you feel being a Prod Cord would be a good move toward this career? Knowing that i feel i already have a good &quot;product sense&quot;, but i may be lacking in terms of execution.<p>Thanks for your help =)
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munificent
I worked at EA for eight years.

 _> I feel the level is a bit low for my age_

My experience is that game companies don't value experience out of the game
industry very much, so you should probably expect to take a bit of a ranking
hit on your first job. From their perspective, you're a blank slate. In
theory, you'll climb back up quickly once you've shipped a game or two.

 _> salary as well_

Game industry salaries have always been a notch or two lower than salaries for
comparable jobs in other fields. Working on games is a perk, and there is a
_lot_ of competition, which drives wages down.

 _> Knowing that i feel i already have a good "product sense", but i may be
lacking in terms of execution._

For what it's worth, everyone thinks they have a knack for game design. In
practice, very few do. It's _very_ easy to make a game that sucks and
incredibly hard to come up with a novel yet fun play experience.

The game industry tends to be long hours and a lot of stress. The emotional
and professional maturity of your coworkers may be less than you're used to.
It could end up being a death march.

 _But_ it can also be very rewarding. If it's something you want to try, the
sooner you find out and either get on that career path or get it out of your
system, the better.

Even if it works out well, don't plan to stay in the game industry forever.
Few do. So try to make sure your resume and network is in a state where you
can gracefully leave the game industry if that's what you want to do later.

~~~
jason_slack
I work at a game company now. When I started 6 years ago it was on a contract
basis and the salary was lower than I had hoped.

Your advice seems spot on to me.

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bsenftner
You are on the cusp of major salary increases for your age and experience
outside of the game industry. Time spent inside the game industry is generally
viewed outside of the game industry negatively . Only gamers give the game
industry respect, in a professional sense, as technical creatives tend to view
the high levels of unpaid production overtime as mismanagement and abuse with
the game industry's eternal crunch time schedules. Those less on the inside
think making games is "playing games all day". If you ever leave the industry,
your time in the industry will be treated as a professional negative by any
company outside of the entertainment industry. Speaking as a 15 year veteran
of the games industry, I strongly do not recommend taking the job.

~~~
LifeLiverTransp
Depends - when it comes to tech, its like hiring a formula one mechanic at a
local car shop. Those guys know to optimize though. No excuses to not know
your stack their.

And we all had that idealistic phase, where we worked for the idea, not the
dough. The are those of course who are bitter, for not having the courage (or
stupidity) to follow theire dreams for once in their lifes.

~~~
bsenftner
Tech shops say their work is too boring and you'll leave them; if they don't
say that, they think you played games all day and suspect you do not have a
serious work ethic. When I left the games biz, I had to hide my time there,
describing the years as embedded software development. (I was an OS Dev for
the 3DO, then OS dev again for the first PlayStation, then lead for a decade
after at places like EA & Sony. I finally left for VFX, but that took two
career turns to get there.) In general, games are only now getting
professional respect.

~~~
AlexKu
So it's getting better, right?

~~~
bsenftner
Yes, it is getting better, from dismal.

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bartread
I'd say give it a try because I think it's the only way you're going to know
if you enjoy it or not. I mean what's the worst that's likely to happen? You
hate it and go back to freelancing?

I'd considered something similar myself but, as you seem to have discovered,
most studios want experience in the industry for roles above entry level.

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discordance
There are a lot of stories about worker exploration in the game industry. I
guess as long as you don't end up in one of the bad ones or find one with a
labour union [1]. GL!

1: [https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/23/17156472/game-
developers-...](https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/23/17156472/game-developers-
unionization-exploitative-toxic-workplace-culture-gdc-2018)

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raptorraver
I’m starting tomorrow new post as a game producer. I was in a web development
before and was making quite decent salary without any stress. Now my salary is
1k less in a month and I know that I will face more stress and pressure. Still
I didn’t hesitate to make a switch. Making great games has been my dream for a
long and I knew that if I’d skip this opportunity I’d regret it later. Life is
too short to not follow your dreams because it pays less and involves more
career risks.

I believe that your position is a good path on becoming Game Director. Good
luck to you!

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everyone
Big AAA games companies are like any other big entertainment product companies
as far as I can tell, or any other industry that mass produces stuff on a
production line for that matter.

If you can manage the drones, whether they are crapping out a risk free
uninspired committee designed, game, or film, or screen door, it hardly
matters I think.

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JSeymourATL
> see myself being a Product Manager for a tech company, or a Game Director in
> a studio.

In the absence of clarity, take action. This role will give you the insiders
perspective you currently miss as a freelancer.

