Omar Bahareth
Posted on
5
I just moved back to development from being Head of Engineering, Ask Me Anything!
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Top comments (8)
Noticed that you have an education in "Visual & Game Programming". Can you help me understand what it takes for a young student to take a career in Game Design (the one where the levels, characters, strategy is conceptualized, not the art part)?
what institutes do you recommend I look at ? What companies would hire this skill ?
Hey Navneet, I started my education for that in Vancouver 9 years ago at The Art Institute of Vancouver, I looked at many institutions 9 years ago and it was the best match for me especially because most of the teachers were actively working in the games industry. I was lucky to have teachers who worked at many of the local studios in Vancouver (Slant Six, United Front Games, etc.) and I learned a lot of practical stuff. I recommend you find an institution/course where you learn from instructors who have built and released games (especially instructors who've worked in a team).
I've been out of date on education in this field for a while sadly but I do believe online education for this kind of stuff has gotten really good, I'd recommend a look at Coursera/Udacity and the usual bunch of course providers as a start at least. I'll try and ask around some of my colleagues for you to see if I can give you a better answer.
When it comes to game designers, I've seen a lot of jobs where some light knowledge of scripting was required (to tweak/modify the games with simple scripting languages) in addition to the skills you listed, they're definitely in demand but I'm honestly not sure about India. In many cases this is a field where you have to put in A LOT of hours and the pay is not that great.
I hope I was able to be of some help.
Thanks for the reply. I am looking at countries other than India for graduate courses. I am also looking for places where the jobs and the universities co-exist. will make it easier to study and work.
Would it have been possible/desirable to fulfill your itch to code on side projects, while retaining a high-paying management role for your dayjob? Or was management just to soul-sucking no matter what amazing side projects you would have come up with?
I initially tried side projects, but because you have to be constantly learning and improving in our field, a lot of my spare time went towards how to be a better manager; and don't get me wrong I'm quite thankful for it and I learned a lot, and I didn't have enough time for side projects. When I did, I often abandoned them.
I'm quite lucky but my new job actually pays me more as a developer than I was getting before as a manager (I've moved to a much larger company), but even before I landed this job I was prepared to take a hit on my salary to get back to development and I was fully committed to it. I think I wouldn't mind getting back into management but much later in my career.
What triggered the switch?
I originally took on a leadership position because I was one of the original team members that was deemed as the best fit and we were in a period where we were growing rapidly, and I wanted to see if leadership and I were a fit. As I slowly progressed more and more towards management and being less involved with development and saw my skills beginning to get rusty, I began to feel somewhat empty on the inside. I then realized that mostly management with a tiny bit of development is not for me, I'm ok with being a Tech Lead where I still do a lot of development, but I just don't enjoy doing that much management. I hope that answers your question 😁
Yes, I agree with you. I don't like it either when I'm dragged to non-tech meetings and tasks. Thanks for answering, Omar. 👏🏻
Have a great day!