Game's Game December10

Hi Tom,

I'm on the verge of graduation with a Business Degree and I'm looking at different angles of approaching the industry in order to increase my odds of landing a job. I'm interested in ultimately becoming a video game producer.

What strategies do you recommend for entry level candidates on career paths in becoming producers?

Thanks,
Jonathan

Hi Jonathan,

I think a business degree is a very good thing. Now all you need is a breaking-in plan. The only thing you have to figure out is how to get your foot in the door. You can start anywhere in the game industry and eventually make your way to producing. So start with a process of elimination. Are you a super-skilled programmer? If not, programming is out. Are you a super-talented artist? If not, art is out. Have you mastered level editing tools and have you designed some fun levels? If not, level design is out. So, that was the easy part. Of course, if you answered yes to any of the foregoing, you have your answer and you can stop reading. But if you answered no, not to worry. You still have other options.

You can break in through QA or CS (Customer Support). Or if you learned a lot about marketing in the process of getting your degree, you might break in through marketing. You might be able to get in through business, but depending on what business job you get, you might find that it's that much harder to move into the production studio. Unless you get to be on the greenlight committee -- that would definitely be a way to get into production. You don't want to get into accounts payable or receivable, though; that's not a way into production. New Business would be good, but you need lots of experience in the biz before you can get there.

A sad truth I've noticed about the game biz is that nobody wants to pay for experienced producers. They love cheap. So it's just possible you might find a junior-assistant producer position right out of school. Not saying it's likely, just that it's possible, but you'd have to demonstrate knowledge of games, and preferably knowledge of the game development process. You can get that a couple of ways.

One way is to join an indie team, even a student project. Just help out doing anything that needs doing and that the others don't want to do -- that's pretty much what producing is, at your level. Another way is to subscribe to the IndustryGamers and GamesIndustry.biz daily newsletters, and to Game Developer magazine. Voraciously read everything you can, especially as it relates to successful projects, failed businesses, mergers, everything related to the business side. You need to talk the talk in an interview.