Could I get some career advice, please? Relating to computer programming.

So, here's my dilemma, I am pretty good at programming and feel I could really do something with my skill set, my problem is that I have two routes I could take, web development, and gaming development.

Web development would be the secure route. I have friends and family in the field, and could easily move a couple hours from where I am now to SLC Utah area, one of the tech-hubs of the nation. However, I somewhat dislike it. It's not in any way fun, or exciting for me.

Game development... Not really a secure route - Or rather, I know nearly nothing about it, don't know people in it, not sure if I could make a living from creating the games in my head.. BUT.. It's my dream. It's a passion, a hobby, a desire, something I wish I could do and would love to do.

I have no formal education in either field, so web-dev once again wins this route because many employers look for ability - Not to mention I have a foot in the door with so many people I know being in this field already.

Gaming development would be more like.. Find the best job I can unrelated to the field????, and do it on the side and try my best to make something great.

So.. What to do? I realize this post itself may make it seem as if I'm skeptical of the gaming route, but I'm really not - I'm just unsure due to the fact that I know nothing about it. I'd love to go that route, and would love if anyone could give any specific suggestions to head that way.

Other than that, I'd like any suggestions in general - From personal experience would be most preferred, but anything works. Thanks!

-Deadlyhope

originally posted by: deadlyhope
So, here's my dilemma, I am pretty good at programming and feel I could really do something with my skill set, my problem is that I have two routes I could take, web development, and gaming development.

Web development would be the secure route. I have friends and family in the field, and could easily move a couple hours from where I am now to SLC Utah area, one of the tech-hubs of the nation. However, I somewhat dislike it. It's not in any way fun, or exciting for me.

Game development... Not really a secure route - Or rather, I know nearly nothing about it, don't know people in it, not sure if I could make a living from creating the games in my head.. BUT.. It's my dream. It's a passion, a hobby, a desire, something I wish I could do and would love to do.

I have no formal education in either field, so web-dev once again wins this route because many employers look for ability - Not to mention I have a foot in the door with so many people I know being in this field already.

Gaming development would be more like.. Find the best job I can unrelated to the field????, and do it on the side and try my best to make something great.

So.. What to do? I realize this post itself may make it seem as if I'm skeptical of the gaming route, but I'm really not - I'm just unsure due to the fact that I know nothing about it. I'd love to go that route, and would love if anyone could give any specific suggestions to head that way.

Other than that, I'd like any suggestions in general - From personal experience would be most preferred, but anything works. Thanks!

-Deadlyhope

Do what you are good at. Do what you have experience in. Do what you can get an actual paying full-time job in.
Web development is mainstream.That means more jobs are available to you. Everyone uses something connected to the internet.There are freelancing options that is available right now.
Custom webpages are expensive(you can do pretty well freelancing).
The skill set for web development and game design are very different.


Now white hat hackers/penetration testers can be paid pretty well also. But that is a different skill-set all together.

Video games are not mainstream...yet(except mobile video games. example: candy crush,pokemon go,clash of clans, angry birds,bejeweled).

I choose game design.
I am pretty creative(I hope so lol). So I chose a field that benefits from creativity. Video games.
It's hard to outsource something that is creative. That is one BIG advantage.

a reply to: deadlyhope

True game development takes REAL code knowledge whereas web development is simple as hell.

As someone that makes software for a living for myself I'd have to say if your biggest concern is getting stable start with web dev. It's not even programming unless you're into some heavy PHP/CGI of some sort. Most of it's drag-and-drop nowadays.

If you're not hurting for money and you want a challenge then go to gaming.

To give an honest opinion of the post - stick with web. PHP soooo much easier than C++ or alike. Get some scripting experience under your belt and see if you even enjoy it and practice C++ and alike in your spare time. Once you get a knack for it you can use your web experience on a resume and move on to bigger things.

I would say go with web development if you want a stable 40 hour job.

But if you want to have fun and do something on the side - look into blockchain development. Dont laugh and brush the advice off - it is the future and the community is always looking for talented developers and coders. You could join a small team working as an independent. Research the concept, come up with your own ideas and make them happen. Join up an existing platform or create your own.

Write up a whitepaper and start an ICO. If it is good, the community will invest hundreds of thousands of dollars into getting your project up and running in weeks time. If you have skills contact the Stratis developer team for example and ask them to join their team if you have talents they are looking for.

This would only be side work but you could make serious bank off of it and have fun too. As well as being a name people look up to.

a reply to: OfTheVoid46

I've learned some c++ but have been mainly coding in c# as far as games and apps go.

I'm good with _javascript, though. I think I could probably do WebGL fairly well and maybe be a back-end developer other than that.

The one thing I'm not great at .... is CSS. Nesting 15 divs inside each other for one "cool" effect just isn't my idea of an hour well spent..- Though I really don't mind "callback hell" in the back-end/JS programming.

a reply to: John_Rodger_Cornman

The gaming development route I am considering is Unity. It uses C# and can deploy a game to all platforms.

My area of interest is tower defenses, and incremental games. I'm wanting to create a better Adventure Capitalist one day.

a reply to: deadlyhope

Only microcode or machine code is programming.

All the rest are macro languages.

originally posted by: chr0naut
a reply to: deadlyhope

Only microcode or machine code is programming.

All the rest are macro languages.

Have you seen x86 assembly code? You might as well be reading dyslexic Klingon.
There is no fancy compiler or IDE to save you from yourself.
Most people are not skilled enough to optimize better than a modern compiler.

Unless your a hacker or writing device drivers for Nvidia screw that.

a reply to: deadlyhope

I've used ASM, C, C++, C#, Perl, PHP, Python, various linux shell scripts, I could go on and on.
From hacking to viruses (for research, not illegal purposes!) to bots to a automation to MMORPG to ... again I could go on forever... I've dabbled quite a bit.

There's times where I do some crappy html/css/_javascript jobs to make sure I'm making my quota.
There's others where I'm playing with straight assembler so it actually feels like real coding.
I LOVE C and Assembler, not because they're "easy" (matter of perspective) but I feel "closer" to the computer... Sounds lame but a geek would understand.

C# is a good language all around for money. I make a lot of bots and software to automate tasks for marketers and attorneys. As much as I fought using .NET/C#, it's been my biggest money maker.

CSS took me a bit... not to understand, it's simple as hell but like you said basically - it's about as boring as it can get.

What's your goal here? Do you want to make money? Do you NEED money? Do you want to enjoy what you do? Your question about what to do really depends on your motivation.

There's A LOT you can do with code. For example my most profitable software is sold to automate buying products on one of the bigger sites people buy random crap on. You're not really stuck between websites and games, there's a massive spectrum that code can be applied to.

I stand by what I said in my prior post. If your concern is being stable, I'd go with easy web stuff. If you want to code to do something you enjoy and if that happens to be games then do it!

Teaching myself code and starting my own business has caused many stressful times but on the flip-side, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I make more money than I ever could with a local job (not rich/not bragging) and there's not a day that goes by where I stare at a clock waiting for work to be over as I have in every other job I've had.

If you have the freedom to do so then do what you think will make you happy. Cheesy? Yes. Wrong? No.

Hey,

I have been in R&D as an electronics engineer since 1983. I have many SW friends and know their path. My recommendation is that you focus on Web Development as a steady income and then learn and practice gaming styles in your free time. You can then create your own path in a least resistant way. Give yourself 5 years to move into gaming.

originally posted by: deadlyhope
a reply to: John_Rodger_Cornman

The gaming development route I am considering is Unity. It uses C# and can deploy a game to all platforms.

My area of interest is tower defenses, and incremental games. I'm wanting to create a better Adventure Capitalist one day.

I used to not like C# even though it has a giant .NET toolbox built in. It feels fluttered to me. C and C++ are straight forward. The only reason I am learning C# is because Unity is such a time saver(time = money = more time to make more money). Being able to port to android and iOS is a huge plus. More platforms = more potential sales.

I am making a platformer right now that borrows from the old-skool platformers of the early-mid 90's. PC and mobile are really lacking good platformers. It's all beweled clones,rpgs and fps games.

a reply to: bluesjr

What types of projects do you work on?

a reply to: bluesjr

Sounds like something someone else said ..

originally posted by: John_Rodger_Cornman

originally posted by: chr0naut
a reply to: deadlyhope

Only microcode or machine code is programming.

All the rest are macro languages.

Have you seen x86 assembly code? You might as well be reading dyslexic Klingon.
There is no fancy compiler or IDE to save you from yourself.
Most people are not skilled enough to optimize better than a modern compiler.

Unless your a hacker or writing device drivers for Nvidia screw that.

Learning assembler makes you truly understand the high level languages. Even if someone doesn't intend on using it professionally, there's nothing that could replace the knowledge one gets from learning ASM and even further how opcodes/binary code is interpreted.

The real money is in medical software. The government pays a lot of coin for their software, much of it turns into shelfware and is it's all open source. So, programs for military hospitals, Veteran Affairs. They pay high dollar.

I would get some paper on the wall first and then get into that field. Focus on what their main vendors are looking for and hone those skills. Gaming is alright but the real money is in medical. I know people who have made a nice fortune in that field.

a reply to: deadlyhope

Kill two birds with one stone. Go the sure route first, development software, earn that boring paycheck, then have fun in your off time with gaming.

Development software is used to develop games, too.

a reply to: OfTheVoid46

The only reason why I would learn ASM is to take advantage of SIMD(like neon for mobile or SSE for PC) and maybe write some snippets of code for performance purposes. I doubt I am skilled enough to write something more efficient than a modern compiler. Less of my code = less bugs.

I am no where near educated enough to attempt that feat.

a reply to: deadlyhope

Learning to code is all about practice and experience.

But you need steady income.

Take your webdev job.

Practice making games at night.

a reply to: lightedhype

That's a hell of a tip.

Blockchain is the future. And people will be totally caught off guard by it.

However programming in the blockchain is probably for the 1% of coders out there.

originally posted by: John_Rodger_Cornman
a reply to: OfTheVoid46

The only reason why I would learn ASM is to take advantage of SIMD(like neon for mobile or SSE for PC) and maybe write some snippets of code for performance purposes. I doubt I am skilled enough to write something more efficient than a modern compiler. Less of my code = less bugs.

I am no where near educated enough to attempt that feat.

Oh I'm not at all saying I've never screwed up some ASM. From a career perspective honestly I think it's mostly wasted time. Yahoo used to use ASM for their search engine just for the sake of speed and as you mentioned it's THE WAY to properly program drivers but definitely not always practical.

I just remember when I first learned ASM, I learned so much about how the processor actually handles code, memory-management, etc.. even simple things like the fact that graphics are essentially an array of bits in memory. It just gives you a lot better understanding of how things work and when you hit weird bugs in high-level code it can make understanding the problem so much easier.

I'm about at my 1/2 asleep point here so calling it a night and thinking maybe I didn't make my point right but by no means did I mean to come across as argumentative or alike if I did. Less code = less bugs I agree with completely. I used to hate C# simply because it was so relatively easy and I felt it was cheating but at the same time well .. again, time = money.

Still though for anyone truly serious about programming, ASM is invaluable.