Jeremy Schmidt

Prof. Williams
Composition I
10/28

What Kind of Person are You Going to be?

Throughout life, profession and career is a topic hotly discussed. What do you
want to be when you grow up? Have you thought about your future? Go out and get a
job, you bum well, maybe not that one. The point is that our society places ones
employment above most else. Religion/orientation and marriage seem to place a little
higher. I, myself have given my future much thought, moving from many dream careers
in my youth, to settling down on my true passion: game design. Now, to succeed in this
profession, I will need a lot of formal knowledge and practice, and research is what will
help me get out there once I do have my knowledge.
To start off this adventure, I should elucidate on what my aspirations are. After
college, I know I will not be bombarded with offers to work on development teams. Ill be
lucky to get even one. No, what I am going to be doing is follow in the path of Dr.
Shucheng Yu, programming professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Before he taught at the university, Dr. Yu had to become knowledgeable. He earned his
Bachelors and Masters degrees in Computer Science and entered the workforce as an
IT man for various companies (Yu). To achieve my goal of developing my own ideas and
working with a team on such projects, I would have to work industry. Working for
companies would allow me to hone my craft and take my spare time to do side projects
as an independent developer.
After I do graduate from college, finding a job to sustain myself could prove
difficult. Looking through the job postings, it has been proven that there is a bountiful
field of job opening for the IT world (LinkedIn). It is not hard at all to find a job in a

growing profession; the hard part of this is getting the real world experience. Of the
three jobs I analysed, two of them required at least three years of programming work
experience. For a student fresh from college, three years of work experience is not
something I will have tucked under my belt. Not to mention, having only programming
skills will cut it to make it out in the real world. Pursuit in another field will be necessary
for the secondary requirements to meet open positions in IT and game design.
Of course, not everything will be taught to me in classes. Some skills I will need
to bring to the table myself. The ability to work with others will be crucial (Yu). I already
possess a good grasp on teamwork and communication, but I could always improve.
Teamwork is not the only skills I need to possess to be a successful programmer.
There are many things I will either need to have innately or develop as I flourish in
college and the work field. One such thing will need to be a great ability for critical
thinking and complex problem solving. Another set of skills to possess at a high level
will be mathematics, reading comprehension, writing, and scientific analysis (MyMajors).
Personal skills such as the ones mentioned above will not be the only qualities I
will need to succeed as a computer programmer. Believe it or not, but programming is
quite a social job. To make it out in the world of IT industry, people will need to be able
to communicate with each other, for communication is highly important (Yu). With this in
mind, it would be ideal if I carried the full package of social skills. Important gifts to note
would be the basics, such as speaking, social perceptiveness, and cooperation.
Advanced skills to have are persuasion, personnel resource management, and concern
and preference for others (MyMajors).
With these skills and abilities in mind, I could manage any employee level job as
long as I have the technical knowledge to perform adeptly, but being an employee for
some software development firm or security industry is not my final ambition. For me to
lead my own game development team, I will need the skills that requires. What I will
need is leadership for obvious reasons. Customer and personal service is an asset I

must possess within myself to be able to handle the people inside and outside my
group. Judgement and decision making is a must have to lead a group, for it allows me
to take my fellow programmers in the direction we will go. The last major gift I will need
to be a successful team leader is administrative and management knowledged as it will
obviously give me the prior experience in such positions (MyMajors).
Now one thing that must always be taken into account when choosing a career
that one plans on investing the majority of their time into is availability of the job market.
When I leave college with my desired degree in computer science, will there be jobs out
there for me to apply for or will I have to wait for openings? Luckily, the video game
industry is one of the few career options that, even in this recession, is a growing
market (Video Game Market). With over 42,000 people directly employed in the video
game field and an annual growth of nine percent from 2009 to 2012, the market is not in
threat of dwindling to the point of obscurity any time soon (Siwek). This means that
when I do graduate, I will have a job market waiting for me to dive in to. Sure, I most
likely wont have the leisure or pleasure of going straight into the video game industry,
but Ive got that already planned. Since I know it is very unlikely that I can do my dream
job immediately, Ive made plans with myself to work up and build a repertoire of coding
experience inside the IT industrys turbulent seas.
Even though game development is my number one dream job, and having the
opportunity to join in on arguably the best medium of interactive media, the work itself is
not reward enough. I will have not only myself to look after in life, but my eventual family
to support. To be able to do this, my career will need the pay to at least hold up half of
the unit. In 2015, according to the Census ACS survey, the U.S. had a median
household income of $55,775. With this in mind, as long as my future wife can cover
half of this, I just need to pull in $27,887 annually for us to be comfortable middle class.
Now, the average game designer salary for employees with under three years of
experience in 2015 was $53,000. This does not even cover those with experience. At

three years, the average pay jumps up to $65,000, and I also am able to become a lead
designer in projects with a pay of $70,000 average. Lastly, with five or more years
experience, my pay for game designer can be up in the range of $78,000; $100,000 if I
am a lead designer (Video Game Market). Id say that this career is sustainable for
middle class living.
So far, it has been decided that I will most definitely need to attain a degree in
computer science, along with get some years under my belt as a software engineer to
really garner the attention of employers of the video game design industry. How can I do
this? Well, the best way to do this is to move to a game development hotbed (Bay).
The reason for this is obvious. Even though there is a job market in Arkansas for
software engineers and programmers, this state has very little opportunity for my
intended career to flourish. A game hotbed would have the right setup to ensure my
ability to succeed. Where are these hotbeds? Typically, a high concentration of game
studios and development will be found in not only large cities, but around tech-centered
locations within the city, such as a college (Wong). Considering the game design
industry is on the more volatile side, having many studios in the area makes it much
easier to get hired again if something were to go awry. The sheer number of studios will
also concentrate talent and fuel growth for the areas industry (Bay). By this, it becomes
apparent that some of the best places in the country to relocate to would be San
Francisco, Austin, Los Angeles, and Seattle. Given my personal preferences to location,
Austin is automatically out, and I would like to try stay out of Los Angeles to avoid the
large city vibe. Now with just two left, the one I would prefer is Seattle, Washington; it
has 30 game studios within its area and plenty of culture to it.
All in all, with the above information laid out on the table, Id say that my major in
computer science with a focus in game design will help me greatly in achieving my life
ambitions later on down the line. There will be many trials and tribulations along the way
before I can reach my pinnacle, but I am ready to overcome any obstacle I face. Of

course, now that I have all of this knowledge on what will be expected from me in the
workforce, I can decide my minor and work towards gaining the secondary knowledge
and abilities to achieve success in the IT industry and game development fields.

Works Cited
Yu, Shucheng X. "Career Analysis." Personal interview. Oct.-Nov. 2016.
"Programming Jobs in Arkansas." LinkedIn.com. LinkedIn, n.d. Web. Oct.-Nov.
2016.
MyMajors.com. "Computer Programmer Career." Computer Programmer Skills
and Knowledge. MyMajors.com, n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2016.
@progamedesigns. "Video Game Designer Job Market." Video Game Designers.
Gamedesigning.org, 05 Oct. 2016. Web. 13 Nov. 2016.
Bay, Jason W. "Best Cities for Video Game Development Jobs." Game Industry
Career Guide. Gameindustrycareerguide.com, 21 Apr. 2015. Web. 13 Nov. 2016.
Wong, Hinlan, "A Study of The Video Game Industry In U.S Metropolitan Areas Using
Occupational Analysis" (). Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014. Paper 738.
http://scholarworks.umass.edu/theses/738
Siwek, Stephen E. "Video Games in the 21st Century: The 2014 Report."
Www.theesa.com. Www.theesa.com, 2014. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.