Your job..... is your hobby?

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**halonachos**

I thought the moral was don't get a masters degree?

**Polonius**

halonachos wrote:I thought the moral was don't get a masters degree?

Unless it's an MBA (from a good program), you're probably right.

**halonachos**

I'm going to get a Bachelor's degree then, THANKS DAKKA!

*Disclaimer; all advice on Dakka should be taken with a grain of salt and then thrown out of the window if it pertains to a life changing decision.

**Corpsesarefun**

Meh I hope to get a masters then PhD in physics, feth haters

**Blacksails**

All I know is I have to have a Masters to get promoted past a certain rank, and many of my friends realize that an undergrad doesn't cut it, especially in business.

**micahaphone**

"find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life".

If you like videogames, study or take some introductory classes to it and find a part you like. Maybe programming can be equated to watching painted grass dry as it grows, but the design section is where your brain can create and destroy amazing new worlds. Perhaps you enjoy programming. Find what you like, and do it.

**Phototoxin**

Here is how I went about choosing a carrier.

First ask yourself these questions,

Do you want to get married?
Do you want to have kids?
Do you want to have a house?
Do you want to have a car?
How many cars do you want?
Do you want your cars to be brand new when you buy them or used?
Do you want to be able to take a vacation to somewhere sunny every year?
Do you want to have health insurance?
How many luxury items do you want?
What kind of lifestyle do I want to live (family man, upper society socialite, convention goer, etc)

After you have answered these questions figure out how big of a salary you would have to pull down to make it all happen.

Next, look for a job that pays that salary.

Then ask yourself (truthfully) am I smart/persistent enough to go through all the schooling I need to get this job.

If the answer is yes, then go to school, get learned, and get the job.

If the answer is no, then cross some things off the above list and try again.

The idea that every person should pursue their hobby as a carrier is bollocks, 99% of people are working for the weekend anyway and there is no shame in being one of them.

I agree. Science is my interest. It's a hobby but not something I do for fun. It *is* fun but I want to paint toy soldiers and take photos.

**scarletsquig**

I work as a independent game developer. Mostly do art on a freelance basis for programmers, but have made a few games independently too.

Skills required:

- Programming
- Illustration
- Animation
- Game Design (if you're thinking "hey, a clone of this game I liked would be awesome".. you're doing it wrong.)
- Patience
- Persistence
- Self-motivation

Income:

- Very small, with the exception of the rare 0.1% that make minecraft or whatever and strike gold. Accept that you will not be that 0.1% from the start, because, to be honest, it's mostly determined by pure luck.

I make about £15k a year full-time. It's better than tesco.

**Fafnir**

To be fair, depending on the job you have your pay will vary. Jobs in the game industry have plenty of overlap and variability.

A New Media degree is probably the most variable education you can possibly get, because it just has so many applications. Another positive of a new media degree is that your electives are bound to be useful no matter what they are.

**Slarg232**

Meh, I don't think I will take up a job in Video Games. I've been eating, breathing, and sleeping them for so long, I really don't want to go fully into them.

Hell, when I realized that I never talk to anyone at work, UNLESS someone brought up video games, I knew I have already jumped the shark when it comes to them.

I need a new hobby.

**Fafnir**

Well, I found that when I started to focus myself on graphic design and 3D modelling for games and stuff like that, rather than focusing on engineering (this was late in highschool), I actually ended up becoming less involved in my videogaming. I still love games and such, but I spend a lot less time playing them, and I'm much more critical of them.

In fact, it's that progression that got me into wargaming. It had kept some of the allure that videogames had lost for me. Picking up wargaming effectively gave me the best of both worlds.