Hey Little Pineapple,

A few years back I was working as a recruiter at a large corporate agency.

Not a bad gig, honestly.

Good people, real energy, the kind of controlled chaos that keeps you sharp.

It taught me everything I know about recruitment and I’ll be grateful for that forever.

I could deal with the stress.
I could deal with the politics.
I could deal with a lot.

Then one afternoon I wrote a LinkedIn post promoting one of the roles I was working on.
Nothing crazy, just my words, my tone, the way I actually talk to people (kinda like with you here).

Thirty minutes later, a message from the marketing department landed in my inbox.

Take it down. It’s not in line with how the company communicates.

I stared at that message for a long time.

I could deal with a lot, but I will not let a company tell me how to put my soul on paper.

And I shit you not, that same evening, I updated my CV and started sending it out.

Not out of anger. Out of clarity.

I knew it wasn’t my place anymore.

And I knew (had known for a while really), that I wanted to work in games.

Not because games are glamorous.

But because I love that shit. Always have.

The funny thing is, that impulse, I love games, I want to work in games, is exactly what I’d warn you about if I didn’t know what came next for me.

Because “I love games” is the most common reason people chase this industry.

And by itself, it’s also the weakest one.

Loving the road doesn’t make you a mechanic.

And if you go in on passion alone, without the rest of the picture, the industry will eat you alive before you find your footing.

So let me give you the rest of the picture.

The market right now is not kind

More than 30,000 people have lost jobs in gamedev since 2022.

Not newcomers, experienced people who already knew the craft.

When you apply for a junior role, you’re not competing with fresh graduates.

You’re competing with people who used to hold senior ones.

That’s not a reason to give up.
It’s a reason to go in honest.

And this brings us to our first question to answer.

It isn’t “how do I get in?”
It’s “Do I want to work in gamedev or I just want to escape from where I am now?”

Those are very different situations.
And they call for very different plans.

The door most people don’t see

Most people look at switching careers like it's a one-step process.
And for some lucky bastards it can be.

But for most of us it's actually a 2-step thing (which also happens to be the most accessible)

Let's say you're an accountant and you want to work as a designer in games.

There's is very slim chance you'll land a designer gig.
But, guess what, studios are also companies and companies needs accountants as well.

So step 1 for you is to search for an accountant gig within a studio.
Step 2 is to learn, observe, grow as a designer and eventually try to make that move.

Gamedev studios are still companies. They need marketers, project managers, producers, finance, HR.

And here’s the thing nobody tells you: nobody fully agrees on what a “producer” even is.

It means something different at a 30-person indie than at a 2,000-person corporation.

That ambiguity is your opening.

If your background is transferable, you’re not starting over.

You’re repackaging. And your CV needs to reflect that.

Not "managed marketing campaigns."
But "created campaigns that drove 10% revenue growth over 6 months."

Run the numbers before you run toward the dream

The people who burn out while doing a career switch rarely fail because they lacked skill.

They fail because they never asked themselves the uncomfortable questions:

How much of a pay cut can you actually absorb?
For how long?
Who else depends on your income?
What’s your deadline before you reassess? 6 months? Ok, what after that?

Set those parameters before you start. Not after.

The move that actually works

A guy I know landed a junior role at an AA studio.
Three months of job searching.
But four years of quietly being in the scene, events, game jams, projects, conversations.

When I asked what made the difference, he said two things:

1) Getting honest feedback on his work
2) Knowing people before he needed anything from them

That’s it.

Show up before you need something.

Be known before you apply.

The ghosting will still happen. The rejections will still sting.

The timeline might be 3 months or 18.

But you can only control how you show up, and whether you went in with your eyes open.

I left because a company tried to control how I express myself.

I found my place in an industry where that expression is the whole point.

You, Little Pineapple, might have a completely different reason for wanting in.

That’s fine.

Just make sure it’s the real one.

You got this.
Patryk

P.S. What’s your reason? Reply and tell me, I read every one.