Hey Little Pineapple,

I had to crush someone's dream.

I was working with a client, let's call him Bob.

Bob wanted into gamedev.
And he was already ahead of most people with whom I have this conversation.

He'd done the thinking, did his research and picked a direction: Producer.

Maybe game designer if the stars aligned.

Bottom line - he knew what he wanted.

And when he was telling me all this, his whole body changed.

Talked faster. Posture immediately got more straight.
I saw his eyes lit up.

I love seeing people in that state.

I also hate it. Because I knew what I was about to do.

The question that changes everything

When Bob finished his speech, I asked him one thing.

Why do you want to work in gamedev?

"I love games. jRPGs especially. Even with a small kid and barely any free time, I squeeze gaming in wherever I can."

I get that. Most of us in this industry got here because the games got us first.

Then I asked him to describe his current life.

He works a lot. Has a family.
A small kid. Visits parents regularly.

After life logistics, there's not much left over.

Normal. Nothing unusual about it.

But here's where Bob's story becomes everyone's story.

The thing nobody does before making the leap

There'a band I like a lot - Motionless in White. They released a new song couple of weeks ago - Afraid of the dark. I really like it, especially the lyrics. And there's one fragment that always lands for me:

How much are you willing to bleed?
To suffer for what you believe?

Most people never actually answer that question.

What are you actually willing to give up for the job of your dreams?

Because gamedev (or any other dream job for that matter) has a real price.

Salaries consistently run lower than comparable roles in tech or finance.
Most studios worth joining are in a short list of cities.
Remote roles are cut to 12-15% of all roles.

And the job security? Like Matthew McConnaughey said - it's a fugazi, it's a woozy.

None of this is hidden. We all know that.

It's just easy to not look at it when you're in the excited state.
Easy to dismiss. Easy to minimize the impact of those things.

The reason I'm very often a destroyer of dreams is because I make them look.

Because only when you take the rose glasses off we can get to work and do the necessary step - the inventory.

The inventory is a confrontation.

We're not doing the check list here.

The reason you do the inventory is to understand what's even possible for you.

Here's how you do it.

Start with your absolute non-negotiables.

Not what you want. What you genuinely cannot accept.

If this thing is not in the offer you cannot take the job. Not won't. Cannot.

Be ruthless here. Most people put too much in this category because it feels safer than admitting what they're willing to negotiate.

Test each one: is this "I need this to function" or "I've just never had to think about it"?

Sure, quarterly bonus or equity is nice, but is it really something that's a dealbreaker to you?
Maybe you can actually work afternoon shifts because the time zone is different?

Then map everything else.

What is everything else you might ask? This:

• What salary do you actually need? Real floor, not aspiration. And separate the two - knowing your number is different from knowing your minimum.
• Where are you willing to live? City size, climate, time zone offset you can genuinely handle long-term. Be specific. "Anywhere" usually means "anywhere comfortable" which is not the same thing.
• What problems do you want to solve? Because maybe those problems exist somewhere other than gamedev?
• What kind of team, what company size, what environment do you actually perform well in? Not where you've survived. Where you've thrived.
• What skills do you most want to use every day? Not the ones on your CV, the ones that make time disappear when you're using them. If the role doesn't touch those, you'll be competent and miserable.
• What kind of people do you want around you? Seniority level, working style, how decisions get made. You can love the product and hate the room which is not a good combo.
• How much autonomy do you actually need to function? Some people tell themselves they want ownership but fall apart without structure. Others say they're fine with direction but quietly resent every decision they didn't make. Neither is wrong, but one of them is probably you.
• What does a good day actually look like, hour by hour? Most people can't answer this about themselves. If you can, you've already eliminated half the wrong jobs.
• What are you willing to sacrifice in your personal life, and for how long? A sprint is different from a lifestyle. If the role requires something you're only willing to give temporarily, that's worth naming before you sign, not after.
• What does success feel like to you (not look like)? Title and comp are easy to name. But what's the internal signal that tells you you're in the right place? If you've never felt it, you might be optimizing for the wrong target entirely.

And if you go through this and realize that you actually can't pull it off right now that's ok.

You did not fail.

You are honest with yourself.

Wanting to work in your dream job is real.
So is wanting to stay close to your family in the city you're in, at the salary you need, without night shifts.

Both can be true.

You just have to decide which one wins.

Wish you fantastic week,
Patryk
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PS
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​If you're currently looking for a job, but struggling to get an interview or get rejected after initial chat - reply to me and tell me what's the situation. I might be able to help and I reply to everything personally.