How would you say the industry has changed over the past decade?
Sherif: It’s hard to make general statements on the industry, but I’d say one change that I liked is how easy it is to find remote work now. Back then, it was a bit rare to find remote work, and most studios prioritized hiring on-site employees, but thanks to COVID, that has changed a bit.
Compared to when I started, the gaming industry job market definitely changed for the worse, especially in the past couple of years, with the mass layoffs in a lot of the larger studios. I feel like I got lucky that the industry was growing early in my career, and it was very easy to find work. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to try to get your foot in the door now. But on the other hand, it’s easier than ever for indie and solo developers to get started making games, there are more tools and learning resources available now than ever.
Another thing I realized is that working in an art/creative job doesn’t always mean you’ll get to be creative, in fact, it seems like that’s rarely the case. You won’t always get to work on what you want, and on most projects, the majority of artists would be working to realize a vision made by a very few people, and you’ll have very little creative input.
For me, that’s one of the main reasons I love to work on personal projects whenever I can. I get to work on things I like and be creative with no limitations. And counterintuitively, I feel like it lowers the risk of burnout compared to when I wasn’t doing any personal art.
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