Throughout high school and college, I always dreamed of joining the game industry. My journey started in Visual Basic .NET during my Programming I and II classes, and I was hooked from the first project. During my senior year, my mom asked my programming teacher for advice on my best path in software development — advice that ultimately shaped where I am today.

The Moment That Changed Everything

Let me preface this: I wasn’t the best student overall. Most classes didn’t interest me, so my grades weren’t great outside of programming. At a parent-teacher conference, my Programming II teacher encouraged my mom by saying software development offered great opportunities and financial security. But when she asked about the game development industry, he told her to avoid it at all costs. That single comment influenced my decisions that summer and beyond.

Early College Detours

Before high school, I was passionate about filming my friends skateboarding and editing the videos. After hearing negative advice about game development, I initially pursued communications in college. But that path didn’t last long — a buggy app on my Mac sparked my curiosity, and I decided to try coding a solution myself (though I can’t even remember what it did now!). Soon after, I shifted to studying Computer Science, but language barriers with my professor led me to transfer to another college.

A Fresh Start (and Another Roadblock)

The new college was for-profit, similar to Full Sail University. I enrolled in a Game and Simulation program where I learned C, C++, C#, Game Maker, and Unity. Things were going great — until one day, an announcement changed everything:

“Due to a lack of local demand for game and simulation jobs, we will discontinue this major. Please choose a new major that mostly aligns with your current credits.”

I was frustrated and confused. The decision was driven by shifts in local industry demand, but I didn’t understand that at the time. Still, I shifted back to software development — and it turned out to be the right move.

Life After College: A Decade in Software

In short: my first job after college was rough — bad boss, bad fit. I freelanced for a while, built an Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS), and eventually burned out under poor leadership and shifting deadlines. I drank too much, hit a low point, and realized I needed change. I worked at a Fortune 500 government contractor, quit after two years, tried (and failed) at launching a startup, and now... here I am.

Returning to My Passion: Game Development

No matter where life took me, I always came back to the same thing in my free time: Counter-Strike. No… wait — game development! I’ve always wanted to work on something beyond web development, but time constraints often meant I started projects without finishing them. Over the years, I’ve tinkered with MonoGame, Unity, Unreal, C++, OpenGL, and recently started exploring Odin and raylib (which is pretty sweet, by the way).

Now that I’m, for lack of a better term, working for myself, I’ve decided to dedicate focused time to game development. My goals are:

• Land a job in the game industry
• Create my own indie game

This blog will serve as my journal for that journey. So without further ado — welcome to my story: From Software Developer to Game Developer. Later posts to come.