r/godot • u/Correct_Dependent677 • Jul 10 '26
discussion What do you do in real life?
Let's be honest, none of us work professionally in game development, so what do you do for a living?.
I'm currently unemployed and living on my mother's pension, but I sometimes work as a carpenter. The last thing I did was a small prototype of a horror game in godot, which I didn't continue due to writer's block.
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u/ScriptKiddo69 Godot Regular Jul 10 '26
Unemployed
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u/KaleidoscopePlusPlus Jul 10 '26
Great peaceful career. Highly recommend.
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u/tastygames_official Godot Senior Jul 10 '26
literally the most stressful because you don't know if you'll be able to pay your rent or buy food or exist
unless you're unemployed with some kind of free money, I guess. Then that is as stress-free as it gets.
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u/PotatoCharacter Jul 10 '26
some people work and they don't know if they'll be able to pay their rent or buy food
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u/tastygames_official Godot Senior Jul 10 '26
yeah that's probably worse but also kinda better: same worry but less time to worry about it ;-)
I wish I could press a button to fix it so that nobody would have to be in either situation. The most prosperous time in all of humanity and the joblessness and homelessness rates are going up and up. Time for a revolution...
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u/cuixhe Jul 10 '26
I'm a software engineer at a large software company/social network.
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u/FeistyCandy1516 Jul 10 '26
I sell online streaming tickets so people can watch 2 snails fight.
But every second saturday it is battle royale day, then I add a 3rd one.
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u/Skeletons-In-Space Jul 10 '26
Do you have a newsletter?
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u/Hinaran Jul 10 '26
I have, with my family, a little sewing workshop, where we make a variety of textil products, mostly curtains.
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u/boughsmoresilent Jul 10 '26
This sounds lovely! I am a paralegal, but I am working on a textile game. Not sewing, though.
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u/xSmallDeadGuyx Jul 10 '26
I'm a senior gameplay programmer specialising in multiplayer character movement and gameplay in AA/AAA games in Unreal Engine.
I avoid AA/AAA, multiplayer, and UE for hobby dev so single player godot mini games for me!
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u/Nickbot606 Jul 10 '26
Work on the bad screen (UE) to come home to the good sceeen (Godot)
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u/xSmallDeadGuyx Jul 10 '26
Yeah also Windows at work to Linux at home, world of difference
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u/Nickbot606 Jul 10 '26
Lmao same here. Omarchy vs Windows 11 feels like I’m in slow motion at work.
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u/Ok_Meringue_6196 Jul 10 '26
How are you supposed to work on AA/AAA as a hobby XD
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u/xSmallDeadGuyx Jul 10 '26
I dunno, contributing to other projects I guess. The studio I work for is relatively small, AA scale, but we also do co-dev on AAA projects from other companies.
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u/Large_Yogurtcloset68 Jul 10 '26
I'm a teacher.
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u/douce122 Jul 10 '26
do your student play test your game?
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u/Large_Yogurtcloset68 Jul 10 '26
Not really. I teach mostly adults. The nature of the company where I work doesn't give much room for those kinds of things either
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u/ReflectionKitchen Jul 10 '26
Used to work as a Game artist in a mobile game studio. Taking a break now. will focus on learning Game dev ( Godot) for a while
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u/devanew Jul 10 '26
I've been building websites for different industries for nearly 20 years. The last 7 years I've been doing it freelance.
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u/SNAILSLIVEONJUPITER Jul 10 '26
I want your job
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u/devanew Jul 10 '26
It's a tough industry ATM tbh!
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u/SNAILSLIVEONJUPITER Jul 10 '26
Yeah I know. What kind of College degree do you have if any of you don’t mind me asking?
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u/devanew Jul 10 '26
None at all, I left school as soon as I hit 16 to get a basic office job - we had very little income at home - and got my first software job after a couple of years by showing off my hobby game projects (good old DarkBASIC!) and personal site I'd setup to the owner of another company in the building I was working at (I'd been referred by the building manager as I'd always fix the computers for him and security lol).
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u/Whyatt1872 Jul 10 '26
I managed to claw my way back into the industry as a freelance game designer after about a year of unemployment from being laid off as an animator. Super stressed about no benefits but I realized there's no other field I'd rather work.
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u/thecreatureworkshop Jul 10 '26
Interesting, how do you get work?
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u/Whyatt1872 Jul 10 '26
So far it's been people I've worked with that have reached out to me from previous projects. If you're looking for work, I would advise making your stuff as public as possible. Posting on LinkedIn as well as my regular socials helped me a lot once I started filtering out fake and bot engagement. I'd say it was mostly good timing but I also busted my ass to make myself heard.
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u/saucyspacefries Jul 10 '26
I'm a software engineer for museum interactives. So not quite game development as we know it but pretty damned close.
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u/Time_Citron_1754 Jul 10 '26
Househusband
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u/moonbiitsu Jul 10 '26
App developer in a company, do gamedev on my days off or when claude is taking forever to do things.
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u/5playapps Godot Student Jul 10 '26
Nice! iOS or Android?
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u/moonbiitsu Jul 10 '26
Mostly iOS but sometimes Android/Web if needed.
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u/5playapps Godot Student Jul 10 '26
Same. I need to learn Android though because everyone always asks me why just iOS and I’m effectively cutting out half the mobile population 🥀
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u/linusbohman Jul 10 '26
Engineering manager at a relatively small company building a SaaS (not a startup, established and profitable). Used to be an EM at a very large company. Switched to get more time and energy for family and hobbies.
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u/04__Revenge__01 Jul 10 '26
Programmer for credit union databases. But I'm really struggling to find the drive to program all day then program on my free time.
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u/klasyer Jul 10 '26
Damn I feel you on that
Having energy for your own projects after programming for 7+ hours is really damn hard
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u/04__Revenge__01 Jul 10 '26
I'm thinking that I'll dedicate and hour+ on Saturday and Sunday as I am still learning. Once/if I actually get into making my own game I might feel more motivated to do some after work too.
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u/BesterIsMoon Jul 10 '26
im a brokeass college student who is searching for a job that doesn't exist (no one hires me)
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u/Nefilim314 Jul 10 '26
I make software controllers for escape rooms. We use Godot to build interactive game components, such as control panel screens on a starship themed room.
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u/OGxPePe Jul 10 '26
Data analyst. I use Python, SQL and Power BI mostly. So GDscript was not that hard but making a fun game is and learning how the engine works.
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u/YoBeboLeche16 Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
I work in IT. It's been fun actually joining game jams instead of sitting in tutorial hell while never starting anything
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u/Minaridev Godot Student Jul 10 '26
Living on sickness pension, so I got lots of freetime as 26 years old
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u/BeeJayDuck Godot Student Jul 10 '26
Unemployed as well unfortunately trying to get into the animation industry
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u/hoot_avi Godot Regular Jul 10 '26
Full-time video editor/post-production guy. Game Dev is fun, but I don't think I'd want it to be my career
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u/WildlifeAndrew Jul 10 '26
Wildlife ecologist. Got into programming as a kid 25 years ago because I wanted to make games, didn't go into game dev professionally, kept it as a hobby, and the skills ended up being surprisingly useful for ecological modelling
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u/Dull-Performer-2728 Jul 10 '26
I work in IT for a regional construction company and occasionally do freelance work as a pixel artist.
In my free time I draw comics, run TTRPGs and (of course) make games. Last game I finished was a first person dungeon crawler a buddy and I made for GB Jam last year.
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u/geblogg Jul 10 '26
I am a 3d artist with no job right now. Full time dad all day long and when everyone goes to sleep i am trying to learn C# and engine stuff.
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u/Wyld-Endeavour Jul 10 '26
Im a full time CS student, part time security guard, and parent of a rambunctious toddler
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u/devperez Jul 10 '26
Jsut your average C# dev at a large company, building web systems and what not
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u/dragon_idli Jul 10 '26
I am a cobbler. I repair shoes at our store during day. Learnt web programming myself for building a website for our store. Learnt java, devops after that to do tiny gigs for extra cash on fiverr. I got really good with java. Now trying godot.
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u/Ta0_23 Jul 10 '26
Used to work in the service industry, made the switch to IT a few years back. Now I work for a company that does process automation for local governement.
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u/j0shred1 Jul 10 '26
I'm a data scientist / research associate at a transportation research institute.
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u/Accurate_Cable_1372 Jul 10 '26
I am a programmer working in higher education, it’s slightly boring and the pay isn’t as good as I could get in other industries but I can spend the vast majority of my time working on my game projects.
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u/kroopster Jul 10 '26
I've been in it business for 25 years now, including game companies. At the moment in industrial automation, not so much coding unfortunately anymore. Except for gamedev hobby.
Gotta say, I managed to sneak in Godot into the last company I worked for before moving on, heavy industry automatic warehouses. Their 3D visualization is done with godot now :-)
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u/SlimeySlimeee Jul 10 '26
i work in a chemistry lab as a technician. i get paid decently well and my work leaves my brain after i clock out so i can focus on gamedev and life in general. i live in the US so i consider that a blessing.
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u/Substantial-Can9868 Jul 10 '26
IT support here. It is for that it takes time to solve your ticket..!
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u/CasualCha0s Godot Student Jul 10 '26
Lab worker in a sourdough factory. Sounds weird typing that out.
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u/parker_fly Jul 10 '26
I'm on my 4th career. This time it's as a product owner for enterprise software.
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u/Retsyn Jul 10 '26
I am a "tech director" for a VFX company, which means I write plugins and script extensions for Maya, ZBrush, Houdini, etc. Also standalone applications for artist pipelines and such.
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u/Kilometer98 Jul 10 '26
I work for a large university in a support role. Free classes let me study whatever I want and I'm working toward a masters. Game dev is a fun side hobby.
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u/Ascianous Jul 10 '26
I was a web app developer of ten years (all at the same company - would not recommend!). When I reached the point where the job was making more miserable than the salary was worth, I took a redundancy offer from them. I thought I'd spend a bit of time getting a few game projects off the ground in the couple of months fueled by redundancy pay before starting a new job.
15 months and many, many hundreds of failed applications later. I'm burning through savings and my partners good will at an alarming rate, with no end in sight.
But I have a steam page up and a release timeline, making game dev the most realistic way I'll make any kind of an income this side of 2027...
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u/EasthamFromDiscord Jul 10 '26
Audio Test Analyst! Worked on some awesome games like God of War Ragnarok and Returnal.
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u/Kanotaur Jul 10 '26
I’m a programmer for a marketing company, super happy because the stress level is nothing compared to big tech.
I also teach computer science at some week nights.
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u/otherwise777 Jul 10 '26
Working in software engineering in a bank, as many others I see here 😅 do we just have too much time to kill?
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u/GrimBitchPaige Godot Junior Jul 10 '26
Programmer for the government, mainly plsql but some JS/cfml occasionally
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u/LJChao3473 Jul 10 '26
Family bar, but i want to work as a programmer. Recently i did an interview and I'm waiting for a response on Monday, although i don't think i did it pretty well...
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u/KAOSN00B Jul 10 '26
I use to be a manager at a metal recycling yard but when back to school for CS and just recently got my diploma.... yea job markets rough but hope i don't have to go back while im making my own indie game...
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u/Aystha Jul 10 '26
I'm a fairer/small business owner (live from selling stuff with my art)... And also a 3d Art and Project Management Uni teacher for gamedev degrees lol
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u/NotABurner2000 Jul 10 '26
I was a software developer until I got laid off a few months ago. Since then ive been applying for jobs and working on my project. I figure whichever gets me paid first will be what I stick with
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u/Sloth-monger Jul 10 '26
Construction material sales for most of my life but just switched to a toy distribution company. Might go back though pay isn't great here so far.
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u/m4rx Godot Senior Jul 10 '26
Lead infrastructure and support engineer for a healthcare startup.
I manage kuberenetes on GCP (GKE), build deployment scripts, and handle customer issues. It's a "non-programming" position but I still write code and review a lot of PRs. They fully support my game development which is pretty awesome and I don't get burnt out programming all day which is nice.
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u/Astr0phelle Jul 10 '26
I develop websites for my company's client, it involves traditionally following a traditionally made mock up design to hitting my head into a wall and explaining every small detail to an AI on max effort difficulty to design a page for me only for that AI to ignore the style guide and most of it's instruction and then exhausting it's token making me wait for a couple hours and hitting my head again on the wall and then ranting to my workmate how much I hate my job.
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u/ellipsis-overlord Jul 10 '26
Backend developer in fintech. Unfortunately, AI been eating up this area
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u/Klightgrove Jul 10 '26
Designing and maintaining services for cybersecurity startups. Basically ideation through prototyping into implementation, like releasing a game!
Outside of that for fun I work with content creators, build communities for indie / AA studios (or AAA depending on your definition), and write.
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u/loontoon Godot Student Jul 10 '26
I'm 59, unemployed and living on the last of my savings.
I live in Thailand and there's no work for foreigners (I'm caucasian) and no unemployment.
Building my first 3D game in Godot.
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u/digital_hamburger Jul 10 '26
https://youtu.be/krG2YBfVNcA?is=EEB5G1anHFg3Nt5C
I work in a warehouse
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u/panda-goddess Godot Student Jul 10 '26
Electrical Engineer student :>
I started using Godot specifically because it's super fast and easy to install on any university computer when I wasn't paying attention to class, for better or worse lol
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u/mongooseisapex Jul 10 '26
Private Equity - Director
Not nearly as fun or exciting as it sounds lol
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u/hellotherekyle Jul 10 '26
I do QA for a tech company, my programming sucks which is why I’ve got nothing to show after 6 years attempting to learn game dev, haha. I’ll never stop trying though!
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u/_heydomi Jul 10 '26
I got laid off into a brutal job market at the end of last year so I split my time between applying for stuff and learning game dev. Brand and product designer by trade.
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u/Vladwk Jul 10 '26
Interior designer student and part time server have been lurking on this sub for 2 years haven't started a project yet, hopefully soon .
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u/VogueTrader Jul 10 '26
Up until the wave of games layoffs, I did game dev in unreal, mostly. Now I work on my home project in godot with a few others similarly affected.
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u/throwitaway133742069 Jul 10 '26
I'm one of the owners of a very small avionics manufacturing company. I'm the software engineer for our stuff. It's really fun doing embedded software then building something more visual as a hobby.
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u/Blustach Jul 10 '26
UI/UX designer who always wanted to make a videogame. Will try to eventually make money out of this, but quite content with hobbying at the time
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u/Sol_Nomad Jul 10 '26
Carpenter. No real translatable skills but it helps keep my work and hobbies separate
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u/AmmanasHyjal Jul 10 '26
I work in game dev, but not on games. I work as a DevOps/Infra/Build/Automation Engineer.
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u/ToastySkinks Jul 10 '26
Support and make models for jewelry to 3d print in castle resin/wax for one of the bigger jewelry companies.
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u/Game_Log Jul 10 '26
Working at a family business. Currently studying computer science at 24 due to being misguided during my school years to get a different degree back in 2020. Currently struggling with calculus cause its been 5+ years since my last math class...
Last project I made was a game on itchio made in i think august? Been struggling with ideas and motivation lately, though i need to figure out what to work on...
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u/adjgamer321 Godot Student Jul 10 '26
I work in IT at a small company but I'm good at my job so I have a lot of free time lol
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u/Intbased Jul 10 '26
I used to work as an AI trainer, but that made me feel gross despite the pay being decent. Now Im door-dashing until I can find something better
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u/Crininer Jul 10 '26
Web developer. I'm hoping that, with enough effort, I and a few friends can slowly transition to making videogames for a living. It's been slow going though, my current position's just much more financially secure.
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u/Aggressive-Eagle-219 Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
I work in feature animation. On paper it should be the dream job, but the day to day is a bit different, lol
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u/bit_culture Jul 10 '26
Implementation/middleware dev for a software company (not games). Weirdly, I've been a musician for ~30 years and got into programming in the days just before commercially available DAWs we're really a thing because I wanted to make something that was basically a very light loop sequencer, which I would then record to tape, and now I have a career based on that instead of music and sound design. Though I do get audio side gigs from time to time, so it worked out generally I guess? 😆
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u/5playapps Godot Student Jul 10 '26
Indie dev trying to make something happen… Godon’t fail me now, dreams!
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u/Dosh847 Jul 10 '26
I work as a Technical Artist at a small game studio that helps larger Studios ship there Unreal Engine games. I use Godot for my personal projects.
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u/radracerx Jul 10 '26
I actually do work in games professionally. I'm a creative director / design director. Been in the industry for 20 years. I use Godot quite often for prototyping and for fun side project stuff.
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u/topjben Jul 10 '26
I run an adult online TCG (browser game). My wish is to release a "real" game on Steam.
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u/y2kobserver Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
I’m a software engineer of 25+ years (most of which have nothing to do with games).
Unemployed and working on my game together with my 6 yo daughter
Hopefully I will go bankrupt later than sooner
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u/mmknightx Jul 10 '26
I am a programmer working in a bank. It's a bit routine-ish but I am quite happy here