Ian Williams, Student and Freelance Writer

I started as a QA (Quality Assurance) engineer, and a QA’s job is to break things in-game, record how the things were broken, and then pass the information to the content creation team, who would hopefully fix them. It’s a common entry-level gig in the industry, one that gives you a broad enough knowledge of how things work to eventually launch something more specialized.

Lisa Brown, Designer, Insomniac Games

Should people learn to code? I think so! Even if you aren’t planning on becoming a programmer, it really helps you get a feel and an appreciation for the medium you’re working in—and will help you talk to your programmer teammates in the future.

Sarah Ford, Indie Developer

I’m useless with code, so most of my beginner games were made in conjunction with coders and designers, many of whom found my art online and dug it enough to want to work with me. It helps if you think in assets, if you’re wanting to get into games art. It’s not just about creating a picture of a cool car in a neon cityscape—it’s about thinking about all the little parts that make up that scene, from the car to the buildings that create the skyline down to the surface of the road itself.

Andy Grossman, Video Game Developer

Even if you’re lucky enough to land that dream job at Valve or Nintendo or Blizzard, and you get to work on a beloved franchise, you’ll hate it when you’re done. Try enjoying Halo after you get reprimanded for slightly coloring Master Chief’s helmet off the style guide. You won’t. The magic will be gone: An endless universe filled with infinite stories will be replaced by a group of bug logs reporting that Nathan Drake’s eyes are missing in cut scenes.

Allison Salmon, Game Developer and Software Engineer, Learning Games Network

I experienced far more discrimination and harassment during my time in college than I did while working in AAA. So I guess some of my advice would be don’t let the unfriendliness of certain gamer cultures scare you away from the video game industry.

Keith Stuart, Games Editor, the Guardian

We are entering an era of diverse artistic and emotional expression. It’s no longer about dumb muscle-heads saving the princess (not that games were ever about just that)—this is a creative medium bursting with interesting, weird, and challenging ideas. In the seventies, kids turned to guitars and the punk movement to express themselves. Now they’re just as likely to write and distribute games that reach thousands.