Many individuals are looking to break into a video game designing career, and it's no surprise. A $9 billion industry, the video game designing business has appeal to gamers and non-gamers alike. High salaries and high rates of job satisfaction are typical in the field.

In order to design video games, however, you need a certain skill set. Computer programming is first on the list. While games are made using almost all languages, the most popular programming language for video games is C++, because of its object-oriented nature and because it compiles to binary. The next most popular languages for games are C and Java, but others such as C# and assembly language are also used. A strong background in math is usually required to learn these languages. Individuals wishing to design games should also have an extensive knowledge of both PCs and Macs.

There are many colleges and universities that offer classes not only in programming but also classes specifically on game design. Some of these schools have alliances with game developing companies, leading to jobs for students upon graduation. Programming video games can be lucrative. The average game designer's salary is $62,500, with $55,000 at the low end and $85,000 at the high end.

Programmers are not the only individuals needed to make a video game, however. There are multiple career paths within the gaming industry, including specialists in audio, design, production, visual arts and business.

Designing a video game can be an long, expensive process. The average budget for a modern multiplatform video game is $18-$28 million, with some high-profile games costing as much as $40 million. Making the game, from conception to sale, can take several months to several years. Some games have taken a notoriously long time to make; for example, 3D Realms' Duke Nukem Forever was announced in April 1997 and did not make it to shelves until July 2011.

Video game programmers have a high level of job satisfaction. In a March 2013 survey conducted by Game Developer magazine, 29 percent of game programmers were very satisfied with their jobs, and 39 percent were somewhat satisfied.

If you're interested in a game development career, now's the time to get moving. Take advantage of the many online resources available regarding these careers and start learning right away.

People are optimistic about problem solving, but in most cases this is easier said than done. How do you do it?

In Adobe’s 2016 global study on creativity in business, 96% of people identified creativity as essential to their success, both in terms of their income and the value they bring to the world. Moreover, 78% wished they were capable of thinking differently, believing that they would progress through their careers more quickly if they did.

According to Malcom Gladwell, the world's most successful people have one thing in common: they think differently from most everyone else.  In his book, How Successful People Think, Malcom opens with the following:        “Good thinkers are always in demand.  A person who knows how may always have a job, but the person who knows why will always be his boss. Good thinkers solve problems, they never lack ideas that can build an organization, and they always have hope for a better future”
Too often we attribute creative and “different” thinking to natural, innate characteristics that belong only to the lucky. The truth is that you can study how ridiculously successful people think and incorporate their approach into your world.

Snippets and Quotes from Tech Innovators.
 

The name placard in your cube might not say anything about sales, but the truth is that everyone, employed as such or not, is a salesperson at some point every single day. In the traditional sense, this could mean something like pitching your company’s solutions to a client. In the less-traditional sense, it could mean convincing your child to eat their vegetables. Yet for those two drastically different examples and everything in between, there is a constant for successful sellers: unveiling the “Why.”

Spending time and energy making prospects understand why you do what you do instead of exactly what it is you do or how you do it is not a new concept. But I’m a firm believer that proven concepts, no matter how old and frequently referenced they are, can’t be repeated enough. This idea has recently and fervently been popularized by marketer, author, and thinker extraordinaire Simon Sinek via his 2009 book, Start With Why. You can learn about him here on Wikipedia or here on his site. To begin, let me suggest that you watch Sinek’s TED talk on Starting With Why here on YouTube before reading any further. I’ll let him take care of the bulk of explaining the basics, and then will offer some ideas of my own to back this up in the real world and explore the best ways to start thinking this way and apply it to your business.

First, a little on me. After all, if I were to practice what Sinek preaches, it would follow that I explain why it is I’m writing this piece so that you, the reader, not only have a good reason to pay attention but also understand what drives me on a deeper level. So, who am I? I’m an entrepreneur in the music space. I do freelance work in the realms of copywriting, business development, and marketing for artists and industry / music-tech folks, but my main project is doing all of the above for a project I’ve been on the team for since day one called Presskit.to. In short, Presskit.to builds digital portfolios that artists of all kinds can use to represent themselves professionally when pitching their projects to gatekeepers like label reps, casting directors, managers, the press, etc. This core technology is also applicable to larger entertainment industry businesses and fine arts education institutions in enterprise formats, and solves a variety of the problems they’re facing.

Not interesting? I don’t blame you for thinking so, if you did. That’s because I just gave you a bland overview of what we do, instead of why we do it. What if, instead, I told you that myself and everyone I work with is an artist of some sort and believes that the most important thing you can do in life is create; that our technology exists to make creators’ careers more easily sustainable. Or, another approach, that we think the world is a better place when artists can make more art, and that because our technology was built to help artists win more business, we’re trying our best to do our part. Only you can be the judge, but I think that sort of pitch is more compelling. It touches on the emotions responsible for decision making that Sinek outlines in his Ted Talk, rather than the practical language-based reasons like pricing, technicalities, how everything works to accomplish given goals, etc. These things are on the outside of the golden circle Sinek shows us for a reason – they only really matter if you’ve aligned your beliefs with a client’s first. Otherwise these kind of tidbits are gobbledygook, and mind-numbingly boring gobbledygook at that.

Smart Project Management –Best Practices of Good Managers

Project management could be one of the easiest jobs on the planet, and could also be the worst nightmare. The difference between the two extremes depends on smart management of a project. According to the project management institute, there are five phases in project management - Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring & Controlling, and Closing.

Every manager has his own style of project management. But there are a lot of contributing factors that result in a successfully managed project. These factors vary from project to project, but they all contain some common elements.

1. Setting SMART Goals