Regardless of what industry you work in, there’s a need for management, and the game industry has plenty of job opportunities in that field. Management is a common advancement opportunity for people that have been working in the game industry long enough to know the day-to-day responsibilities. However, it can also be a way into the industry if you’ve got management experience elsewhere. Management covers a variety of roles, and responsibilities, and can add a nice bonus to your pay-check if you move into the position.
Whenever you’ve got a group of people working on something together, it’s good to have at least one person leading the team: monitoring the project’s progress, keeping focus on what’s important, and making sure each person is pulling their weight. There’s still plenty of room for collaboration, even with one person being designated as a leader. Thus comes the need for management positions across the game industry. There are team leads, that manage a specific area of the game or company’s needs (ie: testing, animating, training, programming), and there are general managers that are in charge of monitoring the progress of several teams or projects. Even though only one manager is needed to lead a group of people, there are so many teams, projects, and tasks that there are quite a few management positions within the industry. These positions require knowledge of management practices and communication, in addition to knowledge of the team’s duties and resource needs.
As with many different fields and jobs, management is a common advancement opportunity within the game industry. As junior programmers, testers, etc. gain experience, they will eventually know the daily work well enough to train others, prioritize tasks, and will be familiar with the needs of the team. Combine that with some management training (often provided by the company), and an employee is now ready to step up to a role where they have a little more influence and responsibility. The added responsibility also usually means a little more stress, which deters some from wanting to move into the position, but the job usually comes with a higher income as incentive. It also looks great on a resume, and can lead to other opportunities within the game industry, such as game designer or art director.
Management can also be a great way to move into the game industry. If you’ve worked management in another industry, those management skills can also prove useful for the game industry. Holding a management title suggests that a person has several years of work experience (typically required to move up to such a position). It also means that the person has probably had some project or employee management and communication training. That means the game company won’t have to spend as much of their own time and money on training, and any training they do provide will reinforce the ideas you’ve already learned.
Whether you’re able to move into the Game Industry as a manager, or moving up from within the industry, there are several positions that can be filled. Supervisors and Managers are typically positions devoted to the management of employees rather than projects. These positions may involve reviewing employee performance, or overall team progress. Team leads, on the other hand typically more specialized managers. These positions are usually filled by someone that’s already got experience working on the team. Team leads may be more project-focused, though they may also be responsible for the other members of their team. Above the Team Leads are the Game Designers (ie: level designer, cinematic designer, combat designer, quest designer) that work closely with other designers and team leads. Even game designers have managers that they report to, all the way up to the president/CEO of the company. There are so many levels of management that the career path is a lot more lucrative than many people realize.
If you’d like to learn more about the Game Industry, you can browse through my Index of Game Industry Articles. If you have any questions for me, suggestions for articles I should write, or just want to let me know what you think, you can do so by posting a comment below.
-JB
