So this is a bit of a grown-up topic to be discussing on MFGG, but the great majority of us are mid-teens or higher, so it's worth discussing. [b]What kind of jobs would people on MFGG have a decent shot at getting in the future?[/b] For this topic, I'd like us to discuss future opportunities that a site like MFGG could have a hand in preparing you for. Game design would be an obvious answer, though I'm not sure what the market is like for that. Other programming-related, or just generally computer-related, jobs would fit the bill, I think. Spending this much time on a computer, especially using the computer to create projects (aka products), is something that employers are willing to pay well for. Let's start with the one that I fell into: [b]web development.[/b] As Syaxamophone correctly reminded me once, money should not be private. That said, I make $16/hour at a small business making WordPress sites. This is only my second job, and my first full-time job, not to mention my lack of a college degree. In the not-so-distant future, I expect to significantly increase, if not double, my income. [b]This does not mean you should skip college though! I would have an easier time with a degree for sure, especially in the future.[/b] What's my recommendation for anyone who wants to get into this career? Mostly, just start doing a little bit of web design. Make a simple HTML page for yourself. Familiarize yourself with stuff like FTP. Get a free host ([url=http://byethost.com/]Byethost has been alright for my needs[/url]). Learn how to use HTML and CSS, and JavaScript. Then, you should most definitely pick up Bootstrap and jQuery. Then, it would really be worth looking into something like React.js. If you want your page to be interactive, or even just to display several similarly-styled things in a row (like blog posts, forum posts, etc.), it takes care of a lot of work for you, and it's a big plus on a resume. If you want to get more complicated with it, like user logins and content management and etc, then you're going to need to go [i]server-side[/i]. You can install server software on your computer and have your own pro development environment going on. Perhaps try XAMPP for installing a server with PHP with a MySQL database (what MFGG uses). Or if you want to get as modern as possible, try Node.js, the hot new JavaScript server. It's apparently got more job opportunities (and from what I can tell, much better paying too). ----- What other careers do you think MFGGers have a decent shot at getting?

Also don't live in Australia where jobs in anything other than mining seem to be limited to "must have 10 years experience" or non-existent. I aspired to do web development as a job briefly, I got my credentials and went and studied when getting a job in everything else seemed impossible. I started off going freelance and did a few local HTML or PHP websites for people and I was quite proud of them, I also had a job maintaining their sites and getting paid peanuts per month to do so, but I never wanted to keep their sites up to date, I just wanted to build them. I tried applying for probably hundreds of website related jobs in my city but never got a single call back. After a while the demand for new features and keeping things up to date on the websites I HAD built started getting me down, which was also conveniently around the time we were having a baby. Once he was born it was game over for my web development career, I lost all drive and sank into a bit of a postnatal depression slump, I had no time to keep up with it or learn new things and I honestly didn't want to because I'd become sour about the whole thing, I cut ties with the few people who I designed websites for and they've since redesigned their respective websites through other companies. I gave it a good shot but in the end I had more fun designing the websites than building and maintaining them. Aside from that, I always wanted to get into Game Development, specifically 3D and art, and also did the usual studying and whatnot but I wasn't mature enough at the time to take it seriously and it was also about the time when the games industry in Australia basically up and died and this was before mobile gaming was a serious business and the iPhone didn't even exist yet. I wouldn't say it would've been a particularly well paying job but honestly I wasn't in it for the money.

Janitor.

Game design or programming. I'm already going to university for game design, and I'm not sure if I would choose that if it wasn't for my fangames. Not to mention that I couldn't make them without MFGG.

Maybe Graphic design or in the field of visual communication as I seem to do the best. But since that I had some interview with my teacher in art at my school, I was able to find another subject that I could do well in is character design as I did fair amount of character design in my final art project for year 12.

Once I finish my master's degree this summer, I'd like to begin working as a data analyst or business analyst. I have a pretty good background in both IT and business, and this would be a good way to combine those skillsets. It helps that it's a rapidly-growing field. Plus, it's something I like doing - I like analyzing data to find hidden trends and insights. That's a pretty good combination. I can't say that making fangames has been all that instrumental in preparing me for a career in data science, although it hasn't hurt. I can think of some other "fun things" I've done that were helpful in acquiring the skills needed to be successful in this field, though. I'm open to other opportunities, but I think my combination of education and experience is leading me in the data/business analyst direction, at least for the next few years. Down the road, I might work my way up to the CEO/CIO level, start my own business, get my PhD so I can teach at the college/grad school level, or run for public office so I can obtain world power. I have mixed feelings about the IT industry. The market is OK for certain kinds of programmers - it's pretty good for Java/C# developers, and there's a surprising number of positions that want people who know COBOL, believe it or not. However, I've seen a lot of job listings for "entry-level" positions that expect you to have 5+ years of experience, a master's degree, or an alphabet soup of disparate skills and certifications that no educational program could ever teach you. Employers love to moan about the so-called "skills gap" - the alleged deficit of talent in certain technical areas. I won't deny that there may be an undersupply of skill in certain highly specialized fields, but I also think there are a lot of times when employers have unrealistic expectations about being able to find highly-skilled workers at a ridiculously low price point. I also found that IT is about the worst possible field to have a great GPA and little full-time work experience - IT employers care a lot about experience, a little about certifications, and not very much about degrees or GPA.

I... have an internship at a small company that specializes in WordPress websites. Isn't that a funny coincidence.

My current goal is becoming a Linux Admin. Currently I am working at a very large web hosting company that is based on Alligator. As things progress I want to be an IT security researcher. Perhaps someday I can become a game developer for a major company By the way most of the time I am troubleshooting server related issues like the dreaded error 500/403/404, some .htaccess support, basic WordPress troubleshooting, billing, server resource usage, etc.

I'm actually majoring in Computer Science so I hope to get something that pays well

In short, For professional career, planning on becoming neurologist. The professionals of education in school clearly believe I make the cut with no doubt. While I am not going to college to study medicine until probably next year, I have been told I could make lots of money in many other ways, which I still want to work on for now. How sad, some time ago, I would have never been able to make this, if it wasn't because of...

I'm currently working on a Computer Science degree so I'd like to become a programmer. What kind of programmer? Well...After a few years of hobby programming, I grew to dislike C++. Got introduced to Java in a class, didn't really like that either. Python is fun but that's only used in a scientific context. Web development seems too complicated and competitive for me so if you can figure out that stuff out, more power to ya. A few months ago I got into pure C and I really enjoy that. Working with bytes and building things from a low level is both challenging and satisfying! I've also checked out various assembly languages and those clicked with me. Maybe I'm destined to be an embedded programmer! I'm taking an assembly class this fall and I'm really excited for that.