Research: What role does education play in game development?
In September, the job search service TalentsInGames.com on the pages App2Top.ru conducted a survey. It was dedicated to how much education affects a career in game development and how much game specialists are interested in studying.
Lecture hall
In total, 1,215 people took part in the survey, including:
- 72.6% men;
- 66.4% of respondents aged 25 to 34;
- 63.2% have been working in the industry for 3 years or more;
- 51.6% live in Russia, 20% — in Ukraine, 12.9% — in the Republic of Belarus.
How many specialists with higher education are there in the industry?
The majority of respondents (73.9%) have completed higher education. 10.7% have even two. However, there are very few specialists who have defended their PhD or doctoral degree — 1.4% of all those who took part in the survey.
The largest share of specialists with higher education is among localizers. 92% of all interviewed game translators received a “tower”. The smallest share is among artists (68%).
Is the education of developers related to their current specialty?
The education received in most cases is not related to the profession of specialists employed in the video game industry. Only 19% of respondents said that their current place of work correlates with their existing education.
There were some nuances. Firstly, among those respondents who have received a full higher education, the share of those who believe that their education is related to the specialty is higher — 22%. Secondly, 33% of all respondents noted that their education is indirectly related to their specialty.
As a rule, localizers work in the gaming industry “By specialty” (53%). The share of programmers working in their native field is also high (41%). The smallest share of professionals who noted that their specialty is related to their education is among testers (5%), support staff (7%) and game designers (8%).
Does the education received help in game development?
It is customary to scold the education system. However, the respondents’ opinion about whether the education they received helps in work was divided into almost two equal parts.
Among specialists with higher education, the proportion of those who believe that education helps them in their work is even greater — 60%. Among those who do not have a completed higher education, there are only 20% of them. In other words, the role of education is downplayed by those who have not received higher education.
Analysts, localizers and PR specialists see the greatest value in the received education. Testers, on the contrary, for the most part believe that the education they have received does not help them in any way.
Is there a lack of academic knowledge among gaming specialists?
Academic knowledge refers to those obtained in higher educational institutions — educational foundations, including those related to the specialty.
The majority (56.8%) of respondents noted that they have enough academic knowledge in their specialty. Among those who have been working in the industry for more than three years, the difference is even greater. 60% of professionals believe that they have enough academic knowledge.
The largest percentage of specialists who lack academic knowledge in their “subject” is observed in two areas — in analytics and art.
Let’s venture to assume that in analytics this may be due to a large number of new methods and tools for data analysis that are not yet taught and that specialists are forced to study independently.
We have a completely different hypothesis regarding artists. Many of them are self-taught, those who have mastered the basics of the profession on their own. Because of this, some of them may have “gaps” in a particular topic (for example, in human anatomy or color theory).
Is there a demand among developers for additional education in the specialty?
Although most specialists do not believe that they lack academic knowledge, most of them see sense in additional education. Almost 70% of respondents noted that they are interested in getting an education within their profession today.
The greatest demand is observed among artists (80%) and testing specialists (85%). Among all respondents, programmers (54%) and top managers (57%) expressed the least interest in additional education in a shared ratio.
How many industry employees attend advanced training courses?
Despite the lack of academic knowledge and a great desire to receive additional education, only 44% of respondents attend advanced training courses.
Advanced training courses are most popular among artists. 62% of the surveyed art specialists go to them. There is also a great interest in them among the fans (60%). Programmers have the least demand for additional education.
By the way, the absolute majority of respondents stated that they improve their qualifications one way or another. The most popular way of self—education is regular visits to profile sites (82.4%). In second place in popularity is viewing work—related videos (80.4%). Books in their specialty are read by 70.6% of respondents.
Are the employees of the gaming sector interested in getting an education that is not related to the specialty?
47.6% of respondents were interested in obtaining new knowledge that may not be useful in their current position.
It is difficult to say what may be the reason for the interest. There are too many possible options. Someone may just love to study, someone is interested in some completely third-party topic, but this may also indicate dissatisfaction with their business.
Localizers (71%) and support specialists (61%) have the greatest demand for additional third-party education. The majority of marketers (59%) are also interested in it.
By the way, as part of the survey, we asked which courses/sections are attended by gaming specialists and whether they attend at all. The proportion of those who don’t go anywhere is relatively small (33.7%). The majority of respondents go to sports (43%), many also attend language courses (36.8%).
Do gaming companies compensate for the costs of education
One of the survey questions was: “Are you interested in new practices and trends in the specialty?”. 95.1% of respondents answered that yes, they are interested in it.
At the same time, judging by the results of the survey, companies in monetary terms do not encourage their employees’ interest in additional education. 51% of respondents said that their company does not compensate for their education expenses.
Results
Gaming specialists show great interest in additional education and self-development both in their field and in extraneous subjects unrelated to their specialty. The strength of this interest varies depending on the specialization, however, it usually affects more than half of the staff.
Considering that the majority of respondents are specialists who have been working in the industry for more than three years, we can talk about a high demand for high—level education, which neither higher educational institutions nor various independent schools and courses can offer yet, as a rule, designed more for an audience just getting acquainted with the industry.
