VK Education: almost a third of Russian schoolchildren would like to work in the gaming industry

Educational direction VK (former Mail.ru Group) decided to find out what Russian schoolchildren think about working in the video game industry. It turned out that almost one in three would like to link their career with games. Moreover, 28% of students are ready to start work immediately after graduation.

The company conducted the research as part of a new stage of the “Lesson of Numbers” — a series of lessons where students are told about digital technologies. For example, about neural networks, big data and artificial intelligence. More than 2,000 students from sixth to ninth grades participated in the survey.

What conclusions did VK Education come to:

• 38% of Russian schoolchildren consider work in game development promising. 29% are not averse to working in the industry themselves;
• 19% of schoolchildren admitted that they are interested in game development, but they know little about it. The overwhelming majority of respondents (76%) want the school to start teaching lessons on game development;

• the most attractive thing in game development for schoolchildren is the opportunity to create games that will be played by millions of people (35%). Teenagers also like that they can make a job out of a hobby (24%) and earn good money from it (15%);

• in general, 31% of students believe that gaming specialists earn a lot. But only 10% of people call such a job prestigious and fashionable;
• according to 32% of schoolchildren, work in this industry will always be in demand. Another 24% appreciate that gaming specialists can work remotely, and 16% believe that the demand for professionals will only grow in the coming years;

• about a quarter of respondents (22%) noted that in order to build a gaming career, you need to be well versed in games. According to 12% of schoolchildren, it is also necessary to be a gamer yourself;
• as for education, 11% of schoolchildren believe that it is necessary to study at the university to become a gaming specialist. At the same time, the same number of people are sure that there are enough courses for this;

• 21% of students are worried that parents may not support the decision to work in game development. Also, 17% of teenagers do not know where to get a specialized education;

• at the same time, 15% of schoolchildren are already learning how to make games, and a quarter of respondents want to go to the appropriate courses in the future. 28% of students are ready to start working in game dev right after they graduate from school;
• 58% of respondents want to get a job in a Russian company;
• the most famous profession among schoolchildren related to games is a streamer. Every second teenager knows about it, and 45% of people consider it promising. The second most famous profession is a developer, although only 13% of students are familiar with it (and 16% consider it promising).

Recall that in mid—August, another VK division — MY.GAMES – conducted a similar study among Russian gamers aged 10-45 years. According to that survey, almost half of gamers would like to get into the gaming industry, but 45% of people do not know where to start. Therefore, then MY.GAMES, together with FEFU, compiled a list of educational programs for game rendezvous.