Fred
Retired Staff
Once upon a time, I was a videogame tester. I worked there, and as time went by, I grew increasingly disillusioned with my future prospects in the gaming industry.
At the end of 2011, my one-year contract at THQ Montreal ended with no renewal or offer of permanency and I was left jobless over to the next January, where I explored how unemployment insurance worked, and thought about my future. I thought about my affinities, and thought to redirect myself in the realm of computer IT/networking.
And opportunity to go study that at college crops up, and using the savings I had stored up, I paid for entry and pitched myself headlong in this for the next year-and-a-half.
Thing is, I was studying at Teccart. Teccart is a fairly renowned technician school in Montreal... but this wasn't the first time I went to Teccart. More than fifteen years ago, when I finished high school, it was the college I went to and, well, it was the site of my greatest academic failures - I failed most of the classes, retook the first session, and failed them again.
I was pretty ambivalent to returning there. They seemed okay with it... and it was my only opportunity at the time without costing me an arm and a leg. So, I took it.
But I was also really scared. If I failed my classes, I was wondering what future I might have. That made me a nervous wreck at about every exam we had to take, where I was nearly deathly afraid of failing them. I was cornered: this was my last chance to reorient myself into a career that had the chance of actually being successful.
This became a running joke for the other students in my class, and my teachers. Overtime, every expression of worry or anxiety was scoffed at with a: "You always freak out, and get 80-90% scores anyways. You'll be fine."
And... I guess I was. I've finished my classes and graduated with an average final score of 85% in all my classes. I'm a Networking and IP Telephony technician. And just recently, I became a certified technician through obtaining the COMPTIA A+ ce certification.
Considering how THQ crumbled a short time after I finished my first semester, my whole re-orientation seemed like a fortuitous affair. Even if I failed to acquire permanency, a couple of months after my contract was terminated fellow coworkers that were permanent ended up being fired.
Just today, I was given an offer based on a past interview with a small manufacturing firm whom needed a full-time on-site IT technician to supplement a senior technician that comes in part-time, paying 15 CAD for the first 3 months, and then that gets re-evaluated based on how accomplished I'll have become by then - I've set expectations that I wanted 17-19 CAD, but it's up to me to prove that I'm worth that by the end of those 90 days.
Ultimately - I said yes, and got the job.
This means I'll work full-time, starting next monday. As far as my SARP presence goes, I don't think it'll really harm it: Byakuren is way too slow-paced to even 'notice' my diminished availability.
- QA testing is an entry job, but you can't go higher if you're not strongly specialized in something, whereas I was more of a multimedia generalist, and no one would pick me right away as game designer despite having had my greatest academic results in dramaturgy, storyboarding and game design.
- Videogame industry jobs have little job security, and you also have to pull crazy hour shifts sometimes.
- Growing in the videogame industry doesn't really give that much pay even if you get promotions. I didn't fancy a future where I'd turn 45 years old and just be paid 12 CAD an hour.
At the end of 2011, my one-year contract at THQ Montreal ended with no renewal or offer of permanency and I was left jobless over to the next January, where I explored how unemployment insurance worked, and thought about my future. I thought about my affinities, and thought to redirect myself in the realm of computer IT/networking.
And opportunity to go study that at college crops up, and using the savings I had stored up, I paid for entry and pitched myself headlong in this for the next year-and-a-half.
Thing is, I was studying at Teccart. Teccart is a fairly renowned technician school in Montreal... but this wasn't the first time I went to Teccart. More than fifteen years ago, when I finished high school, it was the college I went to and, well, it was the site of my greatest academic failures - I failed most of the classes, retook the first session, and failed them again.
I was pretty ambivalent to returning there. They seemed okay with it... and it was my only opportunity at the time without costing me an arm and a leg. So, I took it.
But I was also really scared. If I failed my classes, I was wondering what future I might have. That made me a nervous wreck at about every exam we had to take, where I was nearly deathly afraid of failing them. I was cornered: this was my last chance to reorient myself into a career that had the chance of actually being successful.
This became a running joke for the other students in my class, and my teachers. Overtime, every expression of worry or anxiety was scoffed at with a: "You always freak out, and get 80-90% scores anyways. You'll be fine."
And... I guess I was. I've finished my classes and graduated with an average final score of 85% in all my classes. I'm a Networking and IP Telephony technician. And just recently, I became a certified technician through obtaining the COMPTIA A+ ce certification.
Considering how THQ crumbled a short time after I finished my first semester, my whole re-orientation seemed like a fortuitous affair. Even if I failed to acquire permanency, a couple of months after my contract was terminated fellow coworkers that were permanent ended up being fired.
Just today, I was given an offer based on a past interview with a small manufacturing firm whom needed a full-time on-site IT technician to supplement a senior technician that comes in part-time, paying 15 CAD for the first 3 months, and then that gets re-evaluated based on how accomplished I'll have become by then - I've set expectations that I wanted 17-19 CAD, but it's up to me to prove that I'm worth that by the end of those 90 days.
Ultimately - I said yes, and got the job.
This means I'll work full-time, starting next monday. As far as my SARP presence goes, I don't think it'll really harm it: Byakuren is way too slow-paced to even 'notice' my diminished availability.
