I'm a 46 year old computer graphics programmer in Canada having a bit of a life crisis. My dream was always to work for a large big name software company but I had a child at the age of 23 which made moving from my home town impossible. I've got about 25 years of experience as the lead programmer at a small simulation company which is lead by marketers with very little technical understanding. Basically I feel under appreciated for what I've contributed to the company and now that my daughter is 23 and is done school i was thinking about trying to find a more lucrative job in the states. Is this realistic at all? I feel like if done some impressive things over the years without much help but I'm thinking that only having experience at one small company at my age will hurt my chances. What if I take a crash course in AI development?

Your best bet is to make a game yourself, maybe several small ones. Build a portfolio.

There are plenty of game development companies in Canada.

The market for game programmers is probably pretty competitive, given the recent layoffs.

I don't know how hard it is for Canadians to get a work visa these days.

Not really sure I want to make games. I just like solving hard technology problems. If I’m going work towards a demo may Ill try the ai stuff. Maybe I’ll get a idea worth turning into a company.

LazyWaves said:
Not really sure I want to make games.

Not really sure why you came here, then.

LazyWaves said:
Maybe I’ll get a idea worth turning into a company.

Maybe! Good luck!

I meant to post this in the Lounge forum. I came to this site cause I’ve coming here for 25 years.

LazyWaves said:

I meant to post this in the Lounge forum.

You did. But its very title is "Career advice." So it was moved to the Careers forum. Good luck with your career decision. If you know what options you have to decide between, maybe a Decision Grid will help.

I’m from Saskatchewan. Where are you from?

I’m 47. I just make my own stuff.

LazyWaves said:
i was thinking about trying to find a more lucrative job in the states. Is this realistic at all?

Yes. People move all the time.

Right now the market has contracted a bit and there were some layoffs, but still many openings at many studios. Some are local to the studios, others are remote.

I'd start with both gamedevmap.com​ which includes many studios and also many startups, and also GrackleHQ that includes a tremendous number of studios.

LazyWaves said:
Not really sure I want to make games.

There are many jobs outside of game code. Many studios have positions in tools and technology that aren't gameplay related, yet they show up on the job boards all the same.

@taby I'm from Newfoundland. The weather here is terrible which is a factor. I'd love to do my own thing but money would be a issue.

@frob Thanks for the input. I'll guess I'll just have to start testing the waters.