I know its been asked in the forum once, but I`d be happy to hear some first/second hand testimonies about a different career path architects have taken.
job fields which are open for architects, other companies that hire people with architecture education..?
From checking other job listing, the experience gained as a young architect seems to be aplicable mostly for architecture positions (which i currently try to avoid)
please share your insights :)
bugsmetoo
Dec 20, 14 2:04 pm
Learn some computer languages. The boom might not last forever but these skills will transfer out into an industry looking for good talent. If you can also code and design (not an automatic given regardless of background), there are plenty of things to develop. Even in the field where data sharing and management can be "disrupted" as the SV folks say.
The more specialized you are, the less likely you will be able to change. Have a hobby that can also turn into a job venture. If that myopic image of an architect isn't 100% your fit, have some contingency plans that work around or with it.
archi-it
Dec 23, 14 12:43 am
hey bugsmetoo,
thats something that ive heard before, but isnt the people with proper coding education will be favored?
by design&Coding do you mean people who do UX?
and do you have colleagues who in this direction?
bugsmetoo
Dec 23, 14 1:30 am
Well, there's a few angles to look at your question.
Say the job market is discouraging and one has limited programming/coding skills but decent at design that can be applied to a browser or service of sorts. They can try to work at startups if they learn some basics--I believe Archinect had a feature on architects that strayed off the beaten path and one or two of them started doing UI/UX work. This is a more immediate transition and leverages design/architecture skills elsewhere.
The other is to basically learn code (Ruby on Rails, Perl, etc.) and try to gain a new start. Depends how agile one has but young people should be ok with this--might as well do something else if the odds of employment seem grim. Great developers will be prized but everything takes time and dedication to excel at and the market demand can accommodate some novices with additional skills. Like design and process and such.
Fergie
Dec 23, 14 2:01 pm
@bugsmetoo I have yet to find a job in architecture but I have been considering learning code. it seems to be a good idea. You are right though when it comes to time. Im wondering myself how long the computer tech boom will last. I kind of wish I did my undergrad in computer science. Anyway what advice or what type of computer jobs should I look into?? I have lynda and using khan academy to start learning code.
bugsmetoo
Dec 23, 14 4:34 pm
I really don't know what to suggest you but there are many places online like Hacker News or Reddit with some starting points. Probably going to depend if you want to lean more towards the front-end interfaces or back-end infrastructures. Browse those job listing sites and see what shows up most.
The tech boom might not last forever but there's no denying a paradigm (hate this word) shift from physical to digital services. Eventually there will be less easy VC money and far more level-headed salaries but quality useful stuff built will always be in demand.
WareDesignWorks
Dec 26, 14 8:25 am
Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.
Dec 27, 14 5:17 pm
I'm looking at getting out of the building design field in 2015. Have to finish up the remaining projects. It's costing too much with far too little compensation. Between private sector clients not willing to pay and then having projects taken by the community college which in our small micro-economy climate can be hard on business because students are free so it is hard to make money when it creates an environment where prospective clients gets the idea they can get services for free because students at a college are free from the end client perspective so why would they hire and pay a design professional when they can get what they want done for free.
Basically, the "business of architecture" in this area is totally broken down.
I'm at this point deciding to get out of this profession and return to the software development business. There isn't the economic climate to run a building design or architecture business. I don't have the resources to run a construction business, really.
I been in the software development business.
bugsmetoo / arch-it / etc., there is alot of different roles in the software field. If you are familiar with Maya, Blender, etc. then you might be of use in the 3d modeling side of things. In the video game industry, you may easily find your way in there because of the 3d oriented video games creating the 3d worlds. That is the easiest entry point for someone who is trained in "building" architecture. Since, learning to program a computer language takes many months, more often... it takes years.... to get good and proficient with the language. It is like learning a foreign language. You just don't learn to write a novel in a foreign language over night.
Computer programming languages and its fundamental computer science takes time.
My suggestion from a software developer perspective about starting a software development business:
- If you are setting up your own software development business: Find a niche market that is emerging and growing but not currently dominated by big software corporations if possible. (Forget operating system development unless you want to be employed by Microsoft)
- Forget Venture Capitalists... at least for now. Look to CROWDFUNDING to finance your project. Look to Kickstarter and similar platforms for crowdfunding.
- BEFORE you start a kickstarter campaign (or other like campaign to fundraise the capitalization of your project, you need to do some part of the development of your project not capitalized. Traditionally, in the 1980s, startup software businesses developed software with near-zero capitalization usually working a job at say, McDonald's or whatever while creating software so that you can get VCs to capitalize publishing, marketing and mass-production and all. You essentially get paid for development from the royalties or revenue from sales. Like a toy maker, you invent your product and make the product and then sell it to make back what you spent.
Kickstarter is a new tool. If you are incredibly successful, the kickstarter may very well pay for what you done leading up to the kickstarter campaign, during it and after the campaign to leading up to sales. There is the little bit of chicken/egg issue so you need to resolve it by putting your time in and doing it at risk but don't quit your day job until you have the capitalization to allow you to work fulltime and have staff to develop or you wait until sales revenue reaches the point where you can shift to full time. To make a successful crowdfunding campaign, you need to have some legwork already started that will encourage people to financially back it. If you have nothing already done up then you aren't getting anyone to back the project.
In video games, you would want to essentially create a game design/development document and a pitch. What you need to do to develop such a document would be needed to be done to get capitalization.
I recommend crowdfunding before pursuing any V.C. is because you need capital to leverage any terms with a VC. VC will look at what your financial worth is in determining the risks and most won't touch your project unless you have at least a quarter million behind you. Before you have any leverage in terms, you need to have significant capital to leverage against them. VC will typically demand you to A) Incorporate you busines and B) have certain level of percentage of the shares. The more they are putting in relationship to the amount you have secured behind the project, the more ownership share they will want and control over the operations of the business. Crowdfunding campaigns like Kickstarter, the backers does not have ownership shares of the business or project. They take a risk but their risks are usually just in the hundreds or thousands of dollars NOT in the hundred thousand to million dollars or more level.
Crowdfunding also helps legitimize your project's "validity" by showing there are people interested in the project. For start-up businesses in the software field, consider crowdfunding before you seek venture capitalists (VCs).
When I said earlier to seek an emerging growing niche market that isn't totally or nearly totally dominated by big software corporations, you just have no snowball chance in hell to compete with a billion dollar software corporation head on. It is just plainly impossible. You don't have the staff, the computer resources, etc. to compete against them. You need a market that can sustain your business that is emerging and growing. Allowing a place for your business to have a foothold in that market and become a trusted, respected and recognized name in that market.
Once the big corporations are in with near total dominance of the market share, they tend to squash the small guys before they become a serious competitor or buy them up so they don't become a serious threat - ESPECIALLY once the market is no longer growing or is growing at an insignificant growth rate. When the market plateaus, it is hard to get into a market. Creating new markets would then be your option unless you find another niche market to get into.
Software development is real business and you need to understand how business works to be a software developer.
bugsmetoo
Dec 27, 14 5:40 pm
Good input. I'm not disagreeing but simply putting out some more options out there.
There are some non-VC backed gigs that are easier to transition into. The big tech companies now all have in-house UI teams and even if companies refuse to build their lasting monuments, they do like rebranding themselves or updating the old clunky Geocities website into something fresh. Even small businesses going online would pay for services if persuaded so it depends on local conditions and demand. To add to that, another lateral option is interior design--some may not pay to build a house but changing the interior is less of a financial hit. Whatever one may think of that field, it works.
This all depends on the ultimate goal of each individual. Nothing wrong with the daily grind and if the risks are accounted for, nothing wrong with the startup life. Game design is another area but competition is likely high since it is quite popular today. A lot of artists and such with high talent for the picking with years of expertise under their belt already.
Certain languages are easier to learn than others. But frankly, the reality is that one cannot sell themselves as a seasoned developer/programmer/coder but more of a designer that can dabble around. Be proficient enough to do some good and not get fired then carve your own paid niche, as you said.
Miles Jaffe
Dec 27, 14 6:19 pm
Repo man.
It's a little slow right now in the US but in a year it's going to be booming like 2009.
Dec 27, 14 6:31 pm
I wasn't implying (at least not intentionally) that those are the only options. Games are certainly competitive but video games aren't exactly limited to a few companies and they also not as susceptible to monopolization quite like the Operating System market. Of course, certain games require huge resources to develop. It depends on the type of video game.
Of course, if you want to develop video games, you find a niche that the big companies are not. Of course, I wasn't implying that you attempt to make the WoW killer or something like that. You find and carve a niche out or something that one can get into and get a foothold versus committing business suicide by trying to take out Microsoft or something like that.
Great points on additional options being put out there. I agree. Most here probably doesn't have any computer programming, development, etc. behind them. I am more or less an anomaly in this case by having been in the field, switched out of software development about a decade ago into building design after the dotcom bubble and the varied ripple effects and offshoring but with a growing emergance of augmented reality and the re-emergance in virtual reality, and such, it new niche is forming in recent years which wasn't available a decade ago. As for me, I am looking at these markets because it opens doors again to return back into the software development. Even if there is a future consolidation of the market place, I can look at the options at that point in time.
Dec 27, 14 6:40 pm
WareDesignWorks,
A good point. You want to generate value and success is part of creating value but not the only way or form. You want to have success in achieving goals and objectives and that be perceived. So, "value" is important more so than success alone. Successes are neccessary components of creating value but it isn't all about financial success and that is crucial because that increases your value. But it is being valued and wanted that will give leverage.
Value is the bigger picture that you want to build.
That I agree with.
bugsmetoo
Dec 27, 14 6:55 pm
Not as many game studios as there once was. The big companies like Ubisoft and EA bought out smaller firms or their technologies and the few independents nowadays seem to be doing mobile. Big titles require budget, time, and effort (basically a blockbuster movie budget) whereas small mobile ones depend on a surprise hit and then followup (those smaller indie films that either sink or float). I don't think one can make much of a break doing anything else in between because with hardware advances and not many will want to pay for a poor visual experience unless it was original and different. That free-to-play model is killer on the profit despite strong industry growth annually. It probably seems green to this profession but there's a lot of internal turmoil and problems everywhere.
Due to the nature of switching professions, a lot of the more ambitious ideas will not happen initially. Unless there's some sort of partnership going on with a less developmental role. Kind of limited as the possible business person role also. Coding is like language really in the way language is semantic and a native speakers can condense verbose crap and make it brief and beautiful. For that, I don't know if someone looking to simply work will ever get into the rhythm and not continue be an outsider.
Interesting perspective so far.
snooker-doodle-dandy
Dec 27, 14 7:00 pm
Miles...can I hold you to that? PS Send work our way!
Dec 27, 14 7:03 pm
archi-it wrote: Dec 23, 14 12:43 am
hey bugsmetoo,
thats something that ive heard before, but isnt the people with proper coding education will be favored?
by design&Coding do you mean people who do UX?
and do you have colleagues who in this direction?
archi-it,
Is people with proper coding (programming) education favored?
It depends. There is many people different types of people involved in development of software. Depending on the kind of software, different composition of skillsets are needed.
In a video game with 3d worlds, there is certainly demand for good skills in designing 3d buildings and structures to create virtual worlds. This is also true for CGI work in movies. Look at those MMOs and FPS,etc. Part of creating the atmosphere of the game world needs skills in areas like 3d virtual buildings in which you would have the character move around through.
UI means "User Interface" and UX means "User eXperience". User experience is broader than user interface. In the case of user experience, we are talking about things like thematic experience, emotion triggering. In a bit, we are talking using theatrical art, psychology, game play experience, human interface control, user interface (a specific element within the broader macroscope of user experience) etc. Architectural education works into user experience. Your more general art education elements work into UI composition and layout. Art Basic Design works into UI perfectly.
Software development can be QUITE multidisciplinary. Geography which includes cultur/human geography, political geography, and to extent physical geography can go into software and video game development in interesting ways. Video games are incredibly demanding especially the more advance games with deep stories.
There is diverse roles with diverse skills needed. Rarely would one person will possess all the skills proficiently to be able able to develop these deep and advance kinds of games we see more of today than in the 1980s. Often that is because they involve many people with many backgrounds. That is why many of games developed by the big companies are like movie production in scale. You can easily imagine how sophisticated and diverse the skills are. There are roles, in which architects can get into software/video game development. You have to market your skills sets for the positions sought.
It isn't all programming.
Dec 27, 14 7:28 pm
bugsmetoo,
Yep, video games can be but you have to look at your market. For example, I can still make money producing software for Commodore 64 and NES/SNES, and other classic computers and consoles. However, I wouldn't necessarily be rich, either. It is a niche market in its own right and you would be gauged on a different standard than a modern PC game.
You can still make money in the PC world if you target the right market and niche. For example, if I were to make games for use with Oculus Rift or castAR, I would have a niche market there. You have a narrower customer base but your customer base would pay to have games that makes use of their Oculus Rift or castAR. In the case of castAR, it is unique in its own right. I would have already a niche market of customers for my software. I maybe hesitant in putting an MMO together but I may develop games that are showcases the unique attributes of castAR. Of course, it doesn't have to be just games. It can be non-gaming applications as well.
Now we have a unique experience which I can get a foothold in.
While, I may not compete with EA or Ubisoft head on but that allows for growth of a business. Do note some of these companies are "software publishers" not "software developers" because they use independent software developers in partnerships to develop a title. EA is mostly a publisher. Sure, they do do some in-house software development but not always. There are others, too. I remember many of these companies when they were small and starting out. There is cycles of expansion and consolidation.
If you are establishing a software business that may also produce video games, you don't have to produce AAA software titles. You can be still be a small independent development studio and yet make a viable income. It does boil down to how well you run your financials. There are more software developers out there than there was even in the 1980s. Considering there is now over a few billion users of computing devices. If you are diversified in a few niche markets, you can be able to move around in the software market. Being agile and mobile in how you move your business in the market can keep yourself from being totally taken out because you move with the economic tides accordingly.
Hi,
I know its been asked in the forum once, but I`d be happy to hear some first/second hand testimonies about a different career path architects have taken.
job fields which are open for architects, other companies that hire people with architecture education..?
From checking other job listing, the experience gained as a young architect seems to be aplicable mostly for architecture positions (which i currently try to avoid)
please share your insights :)
Learn some computer languages. The boom might not last forever but these skills will transfer out into an industry looking for good talent. If you can also code and design (not an automatic given regardless of background), there are plenty of things to develop. Even in the field where data sharing and management can be "disrupted" as the SV folks say.
The more specialized you are, the less likely you will be able to change. Have a hobby that can also turn into a job venture. If that myopic image of an architect isn't 100% your fit, have some contingency plans that work around or with it.
hey bugsmetoo,
thats something that ive heard before, but isnt the people with proper coding education will be favored?
by design&Coding do you mean people who do UX?
and do you have colleagues who in this direction?
Well, there's a few angles to look at your question.
Say the job market is discouraging and one has limited programming/coding skills but decent at design that can be applied to a browser or service of sorts. They can try to work at startups if they learn some basics--I believe Archinect had a feature on architects that strayed off the beaten path and one or two of them started doing UI/UX work. This is a more immediate transition and leverages design/architecture skills elsewhere.
The other is to basically learn code (Ruby on Rails, Perl, etc.) and try to gain a new start. Depends how agile one has but young people should be ok with this--might as well do something else if the odds of employment seem grim. Great developers will be prized but everything takes time and dedication to excel at and the market demand can accommodate some novices with additional skills. Like design and process and such.
@bugsmetoo I have yet to find a job in architecture but I have been considering learning code. it seems to be a good idea. You are right though when it comes to time. Im wondering myself how long the computer tech boom will last. I kind of wish I did my undergrad in computer science. Anyway what advice or what type of computer jobs should I look into?? I have lynda and using khan academy to start learning code.
I really don't know what to suggest you but there are many places online like Hacker News or Reddit with some starting points. Probably going to depend if you want to lean more towards the front-end interfaces or back-end infrastructures. Browse those job listing sites and see what shows up most.
The tech boom might not last forever but there's no denying a paradigm (hate this word) shift from physical to digital services. Eventually there will be less easy VC money and far more level-headed salaries but quality useful stuff built will always be in demand.
Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.
I'm looking at getting out of the building design field in 2015. Have to finish up the remaining projects. It's costing too much with far too little compensation. Between private sector clients not willing to pay and then having projects taken by the community college which in our small micro-economy climate can be hard on business because students are free so it is hard to make money when it creates an environment where prospective clients gets the idea they can get services for free because students at a college are free from the end client perspective so why would they hire and pay a design professional when they can get what they want done for free.
Basically, the "business of architecture" in this area is totally broken down.
I'm at this point deciding to get out of this profession and return to the software development business. There isn't the economic climate to run a building design or architecture business. I don't have the resources to run a construction business, really.
I been in the software development business.
bugsmetoo / arch-it / etc., there is alot of different roles in the software field. If you are familiar with Maya, Blender, etc. then you might be of use in the 3d modeling side of things. In the video game industry, you may easily find your way in there because of the 3d oriented video games creating the 3d worlds. That is the easiest entry point for someone who is trained in "building" architecture. Since, learning to program a computer language takes many months, more often... it takes years.... to get good and proficient with the language. It is like learning a foreign language. You just don't learn to write a novel in a foreign language over night.
Computer programming languages and its fundamental computer science takes time.
My suggestion from a software developer perspective about starting a software development business:
- If you are setting up your own software development business: Find a niche market that is emerging and growing but not currently dominated by big software corporations if possible. (Forget operating system development unless you want to be employed by Microsoft)
- Forget Venture Capitalists... at least for now. Look to CROWDFUNDING to finance your project. Look to Kickstarter and similar platforms for crowdfunding.
- BEFORE you start a kickstarter campaign (or other like campaign to fundraise the capitalization of your project, you need to do some part of the development of your project not capitalized. Traditionally, in the 1980s, startup software businesses developed software with near-zero capitalization usually working a job at say, McDonald's or whatever while creating software so that you can get VCs to capitalize publishing, marketing and mass-production and all. You essentially get paid for development from the royalties or revenue from sales. Like a toy maker, you invent your product and make the product and then sell it to make back what you spent.
Kickstarter is a new tool. If you are incredibly successful, the kickstarter may very well pay for what you done leading up to the kickstarter campaign, during it and after the campaign to leading up to sales. There is the little bit of chicken/egg issue so you need to resolve it by putting your time in and doing it at risk but don't quit your day job until you have the capitalization to allow you to work fulltime and have staff to develop or you wait until sales revenue reaches the point where you can shift to full time. To make a successful crowdfunding campaign, you need to have some legwork already started that will encourage people to financially back it. If you have nothing already done up then you aren't getting anyone to back the project.
In video games, you would want to essentially create a game design/development document and a pitch. What you need to do to develop such a document would be needed to be done to get capitalization.
I recommend crowdfunding before pursuing any V.C. is because you need capital to leverage any terms with a VC. VC will look at what your financial worth is in determining the risks and most won't touch your project unless you have at least a quarter million behind you. Before you have any leverage in terms, you need to have significant capital to leverage against them. VC will typically demand you to A) Incorporate you busines and B) have certain level of percentage of the shares. The more they are putting in relationship to the amount you have secured behind the project, the more ownership share they will want and control over the operations of the business. Crowdfunding campaigns like Kickstarter, the backers does not have ownership shares of the business or project. They take a risk but their risks are usually just in the hundreds or thousands of dollars NOT in the hundred thousand to million dollars or more level.
Crowdfunding also helps legitimize your project's "validity" by showing there are people interested in the project. For start-up businesses in the software field, consider crowdfunding before you seek venture capitalists (VCs).
When I said earlier to seek an emerging growing niche market that isn't totally or nearly totally dominated by big software corporations, you just have no snowball chance in hell to compete with a billion dollar software corporation head on. It is just plainly impossible. You don't have the staff, the computer resources, etc. to compete against them. You need a market that can sustain your business that is emerging and growing. Allowing a place for your business to have a foothold in that market and become a trusted, respected and recognized name in that market.
Once the big corporations are in with near total dominance of the market share, they tend to squash the small guys before they become a serious competitor or buy them up so they don't become a serious threat - ESPECIALLY once the market is no longer growing or is growing at an insignificant growth rate. When the market plateaus, it is hard to get into a market. Creating new markets would then be your option unless you find another niche market to get into.
Software development is real business and you need to understand how business works to be a software developer.
Good input. I'm not disagreeing but simply putting out some more options out there.
There are some non-VC backed gigs that are easier to transition into. The big tech companies now all have in-house UI teams and even if companies refuse to build their lasting monuments, they do like rebranding themselves or updating the old clunky Geocities website into something fresh. Even small businesses going online would pay for services if persuaded so it depends on local conditions and demand. To add to that, another lateral option is interior design--some may not pay to build a house but changing the interior is less of a financial hit. Whatever one may think of that field, it works.
This all depends on the ultimate goal of each individual. Nothing wrong with the daily grind and if the risks are accounted for, nothing wrong with the startup life. Game design is another area but competition is likely high since it is quite popular today. A lot of artists and such with high talent for the picking with years of expertise under their belt already.
Certain languages are easier to learn than others. But frankly, the reality is that one cannot sell themselves as a seasoned developer/programmer/coder but more of a designer that can dabble around. Be proficient enough to do some good and not get fired then carve your own paid niche, as you said.
Repo man.
It's a little slow right now in the US but in a year it's going to be booming like 2009.
I wasn't implying (at least not intentionally) that those are the only options. Games are certainly competitive but video games aren't exactly limited to a few companies and they also not as susceptible to monopolization quite like the Operating System market. Of course, certain games require huge resources to develop. It depends on the type of video game.
Of course, if you want to develop video games, you find a niche that the big companies are not. Of course, I wasn't implying that you attempt to make the WoW killer or something like that. You find and carve a niche out or something that one can get into and get a foothold versus committing business suicide by trying to take out Microsoft or something like that.
Great points on additional options being put out there. I agree. Most here probably doesn't have any computer programming, development, etc. behind them. I am more or less an anomaly in this case by having been in the field, switched out of software development about a decade ago into building design after the dotcom bubble and the varied ripple effects and offshoring but with a growing emergance of augmented reality and the re-emergance in virtual reality, and such, it new niche is forming in recent years which wasn't available a decade ago. As for me, I am looking at these markets because it opens doors again to return back into the software development. Even if there is a future consolidation of the market place, I can look at the options at that point in time.
WareDesignWorks,
A good point. You want to generate value and success is part of creating value but not the only way or form. You want to have success in achieving goals and objectives and that be perceived. So, "value" is important more so than success alone. Successes are neccessary components of creating value but it isn't all about financial success and that is crucial because that increases your value. But it is being valued and wanted that will give leverage.
Value is the bigger picture that you want to build.
That I agree with.
Not as many game studios as there once was. The big companies like Ubisoft and EA bought out smaller firms or their technologies and the few independents nowadays seem to be doing mobile. Big titles require budget, time, and effort (basically a blockbuster movie budget) whereas small mobile ones depend on a surprise hit and then followup (those smaller indie films that either sink or float). I don't think one can make much of a break doing anything else in between because with hardware advances and not many will want to pay for a poor visual experience unless it was original and different. That free-to-play model is killer on the profit despite strong industry growth annually. It probably seems green to this profession but there's a lot of internal turmoil and problems everywhere.
Due to the nature of switching professions, a lot of the more ambitious ideas will not happen initially. Unless there's some sort of partnership going on with a less developmental role. Kind of limited as the possible business person role also. Coding is like language really in the way language is semantic and a native speakers can condense verbose crap and make it brief and beautiful. For that, I don't know if someone looking to simply work will ever get into the rhythm and not continue be an outsider.
Interesting perspective so far.
Miles...can I hold you to that? PS Send work our way!
archi-it wrote: Dec 23, 14 12:43 am
hey bugsmetoo,
thats something that ive heard before, but isnt the people with proper coding education will be favored?
by design&Coding do you mean people who do UX?
and do you have colleagues who in this direction?
archi-it,
Is people with proper coding (programming) education favored?
It depends. There is many people different types of people involved in development of software. Depending on the kind of software, different composition of skillsets are needed.
In a video game with 3d worlds, there is certainly demand for good skills in designing 3d buildings and structures to create virtual worlds. This is also true for CGI work in movies. Look at those MMOs and FPS,etc. Part of creating the atmosphere of the game world needs skills in areas like 3d virtual buildings in which you would have the character move around through.
UI means "User Interface" and UX means "User eXperience". User experience is broader than user interface. In the case of user experience, we are talking about things like thematic experience, emotion triggering. In a bit, we are talking using theatrical art, psychology, game play experience, human interface control, user interface (a specific element within the broader macroscope of user experience) etc. Architectural education works into user experience. Your more general art education elements work into UI composition and layout. Art Basic Design works into UI perfectly.
Software development can be QUITE multidisciplinary. Geography which includes cultur/human geography, political geography, and to extent physical geography can go into software and video game development in interesting ways. Video games are incredibly demanding especially the more advance games with deep stories.
There is diverse roles with diverse skills needed. Rarely would one person will possess all the skills proficiently to be able able to develop these deep and advance kinds of games we see more of today than in the 1980s. Often that is because they involve many people with many backgrounds. That is why many of games developed by the big companies are like movie production in scale. You can easily imagine how sophisticated and diverse the skills are. There are roles, in which architects can get into software/video game development. You have to market your skills sets for the positions sought.
It isn't all programming.
bugsmetoo,
Yep, video games can be but you have to look at your market. For example, I can still make money producing software for Commodore 64 and NES/SNES, and other classic computers and consoles. However, I wouldn't necessarily be rich, either. It is a niche market in its own right and you would be gauged on a different standard than a modern PC game.
You can still make money in the PC world if you target the right market and niche. For example, if I were to make games for use with Oculus Rift or castAR, I would have a niche market there. You have a narrower customer base but your customer base would pay to have games that makes use of their Oculus Rift or castAR. In the case of castAR, it is unique in its own right. I would have already a niche market of customers for my software. I maybe hesitant in putting an MMO together but I may develop games that are showcases the unique attributes of castAR. Of course, it doesn't have to be just games. It can be non-gaming applications as well.
Now we have a unique experience which I can get a foothold in.
While, I may not compete with EA or Ubisoft head on but that allows for growth of a business. Do note some of these companies are "software publishers" not "software developers" because they use independent software developers in partnerships to develop a title. EA is mostly a publisher. Sure, they do do some in-house software development but not always. There are others, too. I remember many of these companies when they were small and starting out. There is cycles of expansion and consolidation.
If you are establishing a software business that may also produce video games, you don't have to produce AAA software titles. You can be still be a small independent development studio and yet make a viable income. It does boil down to how well you run your financials. There are more software developers out there than there was even in the 1980s. Considering there is now over a few billion users of computing devices. If you are diversified in a few niche markets, you can be able to move around in the software market. Being agile and mobile in how you move your business in the market can keep yourself from being totally taken out because you move with the economic tides accordingly.