A quick guide about gamejams for aspiring gamedevs!

One of the biggest issues when trying to get a job is the lack of experience. Internships or apprenticeships are great for that (do it if you can!) Another option to add depth to your resume and hone your skills is to participate in **game jams**! Having at least 3 game jams in your resume with the game's link (and source code if you are a programmer) helps the resume of an entry-level game dev stand out!

A game jam is a game dev gathering to create small games in a limited time frame (a few hours to a few months, generally over the weekend). It is open to absolute beginners! Quite often, a game jam has a theme, that will be revealed at the beginning. They can be competitive with different categories and awards, but not all of them are!

You can participate as a student, a total beginner to gamedev or a self-taught gamedev (there are also industry veterans there of course ;) )

I would recommend first participating in in-person events, but if there is nothing close to you, offline can be nice too!

The two most well-known are:

There are so many gamejam with different pacing and themes all over the year, so make sure to check the itch calendar too: https://itch.io/jams

Some bonus advice!

Do:

  • Go with a friend at your first game jam (you'll feel more comfortable!)
  • Sleep at least 6 hours each night (8 hours should be the norm, your health is important)
  • Make an effort to chat with people (if it's an online game, try and comment on other people's games). Don't worry about being awkward, there are only gamedevs there: everyone is awkward ;)
  • Keep in touch with people you met at the game jam (ask them their names and add them immediately on Linkedin/bluesky/...
  • If you have a really nice jam's game: polish it for a month and maybe try selling it? (also an excellent experience). For more than a month : start again from scratch ;)
  • Try different roles (as long as you are transparent with your teammates about your expertise level, it's fine for a programmer to be the game designer for once :) )
  • Help other teammates and even other teams if you can. Even if there is a competitive aspect, it's still a social event

Don't:

  • Burn yourself out by going on game jams every weekend and sleep deprivation
  • Compare yourself to experienced developers (but do ask for advice and try to team up with them if possible)
  • Be rude or drunk: Consider this an industry event (yes, at school too), with (hopefully) future peers!

For other experience game devs, let me know if you have additional or different advice on that topic :)

Edit: I'll be giving a game jam process example in the comments below :) Share yours!!!