From noob to pro: how to make it in the games industry

1. PICK YOUR WEAPON

Ok, you are decided to join this marvelous place called "games business" but, how?
First of all, you need to know what kind of player are you: are you an artist? a programmer? what else is there? Let me show you:

Programmer. This is what I am. By far, the most wanted position. All companies need them. All companies hunt for the best ones. It's the easiest job to find in the business. Salaries are very good. If at some point you get tired of the job, it's easy to change to other company/discipline. The only bad thing is that, depending on the company, extra time can be often on a daily basis. Because you are going to be new on this, you shouldn't specialize very much at the beginning of your career. Be what people call a "generalist programmer" but, of course, make your mind on what things you like the most. At some point, you will have to specialize in something and become good in that. That said, those are (more or less) your options:
- Gameplay: basically you code game mechanics (weapons, objects to interact with...)
- Artificial Intelligence: my personal favorite. You will have to program how the player, the non-playable-characters and the enemies behaves. But not only that, how the environment behaves and reacts to whatever is happening during the game. This is a deep and interesting field that leads you to learn a lot about all the other disciplines.
- Render: this is the graphics part. You basically code shaders, programs that make visuals nice and smooth (shadows, lights, reflexes, visual effects)
- Audio: this is starting to be more an art discipline than coding thanks to Audio Engines like WWise. In my experience, gampelay programmers end up integrating the audio engine so the audio artists can place their magic
- Animation: there are programmers specialized in making the characters movement smooth and nice. They work on ragdoll logic, animation transitions and animation interactions
- Physics: very much needed. Most of the current games rely on very real strong physics. This guys know a lot of math and physics. They understand how the world works and how your game should imitate it.
- Engine: many companies build their own engine to build the games they do (yep, there is a bast world away from Unity or Unreal). For that, you need people that knows how to integrate everything (audio, physics, render, animation...) into one big platform with tools and interfaces easy to use. They also create tools for the company that are usually shared across projects.
- Server/Networking: this people work on all the online stuff your game might need. Also security.
Artist. Very much needed. Since text adventures, all games need a nice looking and feeling. In this field it's a little more complicated to find a job. While programmers tend to have long term positions (there are consultants too, but that's not very common), artists are often offered fixed term contracts (3, 6 or 12 months). Also, there is always less artists that programmers on a game but still a very good strong job market. I give you the same advice: at the beginning , be a general artist (good for everything).In this discipline, we have variants too:
- Concept: people that create the drawings out of the ideas of the designers. They now a lot of techniques and stiles to adapt what they are told. They are fast producing new drawings or 3D models.
- Environment: artist that focus on environments. Need a jungle? a forest? a Lovecraft like cave? This is the people you need.
- 3D Modeler: this people does doors, props, objects, characters... is the "good for everything" type of artist.
- Animator: they create the animations and movements we all love. Within this branch, there are sub-branches like facial expression, animals etc.
- Audio: they create the music and the audio effects that makes us live the game.
- Technical Artist: they are half way between programmers and artist. They create scripts and shaders to make things look very good (water effects, transparency, reflections). Also they investigate tools and create plugins adapted to the necessity of the project/artists.
Designers: they are the ones that create the game concept. What you can and can't do. How the levels are, what will the player be able to, how the story of the game develop. They are very imaginative, now A LOT of games and their tricks. They analyze games to extract the quintessence of it. There are many types, most common are level designers, story writers and game play designers.
Producers: they control the budget. They keep everyone on track and up to date in the task. They talk to the publishers (if any) and manage the team. Any serious project has them. Is either someone controlling chaos or nothing will succeed. A goo producer can change the results completely.
Quality Assurance: what everybody call the testers. They play again and again in look for flaws and bugs. They are very good and evil. They love to make us programmers cry. No good project will survive it's lunch without them.
Publishers: the people with the money (Sony, Microsoft and many many others). They have the ability to close the project or make you rich. You can be one of those too. "All" you need is a lot of money and knowledge about investment.
Press/Reviewers: this is a very important part of the games industry. A good review or article can rocket your sells or send you to oblivion. This people knows a lot about games and the industry itself. I would say that being a youtuber could be in this category.
Shops and distributors: there's GOG, Steam, GameStop, Game... try at your own risk.

2. HOW DO I GET TO BE [insert your choice here]

Well, you got two choices here:

A) The classic way.

Finish high-school. While you do it, start doing whatever your discipline will need (code, draw, learn how to invest). Go to University choosing the career you might need. If you are lucky enough, you will be able to afford it and, if you are really lucky, you will be able to do a video games career at the uni you picked.
In case you don't have a games career, you can always do computer engineering, arts, business and management and then maybe, pay for a Masters degree.

B) Do your thing. A Lot.

Let's say you can't afford study because you have to work a lot, or you are not living in Denmark where education is free. Then do your thing. is it Art? Model and draw as if your life depends on it. Make a huge portfolio you can show companies. Do online courses, there are many free (I'm going to publish coding tutorials here) and many hacked ones online (yes, piracy is ok if you need to learn and you are poor). Are you a programmer? code! do games! as many as you can. 2D, 3D. Make a website where people can download them. Do Android games, they are free to publish and you can earn money with publicity if they are popular enough. And keep knocking doors with whatever you do.

C) My way (A+B)

I'm going to tell you how I did it. Follow this path at your own risk. I know more cases like me, but they are only a few.
I never finished High School. In Spain (were I come from) you have to pass 2 years. I had to do my first year twice and my second year twice 2. Never finished it. For personal reasons I couldn't focus enough and I left for work. I needed money. BUT (big but here): I never stopped learning the thing I liked. By that time I didn't knew I would like to do games, but I wanted to be a programmer (I learned Pascal in my school, Lotus with my dad when I was 8, hacking stuff from as teenager, hardware hacking when I was about 23).
Because I never finished high school, I never went to uni. I was 26 without a profession or official studies. So I decided to change that. I had the option to pass an exam (more or less the same you have to pass to access university) and study coding. And I did. I prepare myself in math, physics and other disciplines (easy for me, the fact that I didn't pass high school didn't mean I didn't learn). In two year I became a Java/Android programmer. Thanks to my coding teacher I learn how 2D games worked. I was hooked. I wanted to do that.
I work as programmer for 1 year at a super boring company. After a year I discover a master/course that allow you to study games programming without having an university degree. All you need: prove you are a good coder. Well, I was working as a programmer, so I tried. An I did.
The downside? first, the student loan (so much for not going to uni). Second: oh boy... I was 30 years old surrounded by 22(ish) y.o. people that knew way more than I did. But I didn't care I managed to finish. I did a game I used as key to open my a place into a company (Sumo Digital).

So, short version: I sacrificed my life during the master. I didn't went out, have parties or make friends apart from the ones I was working with to do the game for 14 months. Perseverance and hard work. That was my way. Also I knocked hundreds of doors asking for a job. My games course fellows found job way faster than me.
My way it's doable but it's hard.

3. OK, I DID MY STUFF, NOW WHAT?

Now knock doors!
There are 4 ways here that you can (and should) use simultaneously:

If you went to uni it's very probable they have connections with companies that will offer you a place as a placement programmer while you finish yous studies or a graduate position when you finish.
Look for all the companies you like, go to their website and throw them your CV and portfolio. What I did was look for all the games I had played in my life that I loved, check if the company still exists and look for a graduate/junior position. I managed to have few interviews and flight to different countries across Europe.
What works best: use a recruiter. In my case I used aardvark swift . This company has been working with games companies for many years. They are very good.
Go Indie. Look for money (publisher, kickstarter, patreon, Steemit...) and do games by yourself. It's difficult, but doable and you will be your own boss!

3. FINAL ADVISES.

Work hard. No matter which path you follow. I have seen people going to the best unis not doing anything and not getting a job and people like me. Doesn't matter your age (you can consider me old) or if you are not the brightest person in your class (trust me, I'm not) or the most skilled person ever, if you work hard and if you are constant, you will reach the sky.Use your free time to reach your goals.
Having a good portfolio will make all the difference.
Keep yourself up to date. Read news, articles and papers. Follow events like E3, PAX or GDC (this is VERY important) and also visit websites like Kotaku, Gamasutra, Eurogamer or GamesIndustry on a daily basis. Also there are many other knowledge fonts like @gaming-trail, or Mark's Brown youtube channel
Play a lot. Don't be picky. It's a game? play it. At least for a few minutes. Try to see what the fans of the game see in it and write it down in your brain. At some point, you will want to attract the same people.
Join communities (like this one) and try to participate in Game Jams. You will meet people in your field, make friends and learn a lot

Well, this is it. This are my two cents of knowledge for you guys.
Let me know your questions or concerns, happy to help.
See you in the next one!