Ask HN: Startup failed, figuring out what to do next

1 point

9 years ago

Graduated from a university with a social sciences degree in 2015. Came back to Southern California to start an indie game studio. Had a great team of 10 people, but we ran short on money and a deal with a publisher fell through. Most of my work was in art, UI, and production. I've gotten interviews at a couple of places for production work, but have not landed a job yet. Been doing some freelance work in the meantime for the past couple months, but I'd like to do full time work again. Problem is there are a lot of different things I'm into (web dev, game UI/UX, 3D modeling, level design, production), but don't have a strong enough portfolio in any particular one to get a job.

I'm considering getting a course from Udemy (something like this: https://www.udemy.com/the-web-developer-bootcamp/) and going all in on a career in web dev. A lot of what I've learned is self taught, so I'm comfortable with picking up the skills this way. Compared to game development, web dev seems to have the best job prospects and work environment. Long story short, I want to know if this is a bad idea. One of my fears is that by the time I become a viable job candidate, the demand for web developers will have dissipated, I'm still jobless, and have to pursue something else, possibly repeating the cycle.

If I'm being honest with myself, I fear that committing to any single type of work will backfire on me and hurt my ability to get back on my feet. At the same time, if I don't commit, then I'm probably screwing myself over too. I love having so many options at my finger tips, but I'm falling prey to analysis paralysis. I'm sure there are other HN folks who've experienced something similar or are grappling with this problem right now. Do you guys have any advice?

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