00:00I've done a lot of crazy things in my
00:02life I've jumped out of an airplane
00:05I've explored castles
00:10I've swam in the deepest lake in the U.S
00:13I've climbed some really big rocks one
00:15time I drove down such a steep hill that
00:17it actually caught my brakes on fire
00:20uh my brakes are on fire
00:22oh get the fire extinguisher oh that's
00:26bad it's on fire my brakes are on fire
00:34I learned how to sail
00:51but now I'm doing the craziest thing
00:54I've ever done I'm quitting my job in
00:56order to make my own video games and if
00:58you told me that this is where I would
01:00be a few years ago I would have called
01:03but hey here we are and I know what
01:04you're thinking but Thomas isn't this
01:06kind of an irresponsible thing to do
01:08just up and quit your job to which I
01:10would reply I think it would only be
01:12irresponsible if I was crippled by
01:14tremendous amounts of student debt had
01:16to save up for a big trip to go to my
01:18buddy's wedding in Europe and uh if I
01:20had a baby on the way in just a few
01:23oh so that begs the question why would I
01:26leave the pay was good I liked my
01:28co-workers I liked the project that I
01:30was working on so why would I leave well
01:33there were a few reasons and I don't
01:34know if any of you will be able to
01:36resonate with these but these are some
01:37of the reasons why I felt like it was
01:39time for me to take the plunge and see
01:40if I could create and sell my own video
01:42games the first reason was time I wanted
01:45to take control of my schedule I was
01:47working 40 hours a week and a good chunk
01:49of that was wasted in my eyes because I
01:51was stuck in meetings and these meetings
01:53didn't benefit my work at all they were
01:55almost all just different forms of me
01:57giving updates to different parts of the
01:59team on what I was working on
02:01additionally I wasn't rewarded for
02:03getting better at my job if I was given
02:05one week to do something and if I
02:07concentrated really hard and was able to
02:09get it done in just three days I was
02:11rewarded with more work and I aspired to
02:14be in a place where I could earn more
02:16time for myself if I got better at doing
02:18certain things and of course with a baby
02:22time will be my most valuable resource
02:24it made me think about the future of my
02:26growing family how I want to use my time
02:28and how I want to prioritize the
02:30flexibility of my schedule above the
02:32perceived need to have more money
02:34another reason why I wanted to jump ship
02:36at this time is because I felt like I
02:38hit the limit for what I was learning
02:40you see when I first started at my job
02:42it felt like I was drinking out of a
02:43fire hose and I loved every second of it
02:46okay time out we got kittens hello
02:49excuse me do you think now is a good
02:51time for me to quit my job
02:54I felt like I hit my limit for what I
02:56was learning at my job when I first
02:58started at my job it felt like I was
02:59drinking through a fire hose I was
03:01learning so much every day that it was
03:03hard to keep track with everything that
03:04was going into my brain I love to learn
03:06and I wanted to keep growing however I
03:09felt like my opportunities to grow at
03:11this job were severely limited I had
03:13learned more than enough to make some
03:14killer games by myself another big
03:17factor was my desire for a creative
03:19Outlet working at a game Studio I was
03:21mostly constrained to my one skill
03:23programming we had other people on the
03:25team who were tasked with designing how
03:27the game should play what the art should
03:28look like what the story is and so on
03:30there are so many facets that go into
03:32game development and I didn't want to be
03:34pigeonholed into just one discipline so
03:37once I decided that I wanted to quit my
03:38job the next big question was well when
03:41do I do it and how do I make it happen
03:44you see I have bills to pay and debt and
03:47all of the stuff that goes into living
03:48so I had to get very intentional with my
03:51relationship with money I started
03:52tracking what I spent money on every
03:54month I tracked income bills expenses
03:57groceries gas Insurance travel
03:58Recreation everything and only after
04:01processing all of that data was I able
04:03to do the math to figure out how long I
04:05would have to keep working to give
04:06myself a financial Runway you see I
04:08can't just quit my job and keep trying
04:10to make games forever so those are some
04:12of the steps that I took to minimize the
04:13risk of me quitting my job now don't get
04:15me wrong it's still risky but it's a
04:17very intentional calculated risk with a
04:19clear timeline it's not a decision that
04:22I came to lightly so the question
04:23remains what am I going to be doing now
04:25well I've already talked a bit about it
04:27but I have a three-fold plan set up and
04:29each of the three branches will be given
04:31an allotment of time for me to work on
04:33throughout each week the first and
04:35biggest of the three is game development
04:37I'm going to continue to develop and
04:39release my own games on Steam and
04:40consoles my first steam game should be
04:42coming out in a couple of months so keep
04:43your eyes open for that and I will be
04:45leaning on you nice folks to help me to
04:47decide what to work on next I have a lot
04:49of ideas but I want input from you to
04:52see what actually sounds fun to play I
04:54have a lot of ideas and I'll be sharing
04:56my top few game ideas in a future video
04:58and taking a poll to see which one you
05:00think sounds the best I want to create
05:02small scoped games so that I can release
05:04a few of them within the course of one
05:06year okay that was number one the second
05:08branch of my business strategy is to
05:11create YouTube videos now that I have
05:13more time to devote to making videos for
05:15this channel you should be seeing a lot
05:17more videos coming your way in the next
05:19few weeks now that I have more time to
05:21devote to this channel I'm going to be
05:23uploading much more frequently and
05:24hopefully I can figure out what I'm
05:26doing here and get better with each
05:27upload so you should be seeing a lot
05:28more of me in the coming weeks now might
05:31be an awesome time for you to subscribe
05:32Okay the third part of my strategy is to
05:35create online courses teaching game
05:37development gameplay programming is my
05:39bread and butter so I have a lot that I
05:41can teach others who are interested in
05:42learning these courses will probably be
05:44Project based and listed on udemy and
05:47that's what I'm going to be focusing on
05:48for the next long while if I can't make
05:50any money doing that my plan B is to
05:52start doing freelance work as a gameplay
05:54programmer and if that still doesn't
05:55bring in enough money to make ends meet
05:56then I'll start looking for another
05:58nine-to-five job again hopefully it
06:00doesn't come to that but we'll see what
06:01happens it's a very exciting time in my
06:03life who knew that 2023 would be the
06:06year that I quit my job travel overseas
06:09and then have my first kid it's a
06:10whirlwind of a journey but I'm excited
06:12to be on it and covering it all in these
06:14YouTube videos I'm not going to show my
06:16patreon very hard but I will mention
06:18that I did just start one so if you want
06:19to support my new Endeavors that would
06:21be the place to do it and get the inside
06:22scoop of what I'm up to I'm in a crazy
06:24period of transition in my life and it's
06:26all very exciting so thanks for joining
06:28me on this wild ride and I'll see you
06:33flames on the brakes
