Before I talk about “gaming careers” with a family, I want to know what the student means by gaming. Do they want to play competitively, make a game, run a stream or organise an event? Those interests can lead to very different next steps. Calling all of them a career pathway makes the conversation sound more settled than it is.

I work with schools on gaming and esports education. A school can give a student a place to try some of this work and meet people who do it. I would be careful about promising more than that. We do not know what jobs will be open when a child leaves school, and an afternoon in a club cannot answer that question.

Ask what they mean by “working in gaming”

Start by asking what they like doing. A student who enjoys working out a match strategy might be curious about game design, but it is also possible they simply love competing. Both answers are fine. Playing a game, designing one, writing code and producing a broadcast ask for different skills. Let the student find out which work they want to spend time on.

The US O*NET description of a video game designer is a useful reality check. It includes design documents, prototypes, testing and conversations with artists and programmers. The UK National Careers Service describes game development through tasks such as coding, art, audio and fixing bugs. That is more helpful than telling students there are “lots of jobs in gaming”. It gives them something specific to investigate.

I would ask a student to choose one task they might enjoy and one they are unsure about. Would they like to make a level and watch someone try it? Write dialogue and revise it after feedback? Plan the running order for an event and deal with the change when something runs late? A job title can wait. First, find out whether they like the work inside it.

Be careful with career numbers

Career figures need their labels left on. Which country? Which occupation? Is that the salary for someone starting out or for people who have been doing the job for years? A headline about the games industry can hide all three. Families deserve the detail before we use a number to suggest there is an opportunity for their child.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics, for example, projects little or no employment change for special effects artists and animators between 2025 and 2035. That group includes work in games, film and television. Limited growth does not mean no vacancies: BLS still projects around 4,200 openings a year on average, mainly to replace people changing occupations or leaving the workforce.

Those figures describe a US occupation. They do not tell a family how many game jobs will be available in their city. If I bring them into a school conversation, I want to explain what they cover and where they stop.

Singapore’s Skills Framework for Media maps roles and skills in game production and development. It is useful for seeing the kinds of work people do. It is not a list of vacancies. A school can use that map, then look separately at local employers, training routes and entry requirements. If we have not done that second part, we should not pretend we have.

Give students a way to test their interest

Give a student a small piece of work to try. Someone interested in design could change one rule in a simple game and watch what happens when others play it. A student interested in production could plan a school event’s running order, including what happens if the stream fails. Another could ask a developer or technician what an ordinary Tuesday looks like. These are starting points for questions, not rehearsals for a job.

Afterwards, ask what they would willingly do again. Was it the making, the testing, the writing, the problem solving or being part of the team? What felt tedious? I would want to hear that too. A student might discover that the part they enjoy points towards computing, media or event work outside games. That is a useful answer.

What I would tell a family

If a family asks whether a school esports programme could lead to a career, I would say their child’s interest is worth exploring. Let’s work out which part of the work appeals to them, give them a chance to try it and look at the routes available where they live. A school activity can help with that investigation. It cannot promise the job at the end.

I want students to leave with a clearer idea of what they might try next, including the option to change their mind. If we can name the work, show them where to learn more and speak plainly about what we do not know, we have given them something more useful than a promise about the industry.

About the author

Jeffrey Cray is co-founder of Squid Academy and works with schools and universities on structured gaming and esports education. His work focuses on helping educators make school gaming purposeful and explain it clearly to families. He writes about digital wellbeing, creative participation and the decisions behind student pathways.