A Developer's Journey: From Casino Games to Exploring New Tech
Over the last decade, I’ve worked in the gaming industry, creating over 70 slot games for casinos. I’ve risen from an entry-level programmer to a manager, leading a talented team of developers, and earned my certification as a Scrum Master. While I’ve had success in my field, I’ve been working with the same technologies since 2014. Although our games have become more complex, requiring innovative solutions, the fundamental process of game development has remained largely unchanged. In many ways, I’ve become stagnant. To break free from this, I’ve embarked on a journey to expand my skill set and embrace newer technologies beyond the outdated ones I’ve been using.
My Journey in Game Development
For much of my career, I’ve worked with .NET Framework 4.5.2, C# 7, and the MonoGame Framework to develop slot games. While this tech stack wasn’t particularly challenging to learn in 2014, it provided a solid foundation for my work. Over time, I became more proficient and expanded my skill set by collaborating with mathematicians to integrate their algorithms into SQL for database storage. A colleague who routinely wrote Python scripts to automate mundane tasks inspired me, and I soon followed suit, creating my scripts to simplify our workflow. As my skills grew, my employers took notice, promoting me from mid-level to senior developer. By this point, I was so comfortable with our in-house game engine (built on top of MonoGame) that I started to take on leadership roles, guiding my fellow developers. This led to my promotion to Lead Developer, and soon after, I earned my Scrum Master certification. A couple of years ago, I became the manager of the game programming team. While managing has been rewarding, I’ve found myself spending about 60% of my time coding and 40% on management. As fulfilling as management has been, my skills outside of our in-house engine have atrophied. You’ve probably heard the saying, ‘If you don’t use it, you lose it.’ By late 2024, I realized something had to change for me to stay relevant in the evolving tech landscape.
Expanding My Skill Set
The market has evolved, and many developers are now working with technologies that I haven’t encountered in years. As a result, I’ve decided to expand my knowledge, beginning with Python. I already have a basic understanding of the language, which gives me a strong foundation to build upon. Python has become a go-to language in many areas, including web development, data science, and automation. In recent years, it has also gained prominence in the field of machine learning, where it is used to create AI-based applications like AI agents and RAG systems. As I develop new projects, I’ll likely need to work with additional frameworks or even other programming languages. I’m excited to expand my skill set and explore the vast opportunities Python and other technologies offer in today’s fast-paced tech landscape.
Why I Created This Blog
This is why I created this blog: to share my journey of learning new technologies and building new projects. My goal is to build a portfolio that showcases my adaptability and skill across various tech stacks. Along the way, I’ll jot down my ideas and insights as I work on different projects. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn or leave a comment below—I’d love to hear about your experiences in tech.