Reality of Game Designer/Product Manager?

Obviously I am new here, so hi everyone!

I just would like to understand the position of a 'Game Designer/Product Manager' & if there is really a need for this position in small teams.

Logically I assume that programmers and artists are the most sought after roles. I am assuming everyone wants to be the "Designer", but if one actually wants to go down that route...how realistic is it to be able to find a job with that role. Is this a position you migrate into after already having proven yourself in other roles?

If there is actually teams looking for these positions, what things do we need to learn to successfully fill this role.

TLDR: If this is a position that is realistically an option to a 'Newbie', then what things do we need to learn/master in order to successfully fill this role.

I hope someone could just give me some insight into this, as I would love to work toward this position, but if it is not a reasonable goal, I will most likely continue to pursue programming.

Thanks in advance, and also thank you everyone for providing an awesome community for us newcomers to hit the ground running.

 

Disclaimer: My views are my own, and are not based in any real experience, but rather my own observations of the industry, especially as it applies to amateur/hobbyist/newbie game developers.

If the games industry were like Sim City, the demand meter for "Game Designers" would be a fully negative bar. There is just absolutely zero need for "idea people."

You're correct in saying that programmers and artists are the two high-demand positions. Of the two roles, programmers are probably more in demand, although you'll always find people like me who can write code, but don't have that innate art ability that gives games that stylistic flair that sets them apart. So if you have that, you shouldn't have to look too hard to find a team willing to exploit it.

Statistically, the odds of you actually getting a job in the games industry are extremely low. Like, abysmally low. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry wants to work for Rockstar, Bethesda, Ubisoft... Hell, many of us would even be happy to work at EA. These companies aren't in the habit of hiring unskilled, unproven personnel. Even if they were, the pool of applicants you'd be competing with would mean even having a nice portfolio of unpublished work wouldn't make you stand out from the crowd much.

Your best-case scenario would probably be one of two things:

1. Get a job for a small company that doesn't make games, but is interested in or has an opportunity to get into doing so. This is what I did. Living in Central Pennsylvania, there are no game companies around me, so I found a film production company that was trying to take on the work of making HTML games for their client. I ended up being far overqualified for what they really needed, got bored, and have since left.
2. Start a business yourself. Aggressively pursue clients of all kinds, offering to make promotional iPhone games, gamified websites, whatever you think you can sell them on. Charge enough that you can afford to work on your own project on the side, but treat it like a client job with strict budget and schedule adherence. This is my plan for the future.

With that in mind, understand that your vision for entering the game industry may not pan out. If that's the case for you, being a skilled programmer will mean you'll never be hard up to find a job. Artists don't have it so easy. So if you're thinking you want to write code, learn it all. While you may have to start out small, your worth increases quickly with the more knowledge you possess. For example, my first internship out of school 4 years ago paid $11/hr. I've since more than tripled that rate, and charge at least 6 times that for freelance work.

 

Alright, that about confirmed what I had guessed. Thanks so much for all the information and tips. I appreciate it.