Online Courses
Are you uncertain what you want to do in the field or just don’t know where to start learning? Well, I’d say just pick something that you find interesting and go for it, and if it’s not for you that’s okay, there are so many things to do in the game industry and tech in general. Almost everything will be challenging, especially when first learning, but that’s why you’ll build the skills you need. There are plenty of free resources out there where you can learn a variety of skills that apply to the industry to get you started in the learning process. If you are a college or high school student you can also look at courses of interest offered and see if you can take one as an elective, or for college students maybe a single course during the summer or winter semester to not interfere with your regular schedule.
Here are some resources worth looking at:
Udemy - Udemy has a large variety of courses offered, don’t be scared by all the price tags you'll initially see you can filter them out to just free classes and sort through there. Courses have a rating/review system also so you can take a glance at what others are saying about the courses
edX - edX is another great service that has free courses as well as paid courses. edX has more official courses being courses that are from colleges. Through edX, you can take a single course, a BootCamp, earn a certificate, or even work towards a degree through them.
Codecademy - This is a resource for just programming and a more introductory level of programming. When I first learned programming it was taught in Java at my high school and I used Codecademy to also learn C++. However, all of your coding is done on the website and will not teach you other core skills you’ll need to navigate IDEs and other setups for real-world practices that you will need to learn.
YouTube - Anyone can put anything on YouTube and for that reason, there are some great channels and series on YouTube for beginners. Some videos might move a little fast or explain a concept you’re not familiar with yet, and if these things happen, feel free to take notes or pause the video and research what you didn’t understand. I still come across things I don’t understand and have to do my research.
These are just a few of the many resources out there. The most important step though is getting started, so if you find a way that works for you to get started then you’re already moving forward. If you can build up a good skill set, you can start creating and sharing those creations with others and start your journey.
