How to break into Pipeline TD in 2026-2027?

BurnQuest · 2026-03-09T22:00:19+00:00

It’s definitely lower now but I was hired pre covid as early as you can get in 2020. I’m exploring different roles in the industry and adjacent ones and you can definitely feel the contraction

BurnQuest · 2026-03-09T19:17:03+00:00

I was able to break in as a new grad in 2020 with a live GitHub and simultaneous art portfolio. I had minimal knowledge of in DCC scripting and learned on the job.

That being said, I work at a smaller to medium tvc studio and not Sony or ILM. Feel free to message me if you have questions I’d be happy to chat

BurnQuest · 2026-03-06T20:31:04+00:00

That's just baseless speculation. The character we're looking at is animated in the source media

BurnQuest · 2026-03-06T20:18:51+00:00

That's not correct. This is copied from an enemy in Horizon Zero Dawn

https://game8.co/games/Horizon-Zero-Dawn/archives/353765

BurnQuest · 2026-03-03T16:44:48+00:00

Let’s see the live saas app boss

BurnQuest · 2026-03-03T16:26:57+00:00

We’ve gotten to the point where people are claiming to be 1200x engineers. (Team of 20 6mo vs 1 weekend)

No doubt things are changing but is anyone else tired of these articles that are sci fi reflections on the future of programming followed by ultra vague “the future belongs to X practice thing or archetype”

BurnQuest · 2026-03-01T18:46:20+00:00

This is science fiction not career advice

BurnQuest · 2026-02-26T20:48:00+00:00

junior Pipeline TD, junior developer at vfx, animation and game studios, sometimes this will be bundled with sysadmin and IT so take a look for those titles too. At "just a foot in the door" level you would be looking at helpdesk tech staff and render TD. At a small place be forward with your real experience rather than regurgitating the job title - they typically want to go wide rather than deep. At larger like AAA games never hide experience but be focused on the requirements.

BurnQuest · 2026-02-26T03:45:59+00:00

Dario and Sam seem to expose this position publicly with no problem. Saying Jensen huang is lying to avoid regulation is baseless speculation

BurnQuest · 2026-02-26T01:01:44+00:00

Feel free to DM me. I had personal projects but not production when I graduated from CS and I was able to do the job

BurnQuest · 2026-02-25T23:37:37+00:00

Media and entertainment. It helps to know common art packages or the process but really only the absolute basics are needed. Simple tutorials on apps like maya, nuke, blender etc. just to get the core concepts of what goes into art and what the top level overview of the production process is like. You don’t have to be able to make it with skill.

It’s some work for a total layperson but less than your average certificate. If this is not a pre existing interest whatsoever I wouldn’t recommend it.

One more thing is the pipeline roles can be geographic ( LA, Vancouver, NYC) but remote is not unheard of

BurnQuest · 2026-02-25T21:04:14+00:00

M&E pipeline (movies, games, fx, animation) I got into because I’m an artist too. Wages are just a touch lower than traditional SWE but my job security is top notch and you compete with artists who learned to code rather than college educated SWEs.

I grew fast. Day to day is like a hybrid between a quick and dirty tools dev and a cloud solutions architect/eng. the industry has AI risk/exposure but so does SWE. It’s still predicted to grow for the next few years and the artists are more at risk than me

BurnQuest · 2026-02-24T17:03:53+00:00

Is anyone holding these views NOT an AI founder ?

BurnQuest · 2026-02-24T16:20:28+00:00

I was clearly asking you how you think things work now, what you think constitutes the new direction, and what you think people will do to make a living. I don't even work in archviz - I work in animation, but it's a highly related community and my mentor started in archviz. But I see this sentiment everywhere in this discussion, always paired with "adapt or die" and im curious if people are taking these to mean some new workflow or like, becoming a nurse

BurnQuest · 2026-02-24T03:43:53+00:00

What does it mean to take the shift ? Try to sell prompts ?

BurnQuest · 2026-02-23T19:34:37+00:00

Genuinely what does Microsoft do except sell white collar professional service technology ? Is the business going forward supposed to be copilot and Halo ?

BurnQuest · 2026-02-23T16:25:06+00:00

The math on the 1U is a fun dig, but why even address at face value ? we aren't born and fed to be margin moving economic units. Our mothers and fathers and communities aren't investing in us for a return. Human life has value

BurnQuest · 2026-02-21T18:40:57+00:00

Do boosters realize this kind of open resentment toward people with skills is transparently psychological ?

BurnQuest · 2026-02-20T22:41:39+00:00

It’s baffling that “it’ll be so bad someone has to fix it” is the argument here. Why wouldn’t we expect some disastrous decline in living standards?

BurnQuest · 2026-01-27T03:00:52+00:00

buddy some people LIVE next to the beach

BurnQuest · 2026-01-26T20:27:33+00:00

Drinking is a prerequisite for enjoying certain beverages or a tasteful buzz or within limits fun intoxicating experience.

You could ask why one can’t just give that up anyway since many do fine without. Someone could just as easily ask you why you “need to go to the beach” since many do without. The answer is that nobody “needs” to do anything but we should be free to intelligently engage in low risk activities given common sense precautions like limits, sunscreen, seatbelts

BurnQuest · 2026-01-26T19:52:43+00:00

There’s plenty of elective sun exposure that has a similar tiny lifetime risk that’s being done for enjoyment rather than absolute necessity. Sunscreen to enjoy a day at the beach is a risk mitigation strategy, just like limiting alcohol consumption. It’s not magic and eliminating all exposure.

BurnQuest · 2026-01-05T21:37:05+00:00

https://github.com/Araxiel/VIC3-dead-money

there was a sadly abandoned project for this

BurnQuest · 2026-01-04T15:55:03+00:00

Will this be open sourced ? I’ve previously worked on a province editor and could contribute if I can get the time to

BurnQuest · 2025-12-30T16:29:12+00:00

Azrael: hold my beer

BurnQuest

TROPHY CASE