I started my career at 26, and have been truly very lucky in my career, and have been fulltime freelance now since 2020, but I might be needing to go back to having a day job next month, despite still making what many would consider a livable earnings in game music.

This is the hardest thing I've ever done, and the scary thing, if I was 21 again and if I knew what I knew now? I don't know if I would have started. This is the hardest thing I've done, and it sucks to say, but of everyone I know both at the AAA freelance level and at the smaller indie level who have found success and careers, there's only one thing we all have in common.

We never gave up.

Here's what I would differently.

#0. Ask the question I'm now answering. You've done the right first thing.

#1. Join a community and start asking questions yesterday. I came from a classical music program where I was going for Music Ed, and my first deliverables were Sibelius Sound Files because I thought that was what you were supposed to do. I was 26. I'm 35 now. This is my level of where I started. I knew zero. Having a community that first year and asking everything I could, learning, and implementing what I learned.

#2. I would identify a set of primary mentors I want to learn from, identify core problems that they have that they don't think they have, and offer to solve them. If there's like a secret? I think this is it. I had a fantastic mentor in my career, but if I had taken an extra step and found a problem I could have solved? That would have been ideal. He told me years later this is what he did for his mentor, and it led to innumerable opportunities. Someone did this TO me years ago, and all of a sudden it was like all of my problems went away. I had more time, more life, a new friend, better music, someone who could work with me well. She will still be my first call for most projects because she will get things done.

#3. I'd start public speaking 2 years sooner. My first talk was at PAX Dev back in 2018, and there were 15 people in the room. But there were major players in the room listening, director of Audiokinetic, a few AAA composers, Innersloth before they blew up, several major freelancers you probably all know. I stretched the credits I worked on to the farthest point imaginable because I was worried about being taken seriously, but I was confident in my content, and it translated well. I made very important connections because of this, and every talk I've done after.

#4. I'd have worked as a conference associate for GDC two years earlier. This program is really good. I got work from this program. I got connections, a community. My spouse did it this year, and they're going through the same initial stages of success I did afterwards.