Over the last couple of years I've accidentally done sort of what you're after. I'll describe what happened and give you some thoughts. I'm not sure how useful it will be as I'm now in a business where game engines are used for non-game work and, as I said, my path was fairly accidental.
I took a job doing an interesting C# project where the front-end was being developed by another company (that mostly does cinematic work) using Unreal. It turns out that most Unreal developers love the shiny side of things but rapidly get lost once it comes to needing C++ - or even Blueprints in some cases. I took on the responsibility for the bit where our code meets.
When this project ended, I moved to a different part of the same international company where Unreal was being used for virtual studios. It was a bit of a leap as despite not having much C++ experience, my first proper C++ job was now working on a fork of Unreal's C++ source. That's one huge, unwieldy, undocumented chunk of C++! I sometimes work alongside some very talent Technical Artists who do stuff I couldn't possibly manage in Unreal, but can get stuck when it get down into code. It is more interesting that "standard" dev, but believe it when people say graphics development is harder. In my experience, the only thing that's harder is FPGAs.
Here are some thoughts / tips that might help:
- Get proficient where most game developers aren't - C++. There is some Python used, but good Unreal devs can manage this.
- Use Epic's online learning. Their documentation is awful but their training is good.
- Look at non-game use of Unreal as a stepping stone to game work - virtual studios, architectural visualization, etc.
- This non-game work seems to pay OK. I hear game work doesn't so much. Maybe stay here.
- From my experience, Unity just doesn't seem to have as much traction outside games. Could just be what I've seen though.
I hope these rambling thoughts have been some help.
I took a job doing an interesting C# project where the front-end was being developed by another company (that mostly does cinematic work) using Unreal. It turns out that most Unreal developers love the shiny side of things but rapidly get lost once it comes to needing C++ - or even Blueprints in some cases. I took on the responsibility for the bit where our code meets.
When this project ended, I moved to a different part of the same international company where Unreal was being used for virtual studios. It was a bit of a leap as despite not having much C++ experience, my first proper C++ job was now working on a fork of Unreal's C++ source. That's one huge, unwieldy, undocumented chunk of C++! I sometimes work alongside some very talent Technical Artists who do stuff I couldn't possibly manage in Unreal, but can get stuck when it get down into code. It is more interesting that "standard" dev, but believe it when people say graphics development is harder. In my experience, the only thing that's harder is FPGAs.
Here are some thoughts / tips that might help:
- Get proficient where most game developers aren't - C++. There is some Python used, but good Unreal devs can manage this.
- Use Epic's online learning. Their documentation is awful but their training is good.
- Look at non-game use of Unreal as a stepping stone to game work - virtual studios, architectural visualization, etc.
- This non-game work seems to pay OK. I hear game work doesn't so much. Maybe stay here.
- From my experience, Unity just doesn't seem to have as much traction outside games. Could just be what I've seen though.
I hope these rambling thoughts have been some help.