Greetings everyone! I just quit my job of 5 years, thinking I had a plan, but quickly realizing I have no idea what I'm doing. While I feel happier, I also have goals. So, figured since I found this place it might be a decent place to start looking for any advice. If you don't care about the bit of story I'm sharing, you can skip the next paragraph.
I worked at a restaurant for 5 years, starting as a bus boy, 11 months later becoming a “key manager” for another 17 months before going to management. Not too long after this, COVID hit. However, I was really happy. My promotion brought me to a new location I loved with a team I loved, and away from the location where the exact opposite was true. Year later, GM is promoted to regional and we get a new GM, who's a coke head dick. Didn't last long. So they promoted the AGM to GM, who was amazing and did great. However, the team he now has was me, and while I'm rather humble I will admit I kicked ass and was well liked, another guy who was a good friend but couldn't handle stress well, and a guy who was just waiting for a GM spot to open to he could leave. So it got rough for a bit, but we were good. Just under a year later, the old GM/new regional moves me to another store because their bar manager (my position) walked out after 30 minutes because the bar manager before him made a mess of everything then walked out. I fixed it up and brought some regulars back and fired a problem cook, but the main bartender and kitchen manager hated me for reasons unknown. Few months later, regional guy (now kind of a dick) moves me back to my original location. It's miserable. Everyone there is miserable. I have a couple old friends and the new managers are decent, but still a shit hole. Finally I realized just how miserable I truly was and decided to quit. I won't go into details, but from two weeks after being moved to the first shit location until now, which is about a year, my fiancé and I have dealt with a ton of family drama, death, sickness, etc. So it's been hard, but quitting that job, which kept me up and away for hours late at night and sleeping late into the day, forbidding me the chance of family time, has made me immensely happier. I've seen my fiancé and kids, who live hours away with their mom, more the last 2 weeks than I have in the last year. It's been wonderful.
Anyway, I know what I want to do, and based on my bit of research and asking around I thought I could easily pull it off, but now I'm at a loss. I want to eventually move into the games industry, but honestly I'd be happy with something less competitive. Regardless, those are the skills I want: programming, coding, script writing, etc. I originally thought Devry would be a good option for online schooling, but they don't seem to have the courses I'd need.
So, here's what I'm looking for:
- Any advice on a good online school to learn these skills? Or are there better alternatives, such as this “coding boot camp” I've been told about?
- EXACTLY what kind of PC will I be needing? Will a laptop suffice? I've heard competing theories on CPU/GPU, RAM, and whether a laptop would actually handle the workload or not. I'm not rich, and I really don't want to waste my money.
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Are there good entry level jobs where I could learn and apply these skills while also making money? WFH preferred, but I'm happy to hear any and all advice.
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If you don't have answers for these questions, any chance someone could point me in the right direction? Maybe a career advisor? Most I've found are attached to schools or only help find jobs.
Thank you to anyone who is able to help! And thank you to whoever made this Reddit! Some of these posts are fantastic
TL;DR: I quit my job without the solid plan I thought I had. Anyone have advice for someone looking to learn computer skills? Specifically for game writing and development.