From what I’ve acknowledged for sound designers who are just starting out into the industry itself, it is critical to have a way to demonstrate your skills—especially your ability to create and implement sound. Create your own project, work on a small indie project, redo the sound for a video or game level, or contribute sound design to the robust game-modding community, and probably you become far more likely to get that first job on a major project. Also it is worthy considering to look for internships at game company startups.

Skillswise, when embarking on the game/film industry, sound designers must be extremely communicative, collaborative, and deadline-oriented. They must also be independent, as, like many professional audio engineers in other industries, they must be comfortable working for long hours without speaking to anyone else—headphones on and nose to the grindstone. Another important factor is the  passion for and love of video games/films is essential.

Going through the game industry, there are many opportunities for networking within the audio section of the video game industry, and attending general conferences such as Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) or Game Developers Conference (GDC) can also prove valuable information or experience. There are also opportunities for sound designers at virtual-reality and augmented-reality companies, such as Magic Leap or Oculus.