How to learn skills to become a full stack game developer
Like many young people his age, Tristen Leitch tried several post secondary programs and a variety of jobs, never quite finding his “why.”
With a few years of university under his belt and considerable student debt left to pay off, he needed a plan that would help him get employed and start earning money...now.
“I have memory loss and partial blindness in one eye.”
After a serious injury while working as a security guard in Lethbridge, Tristen knew it was time for a change. When he learned about the government funded full stack developer program at InceptionU, his mother encouraged him to apply.
“I never thought I’d do it and my mom said, ‘You’ve been a computer geek your entire life, why don’t you try it?’ Then, I fell in love with coding.”
Tristen had spent alot of time on YouTube and Reddit teaching himself how to code. He was also enrolled in a Game Design course at NAIT. He knew enough to know he should give it a try.
He researched the program online and read up about past learners on our Alumni page to learn more about the program’s approach to project based learning and future career potential.
The fact that he could get government funding to help him afford the course, was a game changer.
“My biggest motivation was cost - because it was funded, I could learn something quickly, in 6 months, rather than two years. I don’t do well with long-term arrangements, I tend to get bored if I do the same thing over and over,” says Leitch. “I liked the ‘crash course’ idea where you learn a lot in a short period of time, rather than an extended time.”
For his third and final project, Tristen and his team built a game called Rabbit Hole, which was featured on Global News.
You can view the team’s Demo Day presentation:
Leitch wants to purse a career in game development and has his sights set on Larian, Studios, a leading game developer, with Canadian headquarters in Montreal. With the new skills he’s acquired from InceptionU and his ability to tackle any new challenge, whether it be personally or professionally, we know it’s just a matter of time before Tristen is designing and building the next game of Divinity Original Sin, or something even better!
“If I could, I would never set foot in an office again. I don’t want to be at a desk, I'd rather wear sweat pants than a dress shirt.”
If you are interested in attending our next Open House, please enter your email so you can be notified. If you’d like to learn more about the Full Stack Developer program, please visit our Evolve Programs page.
