Suggestions for someone on a new path

[Wanderlust801]

Hey everyone, been exploring and reading up on everything here on the site, first time posting. I wanted to get some feedback and suggestions in deciding on pursuing a career in game development.

I'm 27 years old with a bachelors degree in psychology and currently working as a mental health counselor with mentally ill/addiction clients. As much as I found the field of psychology intriguing as well as the job to feel significant and worthwhile, I also have another passion; video games. Though I had originally planned to work on my masters after working sometime in the field, I felt more and more drawn to gaming, it was practically all I could think of. Not just the games itself, but everything about the industry. In any case, after consideration and careful thought, I'd thought that it would be worth exploring and pursuing a career, particularly game design.

I wanted to ask a few questions and suggestions to going into it:

-How difficult will it be for me to break in to get a job in the industry? I've already graduated from college and haven't had any classes in programming, will my situation be any harder than someone still in college?

-What's a good direction for me to start to begin a career in game design? (any specific materials I should look at, or any suggestions on what would be considered a good start, etc)

-I've been playing around with the UDK and GameMaker as well as blender a bit and seeing what I can make out of it, is that helpful or am I just wasting my time?

-Is it necessary for me to go to any of the schools that specialize in game deveolpment, or rather go back to school to take specific courses? Or is it rather unnecessary and work with what I have now?

-I remember reading some of the articles on the site, and one of the things it mentioned was building a portfolio; how do I go about doing that exactly?

-Any specific types of preparation I should do or make to develop skills that would increase my chances to land a job in game design?

My apologies if this seems so long and drawn out, but it's been on my mind and I have to admit I'm excited about just exploring the prospect of going into this. I hope my questions were clear and concise, I appreciate and thank you for taking the time to read my post :-)

[tsloper]

Wand, to reply to your 6 questions and their subparts:
1.a. Difficult.
1.b. Yes. Oh wait. Somebody who's still in college isn't applying for a job yet.
2. Get a job in the game industry. http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson14.htm
3.a. Yes.
3.b. You have asked Frequently Asked Question #51. http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson51.htm
4.a. No.
4.b. No.
4.c. Yes.
5. You design games and make levels, and put the best ones together. Read http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson12.htm and http://www.sloperama.com/advice/m69.htm
6. Yes.

[Wanderlust801]

I just realized that my sixth question basically is a repeat question of all the other five, my apologies for sounding so repetitive. Many thanks for the advice and the links, definitely helpful in answering my questions :-)