Why I changed the industry

You’ve seen AI image generators. You’ve seen AI videos with sound. You’ve heard that AI can even create games. The moment old clients and long-time friends started saying they don't need a concept artist anymore, I knew it was over. Not just slow—over. 

The only reason why you did not hear about it is because while in the automotive industry they loose 50k jobs, there are not even 50k jobs in the entire German games industry to begin with. Last time I checked the games industry in Germany consists of about 11k jobs. That's also why I worked most of my life for companies outside of Germany.

However in the games job market it feels like there are maybe five open roles worldwide. In Germany: basically none.

The market was always tough. “Starving artist” isn’t a joke; it’s a business model. I still made it work for a long time and achieved some good things, that are now helping me to readjust.

I got into it because colleagues and teachers pushed me, and I saw that it was possible—just extremely hard. Harder than some made it look like. Others told me to keep my specific field as a hobby. I ignored that and kept going. Because drawing was what I wanted. Like many artists and creatives. Boy has the industry changed since 2009. Like in other IT related fields you constantly have to adapt and learn within a "fast paced" environment.

Back then we had forums like conceptart.org with the occasional freelance gig. I was young and entrepreneurial and slowly built a small agency.

Around 2014, platforms like Upwork and Fiverr took off. Great for clients, brutal for service providers. You’re bidding low against the whole world, trying to deliver high quality. In a high-cost country like Germany, that math got ugly fast. So I switched to applying for jobs and long term contract work.

I found work and moved a lot—Games, VR, theme parks. During Corona, remote work was actually great for me. After that, the market basically crashed. AI, de-globalization, and—let’s be honest—Germany making everything harder than it needs to be. Many EU “remote” jobs suddenly didn’t want people in Germany. While I already started using some AI in 2021amongst other technical workflows and tried to get more into management the war started, Trump started *America First* and image generators became really good. 

In 2024 some old colleagues had already left the field, turned into educators or retired. While Hollywood was striking over AI, I set up my own local AI tools and adapted. However the last project that I was looking forward to, with an old client in the beginning of 2024, got canceled. I adapted again and started my new education program.

So: there is no reason to look back. I’m looking forward. I’m going back to the roots: IT. It fits how I think and work. Germany needs it, and I’m all-in.

Update 2025-11-04: Even more reason to push me going forward into a new direction. For the German LinkedIn Users: more friends and colleagues are leaving.