- Emily Pitcher got a job in meta directly outside the college, but was fired from 2023.
- Despite overcoming expectations and receiving other tuning, she could not find regular jobs.
- She used her unemployment as an opportunity to develop a game and start her own business.
This strong essay is based on a conversation with Emily Pitcher, a 25-year-old creator and game developer from Los Angeles. Been edited for length and clarity.
I was a high school valadictor and graduated in college with honors. I have always appreciated excellence, so it was such a treatment when, only outside the college in 2021, I subtracted a contract work in Meta that turned into a full -time job, with six figures as a content designer around 2022.
I have worked on every large area of Instagram, including profiles, exploration, search and home. I have to work on features that have been used by so many people.
My first annual performance appreciation was “exceeds expectations” throughout the markers, and gave me a lift. I thought I was doing really well in the company. Then two months later, in April 2023, I was fired.
For the first time, I realized that the tireless work does not always harvest rewards. Finding full -time work felt impossible, but trying to find a job pushed me to give a blow to my passion project.
I plan to work in great technology for a while, but dismissal from work happened throughout the industry
I was fired by a general email as part of a series of mass holidays. The message quoted that Meta had changed business needs, and my role was no longer needed. I was destroyed.
My real passion has always been Indie video games, but I plan to stay in big technology for a few years before I started my studio. I thought I had done really well in a big company like Meta. When I was fired, she kidnapped with my worldview.
I started applying for more technology work, and after four months of unemployment, I subtracted a contract role in Yahoo as a content designer who kept me in the sea. That job ended a few months later, and I came back to be unemployed.
There were so many great technology breaks that occur at the time.
I was in forbes 30 under 30 and still couldn’t find a job
I had earned money from creating content by promoting my indie game, lining of gold, which I would develop with some friends from college.
In the midst of my unemployment, I was included in Forbes 30 under 30 for my work in the game.
It felt like such an annoying inconsistency. On the one hand, I took this famous achievement and was telling me that I was part of the next generation of switches in the game industry. On the other hand, I was crying only in my bedroom because I couldn’t even lower a regular job. He felt very much -European.
I thought maybe being in Forbes 30 under 30 would help me get a job, but it didn’t happen. No one cared.
I started a hobby project to help me cope with my failures
About this time, I began to hate the game I was playing with my friends. We were receiving refusal after rejection by investors, and I found myself trying to calm them down at the expense of my best judgment. I wanted to go back to make games I loved.
I decided to start a hobby project as a way to cope with the anxiety of my two colossal failures – unemployment and a failed game. My sincere hope was simply to reign my spark for playing the game.
I left the gold line in July 2024, and that same month, I came with the idea of developing Lily’s World XD, a horror psychological game where players investigate a young girl’s computer.
I made a small video on Instagram promoting its development, which took over 2 million views. Now, I fully fund myself by creating content about my journey by building Lily’s World XD.
Working for myself has been challenging but I’m taking this time to give my dreams a shot
I feel so lucky to be able to follow my passion at such a young age, but I still have anxiety every day that everything will stop working because the creation of content is so futile.
I’m still learning how to manage the anxiety and overload of being my boss. When I was working on Meta, I would turn off my work brain after work. Now, I lie in bed at night, still thinking about a problem in my game or stressing for a video that is not performing well.
It can be difficult, but supporting my network of game developers and content creators for support has been extremely useful. I’m taking this as my chance to give my dreams a shot, and I won’t hold back.
If you were to be fired from your dream work and want to tell your story, please email the editor, Mansseen Logan, at mlogan@businsinsider.com.