Daily Grind......What would you do??

For about 2 years now I have been in a position of trying to become an entry level game designer and it is sooooo hard to get into anything if you don't have either your name on a title or 3+ years in the industry. Trying to keep the passion up is no problem because I'll always love games. Adding things up in my mind on upgrading them while playing seems to have been my thing since I can remember. Even with all the others that I either paly with online or hang with on the weekends help greatly with ideas and keeping my focus of loving games and being amazed by the stories and time that people put into them.

It's especially hard living in Wisconsin with a Game Art Design degree and can't really figure out what to narrow down (for those of you fresh out of school or vets knowing how many different directions there are to go into within the gaming industry) when concentrating on what direction to take to actually get my foot through the door. I absolutely love music within games and would enjoy going into that field, there is also a passion for being able to create concept drawings of characters and have the ability to recreate them in a 3D atmosphere (which if given a whole heck of alot of time I could do, but really struggle when it comes to texturing within 3DS Max), I have also been really involved in drawing perspective scenes, and lastly there is always the programming focus and wanting to know what all we are telling the computers to do when the game is played. 

If I knew how to sit down with 3ds Max, the Adobe Suite, Unreal, Flash, and Visual Studio (my 2005 version:) and be able to make a game that is playable and exiting I would spend every minute of every day doing so!! We all know the world doesn't work like that, and besides, I want to be around more creative people with a mixture of fun and frustrations.

Reaching a point where I can find companies that are seeking entry level game art designers who are willing and ready to be trained or put into a position where others can help them along seems like it may never happen. On top of all the craziness I am willing to relocate, bust my keester, am a reliable hard worker, have a great working background, great references, junior designer with a passion for games, one heck of an imagination, and plan on sticking with the same company for as long as I can!!

Most companies that I have talked to make it known that it is a business and not a school. Well, considering that I owe approximately $80,000 for a college degree at this point it seems like it can't have been accomplished for nothing?? The only reason I would go back to school is if I got into one of these companies and they paid for a part of it so that I could increase my knowledge in some field that I already briefly know, or to stop my loan payments for what I am currently paying on:)

Anyone who has some advice please share and I would really appreciate the tips, updates, info from your own experiences, career opportunities, or even if your in the same position as I am.

Really wrote this just to check out and see if anyone else is out there in the same position and whether they made it in, and if so, how??

Here's my portfolios just in case anyone would like to check it out.

www.wix.com/WALTERYOUNG/Young-Portfolio

www.wix.com/WALTERYOUNG/2d3dportfolio