Advice for students looking to make games for a living

Here's the general advice I gave to a student near graduation looking to make games. Sharing it here for others to benefit as well.

"Since you're currently short on experience you need to do 2 things. 

First is show the depth of your commitment to making games. This means exposing every bit of "gamer" experience, interest, etc you have in your life. A simple example would be to post notes on your website about your favorite games, experiences going to gamer events, etc. 

The next is to literally immerse yourself into gaming and game making culture. These are actually two different things. Immersing into gaming means going to board game nights with friends, playing things like Dungeon and Dragons, going to arcades, reading gaming sites on the web. Immersing into game making culture means reading every gamasutra article possible, going to game making meetups, getting together with friends and making games "just because", going to game jams, going to game company open houses, doing a short stint as a part time game tester...basically reading, learning, meeting people and actually engaging in the "practice" of making games. 

You're going to be competing for a job and internship with others who have different experiences and skill levels. Doing these two things are one way to set yourself apart. 

The next bit of advice I have is that you look inside and make sure that making games feels like something you "have to", "need to" and "must do". It's a tough industry and if you're focused, work really really hard and produce great results, you can be successful. 

Good luck!"