>> I've got several prototypes, one being evaluated by a publisher currently, and I've been going to conventions and networking with other people in the industry. If one of my designs ends up being a hit, I should have enough money to make the transition.
Care to share more on this ? If I want to, where do I start making board game prototypes ? An email would do good, I don't see your contact info on your profile. All the best.
Neah !! Jobs are not about the degree only, still having a degree always adds up. Try half a dozen other companies. This response is typical of small size startup who instead of inviting you for a drink invite you to an interview with their two person team. I was rejected by three companies (2+ engineers) before the present company (15+ engineers) made me an offer. It wasn't even a coding interview at all, the Sr. Engineer wanted to have a conversation for a couple of minutes.
If I'm not mistaken parent is talking about 'working for a startup' that IMHO isn't as risky as 'co-founding' the startup, which of-course has its whistle bells. Why would a 10th employee join a startup for the risk and not for the money ?
If I were in your situation I'd use that time off the actual work to learn new things. Work on open source project or start my own projects etc.
Whoever you work with at the end when it comes to learning it falls back to how far you are willing to dedicate time to learning. The best way to learn is by yourself. As far as getting influenced by A level people is concerned you can get influenced by them fairly anywhere in the internet.