Any advice on convincing the interviewer that I'm worth the hire despite being underqualified?

Question

I have an Electrical and Electronics Engineering undergraduate degree. After graduating, I immediately got hired by a pretty well-known and large electronics company that comes with a nice work culture and reasonable pay. Been working here for around 6 months and have been fitting in pretty well with the people and work here.

However, I have always been interested in story-telling and creative work in video games and movies but due to parental pressure I have been forced into engineering although I have no interest in it. Lately I have been having second thoughts.

I'm planning to apply for a junior programmer position in a large and famous video game company in a neighboring country (my own country has no video game companies). The pay will surely be not as good as my current job but I'm willing to sacrifice anything at the moment to make it in the industry. The problem is that despite having good programming knowledge that I learnt on the side, it is only sufficient for developing engineering programs and not full-on video games. And due to my work and real-life responsibilities, I can't find the time to delve deeper into game programming either.

And if I apply for a more artistic position like writing, apart from the short stories that I write during my spare time, I have no portfolio or credentials to speak of. That is why I applied for the junior programming position. From there, I plan to slowly learn the ropes and move to a more artistic area.

If somehow, I was given a chance to go to an interview with the company, what should I say to convince them in hiring me? What are things that people look for in an interview that can cover up the lack of qualifications? Should I openly say I'm open to any positions in the company? I'm afraid I might look too desperate if I do.

I'm willing to work long hours and beyond what is necessary to catch up with the others and I'm genuinely passionate about joining them. At this point, I'm hoping to just get a chance to prove myself and would be satisfied if they give me any position so that I can get my feet wet in the video game industry.

Answer 1

You are not the first nor the last person to find out that your parents aspirations for your future career are not your own aspirations for your future career. Only you can change that path, it sounds like you have made a good first step.

The two most import qualities to have, after skills, are passion for the job or industry and the ability to work well with your team members.

If you do not have the skills YET, that's ok, if you can show that you are prepared to make the sacrifices to change that. I would consider swapping story writing for learning game related code. It sounds like a good plan to start at the bottom and work your way up.

My advice is to be yourself, answer their questions honestly, apply for one position only, if they see qualities that could be transferable then let them lead that conversation. Be focused in your plans to grow and develop.

Forgive your parents, like you, they just want the best for you, whatever that looks like.. T