I am having a great time learning Unreal Engine 4 and I really admire EPIC's bold move to challenge Unity and Cryengine likewise by offering better tools and resources at a reasonable price. Currently I spend more time on understanding blueprints than on actual modeling, but I'm still making models and shaders all the time. So far, I am really convinced by U4, and I don't think I'm gonna change my opinion. This is the best game engine ever created!
It all seems to add up now. I learned 3D with Softimage (which uses the same shader node system as Unreal Engine), then I taught myself Maya, which has the same controls as U4, as far as movement and snapping is concerned.
Learning UDK and Unreal Engine 3 gave me a great foundation for understanding Unreal Engine 4. EPIC learned from its mistakes with UDK and really improved everything. So it's more of a joy working with Unreal Engine 4 than UDK ever was. However, everything I learned about complex shaders is still valid. It just got easier to preview and use them.
So what's next? I decided to expand my search for work and look outside Germany. Uk or Canada would be nice! I just want to update my portfolio to Unreal Engine's 4 higher standards to really have something to show! I'm working on that. I am proud to say that I am ready for professional game development and it was a crazy journey that led me here.
