Complete noob looking for some sound advice. Thread

Hi,

Please allow me somewhat of a small introduction, I am currently studying as a mature student in the UK and am about to embark on a HNC (Higher National Certificate) in games development, and then followed on next year 18/19 by the HND (Higher National Diploma) games development, which will then hopefully be followed on by either the Computer Game Applications Development BSc (Hons) degree at Abertay University in Scotland or the Computer Games Technology BSc (Hons) degree also at the same University, i am currently learning Java as that is what has been taught to me throughout the last year i attended college (entry level course which allowed to gain access to the HNC/HND), and is what will continue to be taught throughout my HNC/HND years and then onto C++ when at Abertay University, i have been advised by lecturers and people with connections to the industry that thee biggest thing that will ultimately land me that job in the gaming industry in years to come is not how much or how good my qualifications are but how good my portfolio is, which i completely agree with, i was then advised that one of the best things i could do would be to create a steam profile and get modding games, as any future employer would be able to take a look a my profile and see any and all of my work with regards to any mods i had created.

Apologies for the long preface but i felt it necessary in order that anyone willing to give advice here would themselves have the best possible picture of who i am and what it is im trying to achieve and most importantly WHY i am trying to achieve this.

So finally around to the point of all this, I have created a steam profile, i have worked through the setup of Source SDK 2013, i have created my first tiny mod and changed the title to read MY FIRST MOD when the Source SKD 2013 runs, i also change some of the options and also the background image (tutorials by JESSE CULVER on Youtube, also on steam as the "Wazanator"), now my problem is this, i am left at this point not having a clue where to go or what to do as it seems the yellow brick road ends here, after this point the assumed technical knowledge and skill level becomes ridiculous, to the point where im even unsure on whether or not a game needs to be owned in order to be able to mod it, i know i know, ridiculous right?, of course you need to own the game to mod it how else could you mod something you dont have?, my confusion arrives from not understanding what it is that is running when i have created this first tiny mod (Source SDK 2013 i believe, but what game is it?), nowhere is any of this explained, and any of the tutorials i have found are as such:

Step 1. Do something.

Step 2. Do something else.

Step 3. Do more stuff.

These in my opinion are terrible as the end user learns nothing, what would be ideal is:

Step 1. Do something, because.

Step 2. Do something else, because.

Step 3. Do more stuff, because.

However i have yet to find the latter and the closest i got as stated previous was JESSE CULVERS tutorials which where pretty good if im honest but very short lived unfortunately, im not here to turn this into a mod tutorial bashing thread but simply to ask for some advice and some help, ill try and break this down into succinct and to the point questions, if your still reading that is:

Q 1. Is there some set of tutorials that can take someone like me from zero to hero (ok maybe not hero) in a logical step by step manner using the Source SDK 2013? (which i might add assumes no previous technical knowledge of modding games.)

Q 2. Should i even bother learning to mod using Source SDK 2013 engine, is it outdated or should i just learn Unity/UE4?

Q 3. Is there a beginners guide somewhere that explains all the differences with regards to modding games, jargon, file ext names, programs required, programs available etc etc? for a beginner the amount of information on this topic is very very overwhelming but doesn't see to be congregated anywhere in any sort of logical order which could take a beginner and turn them in to a modder, while study is not a problem for me i need a start point.

Q 4. Similar to Q 3, what software is better for modding? is see now there are many different options when it comes to modding, steam being only one, is it personal preference? or game dependent?

Q 5. Which option in your opinion would be best for MY particular needs,(to be able to showcase any work i have created), i will of course have my own portfolio website also but just to get some opinions on this would be great?

I'll end this here as i doubt many people will have got this far, and if you have then thank you, hopefully you are able to help and offer some wise words and help me on to the path i am set to walk, i look forward to the replies.

Thanks again all.

D.