I've been designing games literally all of my life. In elementary school I wrote tables of stats for RPGs I was making; I even made a small board game in 3rd grade. I created conceptual games for my friends in the neighborhood. Things like that. As I grew up I became a dungeon master for tabletop RPGs, never stopping designing games in my mind and turning some of them into reality for an audience of just me and my friends. I've made games in Tabletop Simulator and I even released a default-assets RPG Maker Game to my YouTube audience, a game called Tale of Whimsy.
So I do consider myself an experienced game designer. But as for developing those ideas into full fledged products? I do have some experience with that but while I consider myself an experienced designer, when it comes to being a game developer I consider myself a novice. I'm learning and working on many of the skills involved in actually producing products that can be played by more than just me and a few friends in a group call or around a table with fast food and soda.
It's another of life's journeys I'm on!