Job in Game Programming

# 1 10-11-2004 , 02:31 AM

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Join Date: May 2002

Location: Faringdon, UK

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with most arts based jobs, qualifications arent really an issue, its more about your portfolio/demo reel, theyre the things that will land u a job, but what about game programming?
how do you create a demo reel for that? well, do you create one at all? or is it all about your qualifications when u get into the programming world?

- Simon

My Website: www.Glass-Prison.com

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# 2 10-11-2004 , 03:37 AM

The Maya Mountain
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Location: Seattle, WA

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I can't really speak from experience, but at least one of the programmers I work with got the job because he coded his own little game called "Knights of Zarria" that he was able to send to employers. That speaks volumes, I'm sure. He's a graphics programmer, so he was utilizing some nice shaders and water effects and so on. You can find his site at www.ryanclark.net if interested.

-Mike
The Maya Toolbelt

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# 3 10-11-2004 , 12:40 PM

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Join Date: Jul 2003

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having a informatics, IT or engineering degree sure helps a lot...

But I do know a psychologist that by having strong self taught c++ skills landed into AI programming for expert systems on an engineering company before and now for a game...

But, as always, what matters most is (i would place it on this order tough some may disagree):
1 Who you know (and what type of relationship you have with) ppl inside where you want to land
2 Your social skills, and particularly the ability to make ppl trust you (in the end it is all reduced to a mater of them having confidence in you).
3 What you actually have to show related to what you want to achieve (the reel in cg, an assortment of the code youve written before in programming)
4 The amount of experience in a similar position freelancing or in another company you can prove to have.
5 Your academic curriculum (which in most cases happens to be a prerrequisite for 3 and 4 but not necessarily true unless you want to be a medic, civil engineer/architect, accountant or lawyer )

Last edited by dragonfx; 10-11-2004 at 12:50 PM.

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# 4 10-11-2004 , 12:50 PM

The Maya Mountain
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Yeah, my friend Ryan does have a couple degrees... a Bachelor of Science and Master of Computer Science. So I imagine that helped some. But, similarly to art, without that game he made or without some sort of example code, I don't know if his hiring chances would have been as good. Making a small, impressive game to show people definitely got him the job.

-Mike
The Maya Toolbelt

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# 5 10-11-2004 , 12:57 PM

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Originally posted by mtmckinley
Yeah, my friend Ryan does have a couple degrees... a Bachelor of Science and Master of Computer Science. So I imagine that helped some. But, similarly to art, without that game he made or without some sort of example code, I don't know if his hiring chances would have been as good. Making a small, impressive game to show people definitely got him the job.

Originally Posted by

thats why #3 goes there instead of #5...! user added image

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# 6 10-11-2004 , 02:06 PM

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It really depends of the company and their mentality. At my friend's place, all of the boss have a degree in i.t. engineering and swear by it. They will never hire someone without such qualification no matter how good he is. Its a stupid way to hire people but thats how they work and I am sure they arent the only one like that.

So basicaly, getting a degree while programming your own game would be the best possible strategy.

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