"Ever since Ultima II, my dream was to be a game programmer. Now, at age 25, I'm a programmer and I can see my dream coming into focus.  I program all day long (and love it) and come home and play computer games all night long (and love that more).  I live for the two, but the programming I do at work isn't the kind of programming I want to be doing at work.  I'm about ready to start sending my resume out to all the major game companies. What types of skills do entry level positions require?"

Submitted by: B.M.

Answered by: Bryan Dudash (programmer, Sierra On-Line)

"First things first. To my knowledge most companies are using C/C++, except perhaps for online-only games. A solid OOP background/understanding is probably a good idea, and you definitely have to be very comfortable with Windows(95/NT). Next come good social skills (kissing up to your superiors, explaining technical things to artists w/o talking down to them, that sort of thing... *grin*).

"As far as I can tell, game companies are on fixed, non-regular hiring schedules. Timing is critical. You need to make yourself available towards the beginning of a hiring cycle. I don’t know too much about the hiring process, but I would say that any candidate with solid programming knowledge should be able to get an interview. That is where you see whether you fit in with the team. Remember, it’s not just you trying to persuade them to hire you, it’s also them trying to persuade you that you want to work for them. You should be interviewing the team as well (don’t be obnoxious about it, just don’t forget that you are a valuable resource that they are interested in).

"Understand/Decide what type of game you are interested in, and strive for that. Probably one of the worst things to say would be:

'I want to program games.'
'Really, what types of games?'
'Ummm, I don’t know... I just want to make games.'

"I personally wouldn’t want to make any kind of game except an RPG, but if you do have more general interests in game programming, it might be better to narrow them on a per interview basis. I don’t think it’s wrong to show interest in a particular game design even if it is not in your 'short list' of game genres.

"For me, I had a mix of skills ranging from digital hardware design to OO C++ programming (truth be told, my hardware background was stronger than my software background, although I had a lot of general technical support experience). Sierra came to my University, and I interviewed. The team and I had many common interests, and the game was the only type of game I would be interested in making (RPG). I also had quite a bit of networking experience (Ethernet and such), which filled a nook. So, it was a match. I actually almost didn’t accept the job due to monetary considerations (be prepared for the potential pay cut an entry level position often implies). As well, games programming is a lot tougher than general industry programming. We need to use every last bit of resources a computer system has, yet stay efficient enough to run on those old legacy computers that haven’t been manufactured for a year. I place computer game programming as second only to compiler and OS programming.

"You are prepared to sleep at the office, aren’t you?

"So, in general, a lot of it is 'right place, right time' kind of stuff. But as a general rule, if you have solid software engineering skills -- i.e. the ability to design code (structures, data flow, and that sort of stuff) -- and not just write it, and if you have good team skills, then you should have no trouble snagging a entry level position. The trick, I’d imagine, comes from trying to make a lateral move into the computer games industry (*wink*).

"I hope this helps a little. I consider myself lucky enough to have found a game that I believe in, and a team that I like. I wish you luck in finding one of your own."

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