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 Employment edification from previous weeks:
Ask About Entering the Industry
The Question: "I've got friends who have graduated and gone
on to work for large companies and are wasting their time
either doing web pages or database work. Of course, they tend
to not mind the work since they're payed very well, at least
by my standards. I've been an avid gamer for years now, and
would love to make that my profession, but am concerned that I
might not make an acceptable living doing so. I hear a lot of
jokes about how pooly paid programmers and designers are in
the gaming industry, but I wonder what the truth of it
is."
The Question: "I want to be an game artist (ie. modeling,
animation, texture mapping) but I am concerned about the
annual income. I have no idea, earthly-or-otherwise, of what
price artists fetch. I love art. I adore gaming. Could you
please give me an estimated income range? I don't mind
starving for my art, but I'm really hoping that it won't be
neccessary."
The Question: "Is game testing the first step in the gaming
business? If so, is that where you get your experience?"
The Question: "Looking forward, when I predictably get fed
up of a 'sane' job, how the heck do I break into the games
industry as a UK citizen (offhand, I can think of roughly one
company in the UK developing games)"
The Question: "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?"
The Question: "I'm a college freshman who aspires to
one day be a game programmer. Every company I've looked at
requires previous experience in game programming. So where
do you get the experience? I've studied Pascal and C++ for
over three years and feel very competent in my ability with
these languages, but I dont know one darn thing about
game programming! Are there special schools you can apply
to, or do game companies offer internships?"
The Question: "How can I start working for
Sierra as a writer/designer? Who do I need to speak to about
this?"
The Question: "What does it take to get to 'Producer'
status? Does it take a long list of accomplishments to get
that title? Can an 'artist/game addict' get such a
position?"
The Question: "I am currently a corporate developer with
some years experience in C++. I have wanted to build games
since my zx81. What is the best path to get to becomming a
game programmer from a more traditional programming job
(MFC/ATL and such)?"
The Question: "Do you think there would ever be a
possibility of obtaining a job on artistic skill alone? Is
there even a section for people like me
who only design charactors and plot lines etc, but don't want
to go to school forever just so they will even LOOK at my
work. Also, do you know of any companies now that aren't so
degree-biased?"
The Question: "If someone just graduated from college and
applied to be a game programmer/designer, what would you look
for before hiring the person? Their GPA? What school they
went to? How much computer/gaming knowledge they
have?"
The Question: "I'm a 3D animator graduated from Vancouver's
Digipen school. Right now I'm working as a webmaster but I
would really like to be a 3D artist in the game industry. What
do you guys look for in a demo reel?"
The Question: "I'm changing careers. What you (game
developers, artists, etc.) do interests me because I hope to
develop art and computer skills in order to be a part of such
teams. What do I do first? I do not know exactly what to ask,
or what training I will need. What I would like to do is design
web pages as special as these pages are, and be involved in
game graphics, with a goal of doing other program graphics
in the future. How do I go about learning what I need to
learn?"
The Question: "I'm about to enter my freshman year of
college. If my ultimate career goal is to become a game
designer, what should my major be now? Computer studies?
English/Lit? Our E/L department has a self-directed major in
screenwriting, would that be of any use? What exactly are the
qualifications for game design?"
The Question: "Does the producer choose
who to be on a development team? And does the game
designer choose who to be the producer?"
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