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theflyingorc posted:Your resume: Remarkably spot on.
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Aug 28, 2014 18:57
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So I have a question for programmers: When interviewing a potential hire, how much do you focus on data structures and algorithms? And if so, what exactly? I'm going on co-op in the spring (hire me, tia), so I'm trying to figure out if I should change around my schedule to fit in a data structures class or if I can get by with what I already know and take the class after the co-op.
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Aug 28, 2014 21:24
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Kabanaw posted:So I have a question for programmers: I have seen very, very few data structures questions on programming tests, and those that did were actually more "do you understand object oriented concepts and/or pointer logic in C". If you know hash tables, linked lists, and understand pointer logic, you know all the data structure stuff I've ever encountered. What I've seen people looking for: C++ mastery 3D math Understanding of what an entity list is and how it works Bitmath Understanding Threading The efficiency difference of ++i and i++ (really common question) That's most of what I've encountered in terms of code questions, and I've taken a hell of a lot of code tests in the last 18 months.  Of course, more specific positions have discipline-specific questions.
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Aug 28, 2014 21:41
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It always surprises me how popular Minecraft is. I went on a cave tour last week for my birthday and our guide talked about Minecraft. And last Halloween there were a ton of kids dressed up as characters from it.
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Aug 29, 2014 17:07
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Old fart grandpas in my gym were talking about "learning how to play minecraft" with their grandchildren the other day.
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Aug 29, 2014 17:21
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Kabanaw posted:So I have a question for programmers: Looking at theflyingorc's list, there is hardly any overlap in our process. Languages, tools, and technology change all the time. We want to see how people solve problems.
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Aug 29, 2014 18:09
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Chainclaw posted:Looking at theflyingorc's list, there is hardly any overlap in our process. Languages, tools, and technology change all the time. We want to see how people solve problems. A lot of people care a whole lot about C++ near-mastery. Which is frustrating, because C++'s usability outside of games is not particularly high right now, so it's not focused on very heavily in most undergraduate programs. Most (good) tests are attempting to just see your thought processes, but there's a lot of programmers out there who don't write good tests. If you're looking to "know the answers", I just think that a basic understanding of data structures will get you a long way - I've never had to do anything that involved knowing the difference between various types of trees*, for example - so prioritizing a whole course probably isn't necessary or going to make a huge difference. I have had to build an N-ary tree for a test, though. That was fun.
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Aug 29, 2014 19:23
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Sooo anyone have to do art tests? Or is that not as much of a thing?
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Aug 29, 2014 20:15
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le capitan posted:Sooo anyone have to do art tests? Or is that not as much of a thing? Art tests are pretty standard for the industry. Kick rear end on them and aim for quality, not speed.
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Aug 29, 2014 20:18
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le capitan posted:It always surprises me how popular Minecraft is. I went on a cave tour last week for my birthday and our guide talked about Minecraft. And last Halloween there were a ton of kids dressed up as characters from it. God, it still surprises me. This one time I met some neighbours with some 4-12 y/o kids who were completely mental about Minecraft. Was  as hell when they discovered I work on it, they spent like two hours showing me their rollercoasters and houses and redstone calculators and poo poo and I'm like I WAS PLAYING SONIC 3 AND DOOM 2 AT YOUR AGE  
GeeCee fucked around with this message at 00:45 on Aug 30, 2014 |
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Aug 30, 2014 00:43
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Aliginge posted:God, it still surprises me. This one time I met some neighbours with some 4-12 y/o kids who were completely mental about Minecraft. Was this is completely unrelated to anything useful but looks like we're jerking off grandpa
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Aug 30, 2014 01:00
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e: oops nevermind, read a post wrong. Guess I'll soapbox anyway: I don't actually like overly technical interview questions. The one time I interviewed a hire (at a non-game company), I asked them to write a Tetris rotation system among other things. The rationale was that we wanted someone that could do the useful, creative work of going from requirements to an actual implementation and not just recite technical knowledge while expecting that the requirements spell out the implementation for them, especially since undergrad CS courses have an incredibly annoying tendency to produce the latter. OneEightHundred fucked around with this message at 16:33 on Aug 30, 2014 |
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Aug 30, 2014 16:26
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I'm currently living with my 2 nieces, and the oldest one is just barely 5 years old. She hasn't started school yet and the only computer or gaming device in the house is her mom's Apple laptop that she occasionally plays My Little Pony web games on. A few weeks ago she saw me working on my computer and I had a youtuber's Minecraft video playing on the other monitor when I suddenly realized she was standing behind me watch the screen. I took off my headphones and she asked "Is that Minecraft?" smiled, and then ran away. I have no idea where she learned about it, but even pre-school little girls with no gaming experience or access to the Internet know what minecraft is.
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Aug 30, 2014 16:50
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If my kids are half as in to technology as I was in the 80s I have no idea how they are going to write papers or do other boring human things.
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Aug 30, 2014 16:54
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How was PAX for everyone? The speedrunning panel was great and I met so many awesome people, but then I met stik on the last day and PAX is ruined forever 
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Sep 2, 2014 10:22
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Studio posted:How was PAX for everyone? The speedrunning panel was great and I met so many awesome people, but then I met stik on the last day and PAX is ruined forever Super dang awesome basically.
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Sep 2, 2014 16:15
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Shalinor posted:nighttime rooftop party that was super casual with a bunch of indie friends / cool people from Humble / etc. Oh and I think we'll end up in 2 Polygon articles. I know it's not the case here and don't mean to imply it is, but I can't see this and not giggle at the thought of "end up in Polygon articles" as a new euphemism for hooking up at a gamedev party.
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Sep 2, 2014 18:05
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Someone who posts here walked up to me and thought I was Tim Schafer. Like for real.
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Sep 2, 2014 18:15
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Studio posted:How was PAX for everyone? The speedrunning panel was great and I met so many awesome people, but then I met stik on the last day and PAX is ruined forever Exhausting, but productive. The magic phrase this year was "Filling in the gaps of Child's Play" so that people didn't think I was trying to butt in on their territory, despite me starting GWG two years before. Got a couple interviews, a lot of interested parties, got into the Pillars of Eternity party, which was fun if not brain-scramblingly loud. Had great success at the diversity lounge, which I suppose makes sense if you think about it in terms of "Being sympathetic to the plight of the less fortunate"... Only really bad part is my roomie snored like a motorboat, so I didn't sleep all that great. Now that I'm home though, at least for today, I'm not getting out of this bed except to eat and pee.  EDIT: milquetoast child posted:Someone who posts here walked up to me and thought I was Tim Schafer. Like for real. Oh, shut up. Show the picture, in the bad lighting it was close enough to assume. If Tim Schafer thinks you look like Tim Schafer, it's an easy mistake to make. 
GetWellGamers fucked around with this message at 18:26 on Sep 2, 2014 |
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Sep 2, 2014 18:24
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GetWellGamers posted:Only really bad part is my roomie snored like a motorboat, so I didn't sleep all that great. Now that I'm home though, at least for today, I'm not getting out of this bed except to eat and pee. Right now I'm at Lola though and OMG this restarting is amazing. I'll roll myself from here to the Westlake station and be off.
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Sep 2, 2014 18:32
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GetWellGamers posted:EDIT: I don't see it... 
milquetoast child fucked around with this message at 22:01 on Sep 2, 2014 |
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Sep 2, 2014 21:51
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milquetoast child posted:I don't see it... 
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Sep 3, 2014 00:10
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milquetoast child posted:I don't see it... How can you not?
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Sep 3, 2014 00:42
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milquetoast child posted:I don't see it... I can see Tim in the middle there but who's the guy on the right?
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Sep 3, 2014 00:44
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Tim probably though it was odd you wore so many massive chalice buttons. Super fan.
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Sep 3, 2014 00:56
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Can you work your way up through the industry or do you need some kind of degree, like an AA or some kind of certified training certificate?
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Sep 3, 2014 01:10
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JesusLovesRonwell posted:Can you work your way up through the industry or do you need some kind of degree, like an AA or some kind of certified training certificate? You need an Official Master of Computer Game Fun Science Certificate and a permission slip signed by your parent or legal guardian before you can even THINK of working in this industry. You're gonna need to give us some more info before we can help you.
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Sep 3, 2014 01:19
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You also need to be jumped in. Bitches get stitches.
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Sep 3, 2014 01:21
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JesusLovesRonwell posted:Can you work your way up through the industry or do you need some kind of degree, like an AA or some kind of certified training certificate? I literally, and the real definition of literally, started in the mail room.
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Sep 3, 2014 02:10
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Beast of Bourbon posted:I literally, and the real definition of literally, started in the mail room. Just buy the 'How to Succeed in Business' book and you'll be a top executive in no time 
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Sep 3, 2014 02:35
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Beast of Bourbon posted:I literally, and the real definition of literally, started in the mail room. Come on, there is no way you were born in a mail room.
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Sep 3, 2014 02:56
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JesusLovesRonwell posted:Can you work your way up through the industry or do you need some kind of degree, like an AA or some kind of certified training certificate? Proving your ability to get poo poo done via a work history is more important than fancy papers, but the fancy papers help. The Industry is not one job though, and is highly specialized, so you're going to have to give us some more information. I think it is very easy to learn how to make art without attending college for it as art is very easy to independently evaluate, but programming benefits a lot more from regimented instruction and high level math classes and other poo poo that you won't necessarily get without putting on pants and going to school. Design is an interesting kettle of fish in that design is easy to independently evaluate and many existing engines make it easy to generate design content without pants (and education is universally terrible for the field, with SMU, CMU, and Digipen being about the only schools to rate for Design, and even then it's a loose proposition), however if you cannot implement your game, yourself, as a Designer, you're basically hosed because you won't be able to demonstrate ability. If you want to be a Producer, god help you. QA is the entrance to the industry for the otherwise unqualified. If you have a college degree (or sometimes not, but there are so many people with Barista degrees willing to do QA that not having that qualification can automatically exclude you sometimes) QA is easy as gently caress to get into so long as you can be articulate and wear deodorant, and it is from Developer QA (on site at the developer, not Publisher QA, which is removed from the dev team) where people find themselves most able to work up from QA to Ancillary Design Implementer to Designer. At either Dev or Publisher QA you can work from QA to QA Lead to Producer, but you'll either be a development producer or a publishing producer depending on where you move up. Crossing from Dev to Publisher QA and vice versa is pretty easy since both of them benefit heavily from knowing how the other side of the game is played and Production is a bullshit role for fools and idiots anyways. I was a Weapon/Vehicle Artist for 5 years and was self-taught, though I have a business degree. I sold out and have been a Dev Producer for 2.5 years now, and I'd like to pretend that my business degree has been useful but thus far it has not, but typically I found most of the business classes that I took were a combination of jargon and common sense.
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Sep 3, 2014 03:00
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SAHChandler posted:How can you not? D1Sergo posted:I can see Tim in the middle there but who's the guy on the right? 
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Sep 3, 2014 04:09
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Yeah I just wanted to add a bit more with Sigma X with QA a bit. I know QA tends to be the punchbag of jokes etc (like working your way up from QA is pretty much Cinderella fantasy) but it also can help you add more to your network. I've been in QA for a bit and the real benefits is getting that network expanded. It grows up pretty quickly over months and some years. Hell I got friends/coworkers who are from Sony,EA,Zynga, Lucasarts, MunkyFun, Namco, Epic Games, 343 Industries,etc. You would be surprised who ends up where. I didn't think my two coworkers I worked with at sony ended up being a Zynga QA lead and the other is a Producer. So in short, QA ain't too bad. At least when a contract ends you'll have a better chance of getting interviews. That whole friend of a friend who knows a friend ends up being pretty true most of the times. It's how I got my job at Namco. 
Shindragon fucked around with this message at 06:02 on Sep 3, 2014 |
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Sep 3, 2014 05:59
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Pretty much any position is good to start your career if it's at a game company. You will definitely meet people who you can stay connected with your whole career, it'll give you time until you develop a skillset suitable for another position. As long as you aren't working absurd hours and can come home to work on your portfolio. But be careful, I've seen people who wanted to get into production stay in a low position in QA for a couple years which completely burnt them out from the industry all together. Also make friends with people from online communities. Pretty much all the jobs I've had were from people who I met online who later helped me get positions at companies, it also gives you the opportunity to work with people you look up to. However, asking for a job right off the bat is not a good way to make friends online. ceebee fucked around with this message at 16:25 on Sep 3, 2014 |
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Sep 3, 2014 16:20
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Is it possible to move sideways between programming software and games, or does the experience not translate over very well?
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Sep 3, 2014 22:10
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Two network programmers I worked with came from something like Visa doing network security to do the in-game auth security. There's lots of parallels between experience in the broader world of programming and games. Same thing with database stuff. Maybe you won't be the lead directx programmer or something, but you can probably find a job somewhere. If you have the experience and willingness to be the tools/pipeline programmer you could be king programmer at almost any studio you want.
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Sep 3, 2014 22:12
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Sam. posted:Is it possible to move sideways between programming software and games, or does the experience not translate over very well? Games jobs use "you have previous games experience" as their first line of defense against weeding out candidates, because most games jobs get more applications than they want. The other problem is that the technologies being employed in games programming aren't the most high demand things outside of it. Very few jobs outside of games use C++ anymore, and Unity and Unreal experience are obviously worth it. Similarly, Java or basic web technologies can be limited use at game companies. It's easier to move out than in - in fact, the hardest part about the games industry is getting inside in the first place.
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Sep 3, 2014 22:14
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Beast of Bourbon posted:If you have the experience and willingness to be the tools/pipeline programmer you could be king programmer at almost any studio you want. As somebody whose experience thus far has focused on designing desktop software for business, I've actually been looking at tools programming positions. Would you mind elaborating a little bit on what experience is necessary for that sort of position, and ways to find it while either in school or working in another industry? It's something I'd definitely be interested in learning more about, but also seems like something that's hard to gain experience in without having a largish team of people with tools that need building.
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Sep 3, 2014 22:54
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theflyingorc posted:It's easier to move out than in - in fact, the hardest part about the games industry is getting inside in the first place. Problem is, my personal story of deciding as a teenager that I wanted to be a game artist, finishing school with acceptable grades/making a portfolio, getting a BA in Games Art at uni and getting ~my first industry job~ about a year after graduating is a bit boring. I have no amusing anecdotes or tales of unorthodox entry routes But I know some of you do! So if you don't mind my recounting your interesting stories to contrast with my boring traditional one, I would love to hear about starting in the mail room etc.
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Sep 3, 2014 23:28
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