4 ms·

I never studied anything game-industry specific (I was a math major) & I'm working as a game developer now (albeit in a small company that does casual games, no

by ido 16y ago

I never studied anything game-industry specific (I was a math major) & I'm working as a game developer now (albeit in a small company that does casual games, not EA and their ilk) and only worked in 'normal' programming jobs before that (doing mostly semantic-web and "enterprise" stuff). Of the ~20 people working here only one (the youngest and most junior, probably also earns a lot less than most of us) studied in a games-specific program. I think many people here don't have a degree or have one in an unrelated field (I have yet to find a CS-program graduate, the ones I know of mostly studied stuff like physics and math). What you refer to might be AAA specific, or just untrue.

NickPollard 16y ago
One thing to bear in mind is that the games programming domain is quite different from the typical web/application programming domain that many here on Hacker News are used to. In much of Games Development there is a greater focus on optimization and efficiency, the programming is a lot lower level and you need to be able to squeeze as much as you can out of the hardware. All the Games Developers I have worked for and interviewed for always look for certain skills, like pointer arithmetic and bit manipulation, that might not be an issue if you're building a social network or e-commerce site.
- ido 16y ago
  Maybe. But in my experience my work here is remarkably similar to previous jobs I've had that weren't in games.
  - sprout 16y ago
    Casual games are more web programming. He's talking about the multi-million dollar productions that tax the top consoles to their limits.
pcwalton 16y ago
From what I've seen, casual (iPhone, Facebook) game companies are far more open to hiring general programming talent than the mainstream. (Which, IMO, can only be a good thing for the industry.)
- ido 16y ago
  Online/flash games here. And yes, they do seem a bit more open and also a bit more laid-back. The latter is probably at least in part because it's easier to make money in the casual space.

by ido 16y ago

NickPollard 16y ago

One thing to bear in mind is that the games programming domain is quite different from the typical web/application programming domain that many here on Hacker News are used to. In much of Games Development there is a greater focus on optimization and efficiency, the programming is a lot lower level and you need to be able to squeeze as much as you can out of the hardware. All the Games Developers I have worked for and interviewed for always look for certain skills, like pointer arithmetic and bit manipulation, that might not be an issue if you're building a social network or e-commerce site.

ido 16y ago
Maybe. But in my experience my work here is remarkably similar to previous jobs I've had that weren't in games.
- sprout 16y ago
  Casual games are more web programming. He's talking about the multi-million dollar productions that tax the top consoles to their limits.

pcwalton 16y ago

From what I've seen, casual (iPhone, Facebook) game companies are far more open to hiring general programming talent than the mainstream. (Which, IMO, can only be a good thing for the industry.)

ido 16y ago
Online/flash games here. And yes, they do seem a bit more open and also a bit more laid-back. The latter is probably at least in part because it's easier to make money in the casual space.