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Anyone else have info. on this? I started by writing games and game engines as a teenager (now ~14 years ago), reading "Real-time Rendering" and the "OpenGL Su

Anyone else have info. on this? I started by writing games and game engines as a teenager (now ~14 years ago), reading "Real-time Rendering" and the "OpenGL Superbible". I've done a lot more with computer graphics since, writing pixel shaders for fun, building a web-based domain specific CAD tool (for a client) etc. Also been doing some computational geometry stuff more recently. I haven't had much luck finding positions for 'graphics programmers' though. I've found things like 'lead engine programmer' for game companies—which is a bit out of my league, IMO. But I'd love to work on things like the VR youtube player that Google did (doesn't have to be VR; 3D UI design is interesting to me regardless). Don't how to find these sorts of positions at companies like Apple/FB/Google etc., where I would hope they pay quite well (comments on that also welcome!).

emmanueloga_ 8y ago
A few projects I can think of requiring graphics programming at Google: * Fuchsia was looking for graphics engineers at some point. I can't see a listing about graphics right now but maybe you could start as a mobile apps SWE and slowly move into graphics if you build the right contacts. * Lots of Stadia jobs require Vulkan / OpenGL and general graphics knowledge, there maybe some of these offers that may be attractive for you! [1]. BTW I'm pretty sure even for specific roles as graphics programming, Google still hires generalists, so expect the same grind as everybody else has on the interviews (that is, whiteboards, algorithmic questions, etc etc). 1: https://careers.google.com/jobs/results/?company=Google&company=YouTube&employment_type=FULL_TIME&hl=en_US&jlo=en_US&q=stadia&sort_by=relevance https://careers.google.com/jobs/results/?company=Google&comp...
Arelius 8y ago
It's not super difficult, they are generally listed like any other job. Here is a few in a quick Google Jobs search: https://careers.google.com/jobs/results/6656793930563584/ https://careers.google.com/jobs/results/6656793930563584/ https://careers.google.com/jobs/results/5104577030586368/ https://careers.google.com/jobs/results/5104577030586368/ https://careers.google.com/jobs/results/6469646855372800/ https://careers.google.com/jobs/results/6469646855372800/ The other large companies should have similar postings, and obviously games studios. The harder thing you might run into though is they are generally pretty senior roles, with expectations of quite a bit of existing rendering knowledge, so it can be hard to get a role straight into rendering. My suggestion is to try to find a general role on a team supporting a rendering product. And then to slowly move into that type of work.
- westoncb 8y ago
  Huh. Well, it has been a couple years since I last looked, but nothing turned up for me before. > My suggestion is to try to find a general role on a team supporting a rendering product. And then to slowly move into that type of work. Not sure if that's in reference to my background or just a general comment. I do have about three years experience doing graphics programming professionally (1 year computational geometry), and many more doing it as a hobby, so working my way back up to it is not exactly an appealing prospect. I could potentially see that being sensible for me though, depending on details about the job not included in the description. Graphics programming is my deepest specialty, but I am primarily a generalist. For example, here's a video of the CAD tool I architected, built (the features shown), helped design and hire other developers for etc.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e21tqZebl60 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e21tqZebl60 I am actually concerned that the skill set involved there won't be easily usable to by Google scale companies though--that they'd prefer to have a few specialists for the different aspects of the project instead. So maybe this isn't such a good direction for me.
  - Arelius 8y ago
    > Not sure if that's in reference to my background or just a general comment. I do have about three years experience doing graphics programming professionally (1 year computational geometry), and many more doing it as a hobby, so working my way back up to it is not exactly an appealing prospect. It was mostly a general comment, but I think an important one. I've been a rendering specialist for about 10 years, and I still occasionally encounter the "rendering" role that expects me to have more knowledge of some special type of hardware or something, and I end up being under-qualified for, it's just that kind of field I guess. Also, cool looking CAD tool!
  - analognoise 8y ago
    I like your cad tool - I'm interested in 2D only, but you seem to have nailed the user interaction bits for constrained movement. I'm primarily interested in algorithms/ heuristics for wire drawings (2D ECAD). Do you have any suggestions on where to look for further information?
robmaister 8y ago
Perhaps I just got lucky, but I started my first games industry job almost a year ago and I've been doing graphics work for the vast majority of that time. I came in as a regular junior level Software Engineer, mentioned I liked graphics and tools development, and was mostly given graphics work as a result. I've also been writing engine/graphics code for fun since I was a teenager, my copies of those books are 3rd edition and 5th edition, respectively :)
- westoncb 8y ago
  Hmm, yep, tools and graphics are what I'd be most interested in as well. 3rd and 3rd here :)

emmanueloga_ 8y ago

A few projects I can think of requiring graphics programming at Google: * Fuchsia was looking for graphics engineers at some point. I can't see a listing about graphics right now but maybe you could start as a mobile apps SWE and slowly move into graphics if you build the right contacts. * Lots of Stadia jobs require Vulkan / OpenGL and general graphics knowledge, there maybe some of these offers that may be attractive for you! [1]. BTW I'm pretty sure even for specific roles as graphics programming, Google still hires generalists, so expect the same grind as everybody else has on the interviews (that is, whiteboards, algorithmic questions, etc etc). 1: https://careers.google.com/jobs/results/?company=Google&company=YouTube&employment_type=FULL_TIME&hl=en_US&jlo=en_US&q=stadia&sort_by=relevance https://careers.google.com/jobs/results/?company=Google&comp...

Arelius 8y ago

It's not super difficult, they are generally listed like any other job. Here is a few in a quick Google Jobs search: https://careers.google.com/jobs/results/6656793930563584/ https://careers.google.com/jobs/results/6656793930563584/ https://careers.google.com/jobs/results/5104577030586368/ https://careers.google.com/jobs/results/5104577030586368/ https://careers.google.com/jobs/results/6469646855372800/ https://careers.google.com/jobs/results/6469646855372800/ The other large companies should have similar postings, and obviously games studios. The harder thing you might run into though is they are generally pretty senior roles, with expectations of quite a bit of existing rendering knowledge, so it can be hard to get a role straight into rendering. My suggestion is to try to find a general role on a team supporting a rendering product. And then to slowly move into that type of work.

westoncb 8y ago
Huh. Well, it has been a couple years since I last looked, but nothing turned up for me before. > My suggestion is to try to find a general role on a team supporting a rendering product. And then to slowly move into that type of work. Not sure if that's in reference to my background or just a general comment. I do have about three years experience doing graphics programming professionally (1 year computational geometry), and many more doing it as a hobby, so working my way back up to it is not exactly an appealing prospect. I could potentially see that being sensible for me though, depending on details about the job not included in the description. Graphics programming is my deepest specialty, but I am primarily a generalist. For example, here's a video of the CAD tool I architected, built (the features shown), helped design and hire other developers for etc.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e21tqZebl60 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e21tqZebl60 I am actually concerned that the skill set involved there won't be easily usable to by Google scale companies though--that they'd prefer to have a few specialists for the different aspects of the project instead. So maybe this isn't such a good direction for me.
- Arelius 8y ago
  > Not sure if that's in reference to my background or just a general comment. I do have about three years experience doing graphics programming professionally (1 year computational geometry), and many more doing it as a hobby, so working my way back up to it is not exactly an appealing prospect. It was mostly a general comment, but I think an important one. I've been a rendering specialist for about 10 years, and I still occasionally encounter the "rendering" role that expects me to have more knowledge of some special type of hardware or something, and I end up being under-qualified for, it's just that kind of field I guess. Also, cool looking CAD tool!
- analognoise 8y ago
  I like your cad tool - I'm interested in 2D only, but you seem to have nailed the user interaction bits for constrained movement. I'm primarily interested in algorithms/ heuristics for wire drawings (2D ECAD). Do you have any suggestions on where to look for further information?

robmaister 8y ago

Perhaps I just got lucky, but I started my first games industry job almost a year ago and I've been doing graphics work for the vast majority of that time. I came in as a regular junior level Software Engineer, mentioned I liked graphics and tools development, and was mostly given graphics work as a result. I've also been writing engine/graphics code for fun since I was a teenager, my copies of those books are 3rd edition and 5th edition, respectively :)

westoncb 8y ago
Hmm, yep, tools and graphics are what I'd be most interested in as well. 3rd and 3rd here :)