I've actually had a lot of similar experiences as Sqorgar with the game companies I've applied with.
I don't think any of the interviewers had taken a look at any of my demo's I had information about them on my resume, and they asked about that, but I think its more important that you're prepared for the interview.
Know how to do things like overload operators, copy constructors, make sure you know pointers inside and out, understand all the basics of 3d.
I think those are the more important things when trying to get a job in the game programming industry. Another thing I've noticed is that quite a few game companies will ask you to produce a certain demo and if you can do that, you move up to the next step, and so on and so on, that's the way Relic works.
i dunno, i don't think it's worth the trouble anymore. i'd rather do actual work than work on custom made demos for people that will always find holes in a solid. there are so many minuses, i don't know where to start. for starters it seems there are 100's of thousands other people like me doing the same thing, just the sheer noise of it all is enough to make anybody just take one look and turn the pony around.. even if you do get in, do you really wanna be there? now you're working with people that "got their foot in the door by testing" or some other trick, which means they're manipulative people. the whole thing reminds me of school where you have the smart people that actually care about the knowledge and people that know how to take tests, and guess who the system favors? then think about how many times you actually agree with any of these fools? most of the time they're making you use some api you don't wanna use, or style, or obsure features of a language just because they were bored one day and learned it, now you use it. i'm starting to believe collaboration in gamedev is a joke. i can't find 1 person to agree on a game title, let alone language, api, style and all the rest of thousands and thousands wedge issues that literally make people hate you, cuz you named your variable x instead of X. i'm sick of it, even though i'm partially at fault too. i always knew programming was a bit like writing a book, it's a job for one person. i don't even believe in collaborating with artists, cuz now they want 1/2 the money, which is a joke in itself. there is enough art for sale out there for cheap enough, anybody can make enough money elsewhere to purchase it and put in into their game. it's amazing how the actual work that goes into making a game is a tiny percentage of what goes on in the commercial world and the indie world. 99% of the time, they're arguing about money or process, cuz nobody wants to move a finger until somebody has approved it, NDA's been signed, they've agreed on how to do it, and you have a guarantee that they'll pay you for moving your damn finger. it's ridiculous.
