I just wanted to pose the question about using pre-existing engines and libraries to create a game demo with the intention of showing it to a potential employer and whether this was a good/bad idea. Obviously if you wanted to show off your particular talents you wouldn't want to use an engine or library which performed that task for you. But what about using something like OSG, OGRE, or ODE as foundations and building the actual game on top of that. Is this something that an employer would look down on rather than if things were made a bit simpler, but do the implementation yourself? It would be nice to hear from people who actually work in the industry and have had experience digging through candidates' demos and have had to make hiring decisions. Thanks

While I myself have never hired someone, I know that using tools and premade engines is definately NOT looked down upon. In fact, considering that you are much more likely to create / finish a demo if you use these tools, then you'll be much better off. Going to an interview and saying "Here's what I created usign such and such tools and engine" is MUCH better than saying "I tried to my own thing from scratch, but could never finish a game for it" or spending entirely too much time getting a game running from scratch when you could have used preexisting software.

So there you go. USE the tools available to you. And like you said, if there's an area that you want to focus, you can do that part from scratch and/or redo that part of the engine.

Hope that helps!

I've never done an interview/demo for a game industry position, but I believe it wouldn't be an issue. Chances are that on the job you will be developing with a licensed engine or an in house engine that already exists. Having the ability to pickup, learn a 3D engine and put forth the effort to make something of quality is going to be a desired trait. Making a demo in an open source engine shows off that ability and showcases that you know the tools. However, if they are asking for extensive DirectX knowledge and you try to pass off a demo written using irrlicht as something written in directx, you might be headed on a collision course.

I do work in the industry and it wouldn't be looked down upon IF enough of Your capability shines through. Of course, your resume better be good enough to get through the HR screeners or nobody'll see your demo.