On the part about requiring x years of experience, that's just normal. The job description is the DESIRED candidate. If they can find it, they'll take it. If they can't find it, they'll take the best they can get.

You aren't going to see serious ads looking for "Looking for complete programming novice with no real-world experience to develop AAA title."


When we hire, I am concerned about exactly two things:

Can you do the job? By this I mean do able to do it, do it well, quickly, with few defects, and otherwise handle the tasks.
Will you fit in? By this I mean (in negative forms) won't hurt morale, won't annoy people, won't do stupid things, won't make stupid personal choices that get us sued, and so on.

Working on other projects, being part of a team that finished games, and having high-quality samples show that you can probably do the job.

I really don't care what else you do, if you came from a database programming job in business, if your BS degree is in Anthropology, or if you wear glasses. I DO care that you demonstrate that you can do the job and will fit in.

If your other projects, your education, and the rest of your background fit my needs at the time, you'll be hired. Otherwise, your resume goes in the trash.

And incidentally, lack of capitalization and proper punctuation will also land the resume in the trash. It says that you don't care about details. It says that you can't master the simple written language of a resume, a paper that you should spend weeks making perfect. I don't want that person anywhere near my code that will only be reviewed for a few minutes over the life of the project.

I'm going to chime in with the shift key lovers. As someone who hires other people, I will immediately disqualify anyone who doesn't use capitalization, punctuation and the correct grammar. The anonymous poster's post above is a perfect example of something I won't even read, because the difficulty in doing so overrides whatever he might be saying.

I will also add this: You can never know too many things. Spanish may or may not help in computer game design and programming, but it does show me that you are well-rounded. Knowing XML may not be needed for a specific game, but the more languages a computer programmer knows, the better, since I can assume that the programmer has a capacity to learn. That, to me, is what the "experience" is about. If a job candidate has the ability to learn many things, and to learn new things.

There are ways around the Catch-22 of "How do I get experience when nobody will hire me because I have no experience?" If you're still in school, go to the Career Counseling office and find out about internships. Find places you would like to work and offer to do a work-study or internship. Yes, you won't get paid, but you will get college credit for it, and it will go on your resume as experience in the field.

That's about all I can offer.

Years of experience is always secondary to actual competence. If you can demonstrate an ability to do what is required correctly, quickly and efficiently, you're half-way in. The challenge lies in presenting those facts without losing the HR person's attention while he/she reads your cover letter.

Grow up, and good luck!

I'm assuming we're talking about the game industry. Unless they're specifically hiring positions that require experience (managers, lead programmers, lead etc...) , all you need is to show capacity to perform.

What I'd advice is start working on a demo that you can demonstrate to your employers. It's something hard-solid on the rock, that companies can 'see' your level of competence. It's better than any nicely-built-up CV.

Although, unless you start using the [shift]-key, your paper might get thrown out the window before it reaches your intended audience.

To follow on the last two posts, your first impression will be your cover letter, then your resume. If the HR person looking at these doesn't see a fit with the companies current hiring needs any demo you have will not be looked at. Period. Where I work we will not load a demo on a clean machine, have someone try it, and then clean the machine afterwards unless there was something in the words that you wrote that caught someones attention in a positive manner.