Hello all, Here's my situation. I currently work for a large software company as a QA engineer. This company is outside of the video game industry and I have been seriously considering making the switch, as of late. I have a BS in computer science yet my main area of experience is in quality assurance (writing test tools, writing automation tools, writing/executing test cases, etc... 4 years exp total). I want to know if it would be in my best interest to apply for a QA engineering position in the game industry or try out for some junior level programming position. The trouble I have with the QA route is that I, eventually, would like to have a more direct role in the creation aspect. The trouble with the dev spots are that I still feel waaaay too green (dev-wise). Furthermore, the majority of the QA positions I see available turn out to be QA testing spots which require a HS diploma at most. I'm just posting for a bit of guidance and maybe someone's 2 cents. Thanks all!

Rod, if you want to apply for a game programming job, you have to be able to prove that you're good at making games. Can you think of any ways you might be able to prove that you're good at making games...? Turn on your thinking cap for a moment...

And read my article 41 - it's on my site (see sig). All about switching into games from another field.

Tom

Thanks for the comment. Just read the article and it makes sense.

Is 'junior dev' or 'junior SWE' a real designation used in the official title for most companies. Or is the 'junior' removed and you are another generic SWE, though your colleagues know of your junior status

Quote: Original post by parasolstars
Is 'junior dev' or 'junior SWE' a real designation used in the official title for most companies. Or is the 'junior' removed and you are another generic SWE, though your colleagues know of your junior status

It differs from company to company.

My current job title is "Senior Renderer Programmer", other companies I've worked at doing the same thing at the same level I've been simply known as 'Programmer'. When I was starting out, I was also 'Programmer', no 'Junior' designation; some people at my current company do have the job title of "Junior Programmer".

Some companies also have a middle role, i.e.: Junior programmer -> Programmer -> Senior programmer.

My job title only appears on my employment contract, and if I have to deal with someone outside of our organisation.

But internally I'm just known as "one of the guys responsible for the renderer", no junior, no senior.

On the last game I worked on (Driver: Parallel Lines), the credits didn't include my job title, I was simply listed with my colleagues under a single "Core Technology" heading.

Hmm, from the salary point of view, one has more bargaining power if the job title is senior.

On a side note, when I was starting out with the first job, eventually everyone except me and one other in the engineering department was 'senior SWE'. Either they could afford all that there s too much water.

Quote: Original post by S1CA

Quote: Original post by parasolstars
Is 'junior dev' or 'junior SWE' a real designation used in the official title for most companies. Or is the 'junior' removed and you are another generic SWE, though your colleagues know of your junior status

It differs from company to company.

My current job title is "Senior Renderer Programmer", other companies I've worked at doing the same thing at the same level I've been simply known as 'Programmer'. When I was starting out, I was also 'Programmer', no 'Junior' designation; some people at my current company do have the job title of "Junior Programmer".

Some companies also have a middle role, i.e.: Junior programmer -> Programmer -> Senior programmer.

My job title only appears on my employment contract, and if I have to deal with someone outside of our organisation.

But internally I'm just known as "one of the guys responsible for the renderer", no junior, no senior.

On the last game I worked on (Driver: Parallel Lines), the credits didn't include my job title, I was simply listed with my colleagues under a single "Core Technology" heading.