Hi everyone, having an MSc. degree with specialization in Computer Graphics I was wondering if it pays off to obtain programming certifications such as the ones offered by Brainbench.Com. I consider myself to be a very good programmer, but that's not always sufficient to get a job. I'm talking about getting into the game industry as a programmer and I'm willing do to a lot for it. 1) Does anyone have particular experience when it comes to taking certification into account during the hiring/interviewing process? 2) What are the most respected certifications available for programmers? Thanks everyone for responses. George

Getting into the industry is easy enough.

You've already got the degree, and the specialisation in graphics should have provided enough knowledge to put together a reasonably impressive demo. If you want to work in the graphics field, then your code standard (commenting, formatting for legibility) and your technical ability (pretty trick, efficiency) both have to be highlighted - you'd need to be able to prove you know how to design an interface to your code so others can use it with a minimum of hassle, whilst keeping it efficient.

That's really all you need other than the persistance to keep applying.

'Course getting into the industry and doing *interesting* tasks in another thing - generally programmers are taken in very junior positions (writing tools / plugins, minor logic programming) rather than 'engine design and development'. That said, if you can prove you have the knowledge to work at the cutting edge to your project lead, they're more likely to assign you to something you're suited to.

In short, get a degree, be very good at what you want to do and keep applying.

Quote: Original post by bboyBladeJ
....I was wondering if it pays off to obtain programming certifications such as the ones offered by Brainbench.Com.

No. You need a degree, a well laid out CV and a great portfolio of game demos.

> 2) What are the most respected certifications available for programmers?

A PMP or CAPM certification will help in companies like Ubisoft. You need a few years of experience before you can enroll, though. See PMI ( Clicky ) for the details.

-cb

Certification all by itself is useless.

A college degree all by itself is useless.

There is no magic piece of paper that will guarentee you a job in the industry, a better job, beautiful mates, unlimited wealth, or perpetual youth. Sorry.

When you are interviewed, you will be asked many questions to determine what you actually know. You are encouraged (but not required) to provide a portfolio or other evidence that you can do the job. You will also be required to do a small programming assignment. In that code sample we consider how long it took, what algorithms and tradeoffs you chose (we give a tough assignment), your comment style, naming style, length of functions, and so on.

Additionally, most states and employment agreements have a short period (1 to 3 months) where they can fire you for no reason whatever. It is common to dump over-hyped but under-skilled workers in that time:



Decide what you want out of life and go after it. If you decide you want to gain the knowledge and skills the training will give, then go for it. If you are just wanting to please others, don't bother.