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How qualified am I?

Started by September 08, 2007 10:14 PM
29 comments, last by Jerax 17 years, 2 months ago
If you graduate from your CS program and can show that you know your stuff (in addition to your demo disc), then you are definately qualified for an entry level PROGRAMMER position.

Technically you don't need a degree at all, but it helps get your resume through recruiters who might use it as a way to cut candidates (especially since you don't have any experience).

QA positions generally don't have any qualifications (depending on the company and position), and are often contract work.

As for a game dev degree, I don't really see this being a pre-requisite at all. I'm not saying the program is bad or anything (if anything it will help you crack down and actually finish some game related projects), but I don't think a degree in those programs is going to impress more than a general CS degree. You said you were thinking of a design course. Ok, think hard on this one, do you want to be a programmer? A tester? Or a designer/producer? If you can answer that question you can probably decide for yourself what you want to do.

You also mentioned that you have friends in the industry. They are your foot in the door. Use them. It will help you since you won't just be some resume on a table, you'll be so-and-so's friend, and you'll have someone who can vouch for you.
Quote: Original post by jchmack
How qualified am I?


A chicken kicked open the oven door and hopped out and shouted at the cook, "how done am I?"
The chef replied, "shut up and get back in the oven."

-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com

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Quote: Original post by tsloper
Quote: Original post by jchmack
How qualified am I?


A chicken kicked open the oven door and hopped out and shouted at the cook, "how done am I?"
The chef replied, "shut up and get back in the oven."


Wow Tom, is that a new one? I have seen you comment to these guys before but I don't recall that line. I think I might use it with some of my students.
Quote: Original post by Joy
is that a new one? I have seen you comment to these guys before but I don't recall that line. I think I might use it with some of my students.

I'd never seen before the question "how qualified am I," so I gave an answer in the form of a parable. I don't plan to use it again unless somebody else asks the same question. "Am I done yet?" and "Can I quit school now?" might also be suitable questions deserving of the same answer.
The only reason anybody would ask what the OP asked is because he wants to quit school and get hired for a hundred-thou-a-year game design job right now. "Shut up and do your homework" is the right answer to such a silly thought.

-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com

Quote: Original post by tsloper
The only reason anybody would ask what the OP asked is because he wants to quit school and get hired for a hundred-thou-a-year game design job right now. "Shut up and do your homework" is the right answer to such a silly thought.


Or because (as he said) he doesn't think he'll be able to afford to continue going to school.

To the OP: To get a job in QA you don't need a degree. I'm currently working in QA and most people I work with do not have degrees. I do have a degree and I'm having a pretty miserable time where I am. Everyone thinks testers are idiots. You have just enough contact with the developers to feel terrible about not being in development where you want to be, but not enough contact to be able to show anyone what you can actually do. Filling out spreadsheets and trying to crash the game to keep your "bug count" high so you don't get fired sucks.

Now I suppose it strikes some balance between totally generic unskilled labor and the industry you're after but it sure doesn't feel like it. Working at Burger King at least your passion and what you have to do to eat will be kept separate, instead I feel like it's being rubbed in my face every day. I would recommend you stay in school if at all possible.
Quote: Original post by My_Mind_Is_Going
Now I suppose it strikes some balance between totally generic unskilled labor and the industry you're after but it sure doesn't feel like it. Working at Burger King at least your passion and what you have to do to eat will be kept separate, instead I feel like it's being rubbed in my face every day. I would recommend you stay in school if at all possible.


Don't feel so bad; I know it sometimes feels like everyone hates QA, but it's not really true (though programmers can get pissy towards the end of a project when you're finding unreplicatable crash-bugs).

It's a good foot in the door for a future position doing production or design, just make sure you keep a good attitude and keep working on it. A lot of good studios like to hire junior production and design staff from the smartest of their QA staff.

Chris Thompson, EA's executive VP for Asia, was our industry speaker of the week for a game-related university module I co-lecture at National University of Singapore. He started out in QA, back in the early days of EA, and grew with the company. Today he's in charge of all their Asia-Pacific business, both development and sales/marketing.

Having said that; get that degree if at all possible. Work nights flipping burgers if you have to. Better to do that while a student, then doing it for life :)

Allan
------------------------------ BOOMZAPTry our latest game, Jewels of Cleopatra
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This is just one company, QAs get different levels of respect at different companies. The company where I work at the moment the QAs seem to be regarded at a higher level than us mere code monkeys or the artists.
The QAs are even consulted on design issues and attend production meetings. This is for our own in house QAs.
Don't forget a lot of companies hire Agency QAs, In this situation they are treated like dirt and are expected to work 24hours a day without any warning.
As for weather the OP can't afford to finish his degree or not. Well this all depends on how badly he wants it.
For the first 2 years of my degree I had to work full time alongside the degree. I had no spare time and was constantly knackered, but now I got a job doing what I want to do, programming games :)
> For the first 2 years of my degree I had to work
> full time alongside the degree.

Ditto here. And I was doing database programming for the local transit company (RPG, COBOL and JCL on an IBM/360). Far off to anything close to 3D or gaming.

-cb
Quote: Original post by Eitsch
god...what's goin on with this example?? second destructor fails - but why?


Here is the Promit's question source with detailed description of why. Just thought I'd post it for reference. :)

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Question://     This program will probably crash. Where and why?//// Problem: //     Based on the code: Inheritance & Virtualization Problems.//// Solution://     Common language mistake when defining object inheritance; that is if you forget //     what it's for, and why. ////     By default, Class C inherited Class B for 'private' use.//     This would result as 'inaccessable' and result in a runtime 'crash',//     'compile error' or even both, depending on your compiler. Thus, //     'class C : public A, B' was and needs to be changed to 'class C : public A, public B'.////     Constructors were added for good practice, which should of been done in the first place,//     and virtual destructors were added to ensure proper 'virtual' destruction of the objects.//     Deleting objects without proper virtualization would in short confuse memory deallocation//     when 'delete' is called on the object and crash the program.//    ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// class A{public:    A() { }    virtual ~A() { }    int x;};class B{public:    B() { }    virtual ~B() { }    int y;};class C : public A, public B{public:    C() { }    virtual ~C() { }    int z;};int main(){       A* a = new C();    delete a;          B* b = new C();    delete b;    return 0;}
His Mind Is Going (not to be confused with His Mind Is Wasted, someone else entirely and probably not even related) wrote:

>To the OP: To get a job in QA you don't need a degree.

True. But, HMIG added:

>...working in QA ... sucks. ... it's being rubbed in my face every day.

Testing isn't THAT bad, depending on one's attitude and which company one's working at. OP should read about QA at http://www.igda.org/breakingin/path_production.htm and on my site http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson5.htm

>I would recommend you stay in school if at all possible.

Which was precisely my point when I said get back in the oven. But if the OP truly cannot afford to stay in school, well, that's the way the cards are being dealt, and he has to play his cards as best he can.

-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com

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