Hi I have sent out a demo to companies in order to find a job. I have no previous game industry experience and really looking forward to find an employment. Now one company has asked for my source code. The thing is that I have performed research and the demo contains several new techniques. What is the general procedure? If I send the full code they might steal the whole thing and never contact me again. Could I send them a snippet or would this be seen as hostile / useless. If I send a snippet are there some guidelines to which part to pick? Are there some certain things that companies tend to look at when evaluating a source code? Thanks

The main items the company will be looking for are:

1) That you wrote the code
2) The code is well structured
3) The code is understandable with appropriate comments
4) The code is well written

I would say that you should send as much as possible. Anything that you consider sensitive and confidential you could do something like:

void SensitiveFunction (){  // code removed  // This code is the result of personal research and can be viewed/discussed in   // person upon request}

Or something like that. Don't be too aggressive though as it will put potential employers off.

Skizz

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Original post by Skizz The main items the company will be looking for are: 1) That you wrote the code 2) The code is well structured 3) The code is understandable with appropriate comments 4) The code is well written I would say that you should send as much as possible. Anything that you consider sensitive and confidential you could do something like: void SensitiveFunction (){ // code removed // This code is the result of personal research and can be viewed/discussed in // person upon request} Or something like that. Don't be too aggressive though as it will put potential employers off. Skizz

Thanks. I might send the whole source then. I haven't commented the code since I have been the only person involved in programming. I guess I have to do this? I have used OOP to some extent, should I push this harder? The code is structured in a way that I find optimal but I don't know if the company will appreciate it?

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Original post by 51mon I haven't commented the code since I have been the only person involved in programming. I guess I have to do this?

Even when you're the only person working on the code, it pays off to comment code. Returning to code you wrote months earlier is so much easier when it is commented...

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Original post by 51mon I have used OOP to some extent, should I push this harder?

Use OOP when it fits your needs. If you see no benefit from making code object-oriented, it's a waste of time.
Forcing yourself to use OOP is like using a screw driver to create a skyscraper, just because screw drivers exist. (Although this particular screw driver is quite handy).

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Original post by 51mon I have sent out a demo to companies in order to find a job. I have no previous game industry experience and really looking forward to find an employment.

Sending a demo to them unsolicited is generally a bad idea. You should generally be sending your CV or other application details, and include a way for them to get your demo from a web site. If you don't look good enough on paper I won't run your demo, and I'm certainly not going to just run a "demo.exe" that somebody sends to me in an email!

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The thing is that I have performed research and the demo contains several new techniques. What is the general procedure? If I send the full code they might steal the whole thing and never contact me again.

Unless you were doing graduate studies kinds of research, it probably isn't a novel thing. Do you honestly think they will spend the time and effort required to 'steal the whole thing' and incorporate it (which can be very hard), rather than just take the concepts and implement it themselves into their existing code (which can be fairly easy)? It is highly unlikely to be the case.

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Could I send them a snippet or would this be seen as hostile / useless. If I send a snippet are there some guidelines to which part to pick? Are there some certain things that companies tend to look at when evaluating a source code?

If they are looking to hire you, the want to see that you write code well. That's been covered fairly well already.

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Sending a demo to them unsolicited is generally a bad idea. You should generally be sending your CV or other application details, and include a way for them to get your demo from a web site. If you don't look good enough on paper I won't run your demo, and I'm certainly not going to just run a "demo.exe" that somebody sends to me in an email!

Sure, that was exactly what I did actually.

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Unless you were doing graduate studies kinds of research, it probably isn't a novel thing. Do you honestly think they will spend the time and effort required to 'steal the whole thing' and incorporate it (which can be very hard), rather than just take the concepts and implement it themselves into their existing code (which can be fairly easy)? It is highly unlikely to be the case.

It was graduate studies and I'm pretty sure the thing is novel. You're probably right about the other things :)

Equally important; it something's cool enough that they'd want to rip it off, don't you think they'd hire the guy who wrote it so he can write more cool stuff for them?

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Original post by __ODIN__ Equally important; it something's cool enough that they'd want to rip it off, don't you think they'd hire the guy who wrote it so he can write more cool stuff for them?

Exactly. Having the guy who can write something worth stealing is MUCH more valuable then the thing that can be stolen. It (the thing) might well become old hat in fairly short order, and more new stuff is always needed.

if you did the program as part of university research, won't it be covered by your universities copyright? I'm not sure how it is where you are, but my university owns everything that we do (only as a formality so 'someone' owns it, they don't dispute ownership of anything if the student wants the rights transfered).

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Original post by Winegums (only as a formality so 'someone' owns it, they don't dispute ownership of anything if the student wants the rights transfered).

Bull.

The reason they want that ownership is so that if you invent cold fusion (or anything that's actually WORTH something), they're already sitting on the aces and all the trumps when it comes to negotiations.

Everything written is automatically owned by the person creating it unless explicitly signed away as part of a contract; that is (was) the core of copyright. They modify that as part of your so that they own everything, then 'generously' dole out your right to own the code you wrote, in your free time, if it has no value to them. The moment they sniff up actual value, you will find the lack of dispute evaporates like dew in front of the gates of corporate legal hell.

Allan