Hello! I thought this would be the best place for this question, but please redirect me if I'm wrong. I'm currently studying to get a game programming degree. But when I get it, I don't want to be stuck in one office all the time. I want to be able to move around as I please while I do the programming. I know that it's possible to do that, but I don't know how easy it is. I'll just be starting out in the game development field with a bacchelor's degree. Would it be easy or hard for me to get a job like that?

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Original post by mageofdreams I don't want to be stuck in one office all the time. I want to be able to move around as I please while I do the programming. I know that it's possible to do that, but I don't know how easy it is.

Can you paint us a clearer picture of what this "moving around" thing is all about? Because I don't quite get it. As a programmer, your job would be to program - in the office. What is it you are proposing instead? The easiness question is probably answered "not very," but need a clearer understanding of what you're thinking.

You want to keep hopping desks? Or hopping offices? Without more information, it sounds like you want to be a contractor.

Okay, sorry... I will be more plain.

To work as a game programmer, it doesn't seem necessary to stay in one place. And when I say one place, I mean one city, working in the same office. It would be possible to do all the programming I have to do at my computer wherever I am and then send it to the company to be combined with everyone else's work. For that I wouldn't even have to stay in the same country and would still be able to hold the same job.

So is that possible, or do programmers have to stay put and work in an office?

They have to stay in the same office more or less. Developing a game requires teamwork and communication, which kind of requires you to be sitting next to the guys you work with. You could of course keep in contact using IRC/MSN etc, but it is a slight obstacle to the team, and unless you are incredibly qualified, and/or experienced its going to count against you when applying for jobs.

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Original post by mageofdreams To work as a game programmer, it doesn't seem necessary to stay in one place. And when I say one place, I mean one city, working in the same office. It would be possible to do all the programming I have to do at my computer wherever I am and then send it to the company to be combined with everyone else's work. For that I wouldn't even have to stay in the same country and would still be able to hold the same job. So is that possible, or do programmers have to stay put and work in an office?

Sure it is possible to write code anywhere, and use version control to keep it all working, but you are missing an important point here: Game development is a team exercise, and to most companies that means face-to-face meetings and spending time "in the office" with colleagues.

Some companies may give you the freedom to work from home (at least part of the time), but I very much doubt they would be willing to let you work entirely from home, without ever having to come into the office.

You should also note that moving around like that would limit you to only being able to develop for the PC market.
Since whatever company you are working for isnt going to let you take a console devkit with out with you.
Unless you can front the thousands you'd need for your own devkit.

But it does sound like you want a contract job of some sort. Tools programmers can probably get away with this
but not likely for anyone actually making the game or the engine.

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Original post by mageofdreams To work as a game programmer, it doesn't seem necessary to stay in one place. And when I say one place, I mean one city, working in the same office. ... I wouldn't even have to stay in the same country and would still be able to hold the same job. So is that possible, or do programmers have to stay put and work in an office?

That's a pleasant dream, but it doesn't work. After you've established credentials as a star programmer, you might be able to do the freelance thing - but freelancers don't have the time or money to live a jetset lifestyle. Read:
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson15.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson63.htm

The vast majority of games development outside of the indie and hobbyist world is done by companies using the 'studio' model. As has already been mentioned, the close team work required is the main reason for this.

The design of a game and the requirements for a piece of code can change on a daily basis early on in a project and still continue to change in small ways throughout. The idea of you recieving a full specification for a system, developing that system on your own for a month, then checking it in for someone else to integrate doesn't work for most aspects of a game.

For console development, another complication is the license agreements for devkit hardware - the hardware manufacturers usually require that kits be located in private 'office' premises (so not someone's home, not a shared office, not an internet cafe...), that security be adequate and that the premises has specific levels of insurance (try putting 10k of business-use development hardware on your home contents insurance).

To be honest, as a junior with no real industry experience, most companies who do offer work from home freelance positions won't be prepared to take the risk of having you work outside the studio environment. It's better for a company to have a junior working side by side with an experienced 'mentor'.


If you don't like being stuck in the same office, perhaps something like developer relations work for a middleware or hardware company would be a more appropritate direction to steer your career. Developer relations folks spend a lot of time on the road visiting and working on site at external developers premises (as well as presenting at conferences etc) and quite often work from home in the time they're not out.

Contractors are mostly hired when a company needs some specific knowledge/skill that they don't have inhouse and won't need all the time.

While this is quite common in standard software development its very rare in game development, since the development technologies are not as diverse as in the general development community.

To put that into perspective, i have been working as a software development contractor since 9 years and have only once worked at a game development studio, and I did not really contribute to the "game" they worked on per se, I just tutored their programmers on proper coding practice/development methodologies.

So generally speaking I think it will be very very hard to work in game development just as a freelancer.

An exception might be some indie studios/startups but its not very desireable to do contract work there since most of the time you won't know if and when they can/will pay you.

( That's not to say working at an Indie Studio/Startup is not a good thing, just that contracting there is seldom worth it in my experience )