Hello everyone,

My name is Mike and I am in my 3rd year of my BA in Game and Simulation Programming. i was wondering if anyone could give me a little insight into what game development companies are looking for in someone straight out of college? What are they going to be looking for me to be able to do. I have noticed in my classwork and from advice from some professors that game development, specifically programming, is not something that is taught out of a book. It is learned as you do it, I have only had about 3 years experience programming and can do some small simple games and some parts of a game but nothing remotely close to a full game. i was just wondering if anyone could give me some idea of what they are going to be expecting of me when, or if, I break into the industry. Is it just kind of throwing them into a team immediately or is there a slow introduction to the process. i am just trying to get an idea of what i need to be able to do out of college in order to be noticed or considered for a job in the industry.

I am new to this forum and his is my first post so I am not sure if this is talked about anywhere else in the forums but I didn't see anything. I look forward to hearing from you guys.

Thank you for your time,

You'll likely get thrown straight into a team, but with the understanding that you're a junior. You might get about a week or so to read documentation, etc, or you might be given programming tasks on the first day!

When hiring a junior developer, it's expected that one of your senior developer's will be reduced to 50% efficiency for quite some time, because they'll be spending half their time answering questions and helping that new junior get accustomed to the role. You'll probably be assigned a senior 'buddy'/etc, or at least sat next to someone who's knowledgeable so that they can help you out. No one expects that an entry level developer will actually be of any real use at first - everyone expects that you'll take a bit of time to actually get into the swing of things and become productive.

There are two kinds of juniors the ones who need constant supervision and the ones who turn out to be geniuses.

Nobody will be expecing too much from you on yor first day but, you will be expected to learn and you will be expected to ask questions when you get stuck.

Hodgman summed up your first 3-6 months perfectly.

You'll likely get thrown straight into a team, but with the understanding that you're a junior. You might get about a week or so to read documentation, etc, or you might be given programming tasks on the first day!

When hiring a junior developer, it's expected that one of your senior developer's will be reduced to 50% efficiency for quite some time, because they'll be spending half their time answering questions and helping that new junior get accustomed to the role. You'll probably be assigned a senior 'buddy'/etc, or at least sat next to someone who's knowledgeable so that they can help you out. No one expects that an entry level developer will actually be of any real use at first - everyone expects that you'll take a bit of time to actually get into the swing of things and become productive.

Thank you very much Hodgman, it is a huge relief to hear someone that knows the industry say that!!! I was worried I would be thrown into the industry and either sink or swim on my own. It is nice to hear that a company will be willing to actually put me with someone that will allow me to pick their brain and ask questions as that is how I learn the fastest . Thank you all for the responses.