   My career plan
  Hi there,First of all, sorry if I have some grammatical errors and sorry to bug you with personal problems, but I had to talk about this somewhere. I'm 23yo and I finished University with a "computer science" equivalent in July. It was always clear in my head that I was gonna be hired as a video game programmer with the recent company establishing themselves here and hiring tons of people. I put a lot of effort in my life about learning video game programming which I though would allow me to be an interesting candidate for a job. I took a few months of break after my study until after Christmas.I know a lot of things about video game programming. Learned OpenGL, DirectX9, DirectX10, some shaders programming by myself, made a few small game project (in school and by myself). This allowed me to have 2 internships and one summer job in a well known game developer studio in 2006-2007. I think I was in good term with most of other employees and managed to get the work done. The job itself was surprisingly harder than I expected for a college internship, assigning me directly to important parts of an engine right at the start. I had to learn to code for PSP, NDS and Wii at the same time, but I managed to get the hang of it pretty fast and I think I helped a lot during the short amount of time I worked there, at least I never had any negative comments. When I left I was told I could ask to return anytime and they would take me back.So in December I was surprised when I sent back my resume because it took 2 weeks before I had a "we will look into it and come back to you" reply and after a month I still had nothing. I tried to send a reminder yesterday and got a fast reply saying that they only need an next-gen experienced 3d programmer right now and nothing else. Ok, I agree I never worked with PS3 or X360, but since I know how to use DirectX10 shaders and other consoles, I don't think it would be much harder... Only an old employee from another company in another city who working on next-gen could have the qualifications to get that job?There's two interesting video games studio where I live, so I tried this month to send my resume to the other one. I picked up their interest and they got me for an interview. I'm good for talking, but it has been 5 years I had an interview so I was not perfect either. I think I did good enough for the "personal questions" part and then got to the technical part. They had multiple C++ question, not basic stuff but not that hard either. I did not take enough time to think before answering and most answers I gave were badly formulated. They asked about one of the only thing I never did in C++ (overloading a new and new[] operator) so I messed up, then afterward made an error on a even more basic question (I knew the answer and I don't know why I answered something else). The last one was about giving the inverse of a matrix and I had not manually calculated matrices since my first university class (always using D3DXMatrix***) so I stressed out before thinking clearly again, while in fact it was pretty straightforward and I could have answered the right answer by myself but of course I did not. As you can see, I was pretty unhappy when I left because I only managed to get about half of these questions right when I know about things much more complex. A few days later I received a email insisting that I did great and have all needed qualifications and a good personality, but that I was not hired because they only had one free spot and two candidates. I was expecting this answer since I screwed up in my interview, but now it put me job less.Both places told me they kept my resume in case they have an open spot I can fill that they will contact me back. Can I actually expect this or is saying there is no spot left a polite way to deny someone? Both places are kinda new and still do some advanced recruiting publicity in schools and hired hundreds in the last few years, so why would they both suddenly have no open spot all of a sudden? Is the economy crisis that bad? Am I a so bad person? I though I had a good advantage over most people just out of University and I don't have a very bad personality so I'm clueless of what's happening.Now my finances are getting a bit low and I have multiple choices.-Try to find a job as a programmer in something else than video game development, at least for a while. It could be tricky since I'm not as good in other domains than video games.-Try to get hired in another city and move out, but I like where I am currently I wouldn't really want to leave.-Get someone to lend me money, get in dept and continue to do nothing of my life for a while still waiting for news of one of these two company.-Become a indie developer and start my own studio, but that's just dreaming since I know it's impossible with no starting money and no good team.[Edited by - Dunge on February 21, 2009 9:29:26 PM]
  Dude calm down there it is not the end, you are only starting out and will have plenty of opportunities to prove yourself in the future. Finishing Uni might seem at first like it is the some sort of great transitional time and it is to a certain extent but you wont suddenly stop developing yourself and indeed should put such thoughts out of your head. You must now embarked on a path that is alot less structured and linear so you should be mindful of this, and maintain your focus of self-development and ultimately gain what you want to achieve. Maybe you will have to take a few detours on the way but that shouldn't put you off, the road ahead will have many ups and downs and twists and turns so take them as they come. -If money is tight look for any type of job, preferable one that involves the discipline you hope to develop.-Talk to your family or friends or even God if you feel down and lost, online forum boards are not on the list though :)Anyway keep your head up and keep making positive moves, don't worry about the current economic dodginess it is outside your control and will pass as it always does.   ;  Just apply to a bunch of other places (possibly some not in the game industry if money is tight...) including places in other cities; it's best not to put all your eggs in one basket...lose the basket and all is gone :P  There's always work to be found as well, even if it's undesirable...sometimes you have to suck it up and do what it takes to pay the bills.   ;  Guthur thx for the thoughts. I may look depressed or something to write such a long post but don't worry I have a clear and optimist view of the future and won't let things like this discourage me. Be also sure that my friends and family already know about this, I just though people in the industry could give me advices from another point of view.   ;  I agree with the previous poster, don't sit doing nothing, because it'll become harder and harder to get a job. It's always better to show you're positive person that doesn't get easily turned down, even after a failure (I've had quite a few myself, I know how it feels)Also, try to learn from your previous failures. Why did they turn you down? Was it because you didn't do good enough on the technical stuff? Was it a matter of personality? Was it just because that other guy was totally awesome and they had only one spot? Do you know what the company you applied for values most for the opened position? Is it technical skills? Attitude? Experience?I'm sure you can ask them about that, so that at least you learn about why they didn't pick you. Try it. Remain positive.Good luck in your future endeavors.   ;  You're putting way more eggs into a single basket than you should. I think by the time I graduated I had a applied for over two dozen jobs. I wound up with two positive responses and took one.Moral of the story - keeping looking. [wink]   ;  Go apply at a temp agency while you're searching for a real job.  Getting the real job won't happen quickly and you'll need cash to stay afloat.Temp jobs on the other hand (especially mindless physical labor) are VERY easy to find, and will make you enough money to eat and usually pay rent.  If you get day-to-day flexibility, you can skip whenever you feel crappy or need a couple days off for an interview.   ;  I applaud you for sharing your concerns since they are a reflection of the situation many new and intermediate developers are faced with in the industry at the moment, but as Guther mentioned, the crazy economy or state of the industry isn't something you should get bogged down about since it is out of your control.Although I have little advice to offer regarding how to cope with the frustrations of job hunting and gaining experience in this current market, I would like to offer another perspective regarding the last option you mentioned in your post."-Become a indie developer and start my own studio, but that's just dreaming since I know it's impossible with no starting money and no good team."I do not agree with your statement regarding independent projects at all and hope to offer a more positive view to consider. While I agree with your realistic perspective regarding the difficulties one faces in starting an independent project, I hope you will consider some of the more positive aspects of working with others on independent projects.Personally, I feel right now is a WONDERFUL time to pursue a quality independent project or start up studio, IF YOU CAN.Since there are many skilled developers in situations similar to yours, it should be easier to find others more willing to seriously work on an independent project. Considering the state of the industry and the increased qualification demands needed to land a job at the moment, it may be more profitable to 'make your own opportunity'.Although there are many difficulties in uniting a group of developers to work on an un-funded project, it could be very profitable in experience and if the project is solid then it has a better chance of becoming financially profitable with experienced and determined developers such as yourself driving it to completion.That being said, best of luck in whatever you pursue.[Edited by - redmage78 on January 20, 2009 8:44:18 PM];Quote:Original post by redmage78Although there are many difficulties in uniting a group of developers to work on an un-funded project, it could be very profitable in experience and if the project is solid then it has a better chance of becoming financially profitable with experienced and determined developers such as yourself driving it to completion.There are priorities in life. In his situation, the OP is understandably more concerned about paying for food and rent than to embark on an unpaid adventure of several years.Unpaid projects are fine if you don't financially depend on their success. They're good as a hobby or to gain experience while having a paying daytime job. In all other cases, stay away from them.I would also strongly recommend against creating your own company without any startup capital, investors and experience. Especially in the current economic climate, this is a direct slide into financial ruin.Dunge: As others have mentioned, two applications isn't very much at all. It is certainly frustrating if the job opportunities that you built upon did not work out. But this shouldn't stop you in any way. Most people send out dozens, if not hundreds of applications before they finally score a job. And at the beginning, it will probably not be your dream job.But keep your priorities straight. Don't get into debt because of that, this would be very stupid. Get a job just to pay for whatever you need to stay afloat. Even if it's not in the video game sector, it will still add experience to your resume. And that is very important for a potential employer.If you work hard enough, you will eventually get to your dream job. But you should also keep in mind that your definition of that 'dream job' could very well change with time and experience. Lots of kids dream about working in the video game industry, and idolize it somewhat. Sometime later in life, after university and their first few jobs in the industry, they often see it in a very different light.So try to pursue your goals, but always keep your mind open. You might otherwise miss on some really great opportunities.   ;  I second the sound advice of Yann L.    and  just wanted to offer a positive outlook on starting your own project or contributing to others in your spare time after you've found employment of some sort. 