employment question

[JohnBoyMan]

Hello. I am a self taught programmer and 23 years of age. I have recently got good enough that i think i could do it for work. I have found adds for programmers that do not require a bachelors degree in computer science, so i'm trying to write up a resume that will show what i'm capable of. I have recently finished building a character controller that is a cross between an rts style kinematic character controller. It has starcraft style mouse picking and course plotting but it works on any height map. I used bullet physics and math from beyond my credentials for a mech commander type game with ogre and bullet physics. The character controller was the hard part . I could finish it in a couple years if i had the time . I was thinking about making a web site with this on it along with a brief technical explanation of what i'm doing for my resume. I do have physics 12 and math 12. I skipped university no doubt, and at this point cant spend the next 4 years of my life in university relearning c++. Programming is my ticket out of a poor work environment.

I need some tips before i try this .I knew ogre would be the place to ask. Is what i'm trying to do, too far fetched and if not could anyone give me some tips on what an employer would want to see on a resume?:?:

[DanielSefton]

The reason many job positions require a degree is just because they want their candidates to at least have the baseline knowledge, and it's easy proof. Since you didn't go to university, you're going to have to prove that you have the experience and can commit to something and finish it.

Ideally you should have shipped or completed game(s).

Competitions like ludum dare are also nice to have on a resume. (Bonus points for winning)

I could finish it in a couple years if i had the time.

If you can't commit to that timescale, then you're just going to have to make something much simpler. Also realise that a character controller is a tiny part in the big picture of making games, that alone is unlikely to get you a job.

I'm a firm believer that experience beats education hands down. You've just got to explore as many avenues as possible and work hard. Very hard. Every day.

Depends how much you want it.

[Zonder]

Yeah he is right make a puzzle game for instance a tertris clone or somthing similar.

[JohnBoyMan]

cool, thanks for your reply. I think i'm going to finish my game up, but keep it simple, just finish what i have done.Thank for your reply, it did help.

[EricB]

I'm going out on a limb and saying with this economy you'll need a bit more than a Tetris clone to land a job.

Why do companies require a BSCS degrees? Easy, because most companies are ran by business majors who know zero about programming. A piece of paper says "He's willing to spend 60k to work for me at 28k"

I would say that most people graduating with a CS degree don't know jack about programming, it's not taught in college (at least here in the states). However in the eyes of an MBA, a college grad is golden (cheap and has the skills needed). To off set this you need experience. But you won't be able to land a job because you have no degree... It's a viscous cycle.

I suggest you do something bigger than a Tetris clone, spend a good year working on your own project. Perhaps pay an artist or two to make it look snazzy. Your top priority is to finish and to distribute, no one will hire you with half finished betas or demo classes unless they're desperate. And very few are desperate these days...

That won't stop you from applying, but don't give your hope up until you have a finished polished product to show.

(I'm 23 too )

[JohnBoyMan]

you said this

But you won't be able to land a job because you have no degree... It's a viscous cycle.

that worries me.

and then said this

I suggest you do something bigger than a Tetris clone, spend a good year working on your own project. Perhaps pay an artist or two to make it look snazzy. Your top priority is to finish and to distribute, no one will hire you with half finished betas or demo classes unless they're desperate. And very few are desperate these days...

That won't stop you from applying, but don't give your hope up until you have a finished polished product to show.

Like i said i'm making a mech commander type game, its got a super advanced character controller and solid animations , I don't wana have to dress it up too much i don't have time to make trees and stuff. When you said distribute did you mean send around copy's to potential employers, or like sales? THANKS.

[EricB]

you said this

But you won't be able to land a job because you have no degree... It's a viscous cycle.

that worries me.

and then said this

I suggest you do something bigger than a Tetris clone, spend a good year working on your own project. Perhaps pay an artist or two to make it look snazzy. Your top priority is to finish and to distribute, no one will hire you with half finished betas or demo classes unless they're desperate. And very few are desperate these days...

That won't stop you from applying, but don't give your hope up until you have a finished polished product to show.

Like i said i'm making a mech commander type game, its got a super advanced character controller and solid animations , I don't wana have to dress it up too much i don't have time to make trees and stuff. THANKS.

But as I said, it needs to be polished and finished, don't jump over your head with complex game designs if you can't finish it or polish it. Specially if you want to be employed in the near future.

[JohnBoyMan]

Thanks bro . I understand an employer probabily wont understand the complexity i put into it, so visually it needs to be sexy!

[kulik]

In my experience contributing to open source projects can improve your chances, especially if the projects are related to what you will do. It's also potentially less time consuming than creating a game on your own and working in a team is more self-motivating than working alone.

Open source project contribs got me my current job and I don't have BSCS yet (though I am just one year away from it hopefully)

[JohnBoyMan]

Good point.