The Games Game

Be Patient, Grasshopper (January 2004)

Dear Tom,

I just joined the IGDA and already enjoy all the great info. A little background on me first. I went to school near where I grew up. A good school, a technology school, Iowa State University. Heard of it? Maybe yes, maybe no, doesn't matter. I wanted to be computer science... couldn't cut the physics, chemistry, etc. Programming, no problem. I ended up getting my degree in MIS, that's Management Information Systems. Thats a big long title for "computers in business".

So, to basics and eventually my question. I can do SOME technical stuff, programming, etc. but people won't hire me right on. I forgot to mention that I am currently in my dream job. I test games, more specifically PS2 games. If this was a well paid position I would not be writting this Ask Tom question. So I have been in the industry for almost a year and unfortuatly I am getting antsy. I want more excitement, input, development, etc. I want to really be part of the design and development process. Dun dun dun... the question... What if anything am I qualified to do in this industry? With my pseudo technical background, I'm not good enough to walk in and program a game, but I am more skilled than my tester peers. HELP TOM!!!

Drew Bradford

Dear Drew,

Let me encapsulate your situation. You're currently a QA tester of games, and you want to program games. You didn't say if you've tried your hand at programming a game of your own, and although you've been in the game industry for less than a year, you're already getting antsy about moving up to the studio from QA.

Several points I'd like to make:

1. Be patient, Grasshopper. Your "apprenticeship" has only just begun. Do your absolute best work in your QA job and impress everybody with your work ethic, your cooperative spirit, and your ability to learn new job functions.

2. If you want to get a gig as a programmer, you need to have sample code that you wrote. The sample code should find an elegant solution to some problem, run quickly and with a small footprint, and should be cleanly written and well commented. You can't do physics, but there are other programming specialties - A.I., 3D, tools, engines, etc. If you haven't identified your specialty, you would do well to fiddle around with some game code and figure out what you're best at.

3. You ought to consider other jobs besides programmer. A lot of QA people move into production - through first managing a QA team, then working as assistant to a producer in managing a development team, learning about producing all the while.

Best wishes in your endeavors!