First off hello and thank you for your time in reading this post. I have a quick question mainly aimed at if there are any game programmers from big companies here such as microsoft, epic games, blizzard and more. How do you recommend getting into the game industry? Where do you start, and what do you need to learn from college in order to get here? What do employers look for? I would greatly appreciate if these questions are answered. Thanks in advance.

Yes, there are many professional game programmers on the board.

Most of your questions are answered in the Breaking In forum FAQ. I'm moving your question over to that forum since it doesn't really belong in the general Game Programming forum.

Although I work for a smaller mobile company, I have worked in research as a game programmer as well as received job offers from bigger companies like Blizzard. I was in your shoes 2 years and I am partly responsible for hiring/interviewing new programming candidates.

How do you recommend getting into the game industry?

This is easy, program games. Program games from scratch (C++, OpenGL/SDL) or using game engines (cocos2dx, unity, unreal). Some companies like to see games made from scratch, some prefer the pre-existing engine experience. Just make games and keep an online portfolio to display your games/source code.

Where do you start, and what do you need to learn from college in order to get here?

I have a masters in CS, which helps get your foot in door. Some companies love the college credentials and some could care less. I would say getting your bachelor's in Computer Science is the least you can do. There are a lot of discussions about "Game Schools" vs "Traditional Schools". I went to a tradition school, and I feel it was the right choice in the end.

College will teach you proper programming (i.e. memory handling, OOD, OO paradigms, design patterns, "nice" code structure, assembly, scripting languages, linux kernel programming, whatever else). I think traditional schools excel here because you get an extremely wide variety of knowledge. Just remember to make small, small games on the side of your schoolwork.

What do employers look for?

The ability to adapt on the fly. That you fit in their company culture. That you will be an aspect to the team. Solid work ethic. You enjoy games (sounds obvious). You have a wide knowledge of the current game programming landscape (read gamastura, gamedev.net programming sections, gamedev magazine, know the modern engines, know the latest techniques).

Outside of that you could become an expert in one specialized subject. Like being an expert in backend security. Or 3D processing on module phones.