Hello everyone.

I'm right now in the process of thinking what I want to do and where I want to go.

I'm a "young" (29yo) programmer, specialized in C++, with knowledge of C# and Java. I don't have a field specialization like 3D programmer or IA programmer as I'm curious about all and about everything game related, even what is outside my range of proficiency (like art and music).

I have only one year of experience in a mobile game company (Gameloft), wichturned out producing game patch, bug fixes and stuff, and 2 years of... Self studies and filling out my curiosity on several ideas and project of my own I never really finished.

Now I'm fed up to work alone on those project that I will never be able to conclude by myself. I don't want to do all the game related jobs by myself, like thinking the game design, doing some graphics with my poor skills, and so on. I want to build a career as a game programmer, but I don't know how to really start.

- Should I start with a AAA company to earn my living and meet skilled programmers? I did it with my previous company, the experience was good, but not being part of a core team because I am a junior was kind of disapointing.

- Should I look for an indie based team/company? I think I would gain my experience drilling into the serious stuff, but would an indie team take the risk to hire someone without consistent background as me?

- What else could I do? My main flaw right now is I not really had to work on a full game with a team. I did work in my previous company and a personal project with two other people, but I feel I'm missing all the fun/fullfilling a game programmer could find in his job...

- Also, I listed my skills on my linkedin page here : http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=108161040, does it looks kind of appealing for a company, or do you think I lack something important to have/mention?

To have a better feel of what I did, here is a little blog about my personal project, wich is kind of old now : http://excellenceteam.wordpress.com/

So... That's it. Could you give me advice on how I should start a career?

Spidyy

@Alpha_ProgDes : For a C++ specialization, I don't think an HTML5 demo would be worth it, or would it? But yeah, I should do a port-folio. I have some stuff to expose that reflect how I am doing things. :]

@Tom Slopper : just... WOW, your FAQ is awesome, I have to respect you for this!

So I counted, I have done 5 barrier breaker so far. I don't have the right location right now, my network is poor, I'm not researching enough, I need to make a portfolio and I lake perseverance.

Well, as you said on your FAQ :

If you are NOT doing something on the checklist, well, now you know what to do.

I listed 5 Stupid Tricks, but maybe I'm overrating myself. =p

I tend to be arrogant at work. I experienced it at my former (and first) job. I may have changed since, but I know I was back then, criticizing the work of my senior colleague about being buggy, dirty and all, but I couldn't say to myself : "Hey, it's dirty, the game is buggy, but for a one year development, it is awesome!"

I am blind, due to my lake of experience and buddies, I tend to see myself "as is", and due to my past, I tend to don't give a damn about what other are thinking of me. I need to do my research for this and find how the others see me. (It is one of my main worry since I started my former job, am I a competent programmer for him? Am I an unpleasant colleagur for her? etc..)

I'm in at a dumb location, in an averrage city of France. Now I have friends at Montréal, but my way of thinking right now is : "I won't hesitate to move, as long as I have a job there.", so maybe I should change my way of thinking?

I ask dumb question. Well, I have the feeling this topic was beneath the dumb questions category, has you gave me kind of a large covering answer, but it did the trick and here I am better defining what I am, what I got and what I should do, so... Maybe not that dumb? I don't know. But due to the lack of answers on most of the forums I ask them, I feel I'm asking dumb questions.

I don't do my homework! Well, it might be linked on the fantasyland trick below, but willing to do my own game, I didn't felt the need to find a job into a company so far, so I didn't get that much research nor grown my network.

Also, so far I'm in fantasyland, wich bring the Stupid Trick count at 6..? I mean, for 2 year, I worked on project to perfect myself and maybe earn some cash on small games, but first, can I gain experience with myself and google? No. And second, did I ever do something worth selling so far? Neither. :/ Right now, I'm thinking about at least completing my most advanced project (the one I linked above) into a playable state, so that I could use it as a portfolio, but so far, I feel I have lost a lot of time while searching techniques and ideas for it...

It... Kind of scares me to see I don't have that much Stupid Tricks, not as it is a bad thing - or maybe 6 is way too much already? - but would that tells me I'm overrating myself? Or am I just paranoid?

Well, in any way, a lot of thanks for those precious advices!

(PS, in Stupid tricks, le two last tricks shares the same 24th place. You might want to correct the number for the 25th. )