Average age of Game programmers and the speed of technology

NeoReality · 2000-06-14T07:51:22

I''ve read a number of posts. A few people have said I''m x years old and I hope I''m not to old to get into the game business. I too have the same fears. I''m 23 years old. Professionally I''ve done quite well. A Programmer of a software house (databases) and if I keep on the same career progression I could be contracting/consulting in a year or two. But I know thats not the career path I want. I know I''ve still got at least one maybe two years worth of learning and experimenting before my skills will be strong enough to sell to Game companies. And through dedication and luck I might get there. But I can''t stop thinking will I be over the hill at 25, and will technology be so advanced that the goal posts have been moved when I get there. So I''m curious. What is the average age here and do people have the same fear that the speed of technology may outrun them? What else do you need; besides a miricle. Money. Lots of Money. or I''ll never do a sequel!

Game Design and Theory Game Design

Started by NeoReality May 31, 2000 07:26 AM

72 comments, last by NeoReality 23 years, 10 months ago

furby100

102

June 11, 2000 01:23 PM

quote:Original post by Anonymous Poster

Ok. . .I missed out on something here??? When I was twelve I did *some* programming (a cheesehead Space Invaders clone in Basic), which is about as far as I got before my teens, which were for the most part spent being an idiot. Then, at eighteen I decided that professional pot smoker is probably not a primo career choice and decided to program. My point is: Does everyone in the world know DirectX at age sixteen? If I can''t do object classes in C without a book at twenty, should I hang the whole thing up and stick to knitting? What''s the deal here?

/*Did you ever consider blaming your bad memory on pot? It is clinically proven to cause memory loss. */

I''m 13 and I know DirectX, Winapi, C++, MFC, VB, QBASIC, and some java. I found it quite easy. But that might just be thatI think rather like the computer does (I need very precise instructions for thigs I do and I take things very litterally, according to other people). I have a lot of free time and money (don''t socialise, don''t listen to music, watch very little television). However, don''t give up. You''ll make it.

furby100

102

June 11, 2000 01:30 PM

quote:Original post by OreoBoy03

You''re just special then Anon Poster . No, I know that cool, athletic programmers do exist, like me and you. But there are some really nerdy kids at my school that spend lunch reading books about C++, the big fat kind. That scares the hell out of me! Why not be socializing with the ladies , or hanging with friends (maybe they don''t have any ), or something. If they were really desperate, there''s always that group smoking god knows what outside in the parking lot near the woods... No, cool programmers do exist, like everybody her on GameDev !!! But there are also the really nerd-geek-freak-weird kind of programmers, and they scared me away from ever wanting to be a programmer a long time ago. It''s tragic !!! Gotta run, catch you all later.

I read DirectX and software 3d books all the time. Are you saying there is something wrong with that? I think about graphics algorithms during lunch. (about the group smoking god knows what, I got one of them into trouble. The thing is, my school doesn''t report people to the police if they are caught smoking something illegal, they just suspend/expell them. I think something should be done about that, I think it is the school''s obligation to report people doing that, it is illegal. They don''t deter people enough.) I can multiply 2x2 matrices in my head and 1x4 . 4x4 matrices in my head as well. Are you saying there is something wrong with not talking to people?

Jrz

122

June 11, 2000 01:37 PM

I just turned 20, sigh

I work as a programmer, and I worked as a network admin, I have my MCSE, going for MCSD this year I think
I've been coding since I was 8, then stopped to play games again and started again when I was 16. I'm currently doing some research about 3d engines, and some other stuff. I think I'll make a couple of 2d games (rts, arcade), and after that finally start with the project I wanted to create for 2 years now.. oh yeah, I'm also working on a MIDI sequencer.

Edited by - Jrz on June 11, 2000 2:38:06 PM

Jrz

122

June 11, 2000 01:43 PM

To furby100:
Get a life dude
Ok, maybe you are as good in those things as you think, it''s not hard to learn that! You don''t listen to music, don''t watch tv, what do you do? don''t you know people?
If you are socially ill, like you, it''s going to be very hard to get a job, know people, know what people like etc

and ummm, you need instructions, doesn''t that mean that you can''t think of something?

Steven Edwards

122

June 11, 2000 02:16 PM

I''m 20 and my first experience with "programming" (scripting, really) was when I was 10: LOGO on an Apple ][gs. I got a computer 3 years later and started programming in gwBasic, followed by Assembly, Pascal, and C/C++. Then came Windows 95. It brought a new API, but the theory basically stayed the same.

I am now working on some new hardware that will definitely give game developers a new area to work with. But that''s something different. :-)

Anonymous

June 11, 2000 05:46 PM

I''m 32, and have been in the game business for quite a while. The bit about "being over the hill" is off target. It has nothing to do with getting behind technically, because you certainly get to know a whole lot more after years of programming than you do when you''re 18 and think you know everything

Burn-out and getting too "old" are side effects of the grunt nature of the game industry. After a few project cycles, you start to think that that having a bunch of programmers furiously pound out mediocre code is a lousy way to develop products. It works, though, because it''s easy to hire desperate fan-boy coders who don''t mind working all weekend, because they don''t have anything else to do. With better planning and better architecture, many of these problems could be avoided. As you get better at the craft of software development, which is different than who can hack up UI code the fastest, this becomes more and more apparent.

OreoBoy03

122

June 12, 2000 01:23 PM

Furby~
Sorry, I posted some bad stuff about you here. I thought it was a little harsh, so I'll take it down. If I were you, I'd try to get out more, and develop some social skills! Bye!

Edited by - OreoBoy03 on June 12, 2000 9:33:55 PM

BadCredit

122

June 12, 2000 02:22 PM

I’m 28, Currently I''m a Professional Contractor/Consultant and have been for a lil over 5 years. Can''t imagine myself professionally counting my experiences with programming back in the Basic, Qbasic, and or C64 days/era. It just doesn’t count... I started my programming career off when I was 20 and helped develop my first Enterprise helpdesk Software and was compensated poorly (but that is how you start). As far as the dislikes for "furby100", I must say that his social skills needs some work but that will be fixed through time! As far as his other comments goes.... In regards to thinking all the time about games etc.. Well that is how I got into the business and how I stay in the business! Do I have a life? Well I have a wife and 1 child is that a life??? Do I like TV... no I do not .. (except for SiFi Movies).. Do I listen to radio''s no.... am I a great person so socialize with, well people have their issues with me... But in crunch time can I get the job done.. Meaning am I dedicated enough to spend my weekends and weekdays for up to 2 months straight on a project because of a change that runs us into the RED… Yes!, and that is why I get paid. Business are successful because they make money not because they have a chatty crew! And by the way after 2 - 3 weeks coding on one part of the grand scheme, again, and again, and again how social do you think your team is going to be?

Just my pennies.

"For a moment, nothing happened. Then, after a second or so, nothing continued to happen." Douglas Adams

Indeterminatus

129

June 13, 2000 07:44 AM

Hello everybody out there!

I just wanted to say that I got 16 now, I have been programming for 6 years now, but don''t think I have nothing better to do than sitting in front of the computer the whole day! In reality I''m programming in the evening for about 2 hours a day...and then, if I''m not too tired, I go out and HAVE FUN!!!

I would like to get into game industry, but I fear (as someone of you already wrote), that the techniques will be too advanced for me to have a chance...
I don''t think that I''m a bad programmer (Hey, what do you think I did in the six years?

), but I know nothing (ok...nearly nothing) about 3D programming and Windows.
I rely on Linux becoming the most popular OS, and therfore I''m quite good in programming in Linux...
By the way: With the compiler I use, I can port to Windows and DOS without changing one single line of code...
Now I''m working in a team on a game in order to improve teamwork

...I think that''s the main key to game industry, because in NO firm there will be just ONE programmer (even if programmes like a god

...)

Yours,

Indeterminatus

Indeterminatus--si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses--

Indeterminatus

129

June 13, 2000 07:58 AM

To furry:

What the hell do you do? I bet you are sitting in front of your computer as soon as you are at home, and there you stay until your (pretty wising) mother tells you to go to bed!
The hell, don't you have any friends? I couldn't think of algorithms during lunch, I wouldn't even get the idea of thinking of them! (cool sentence

)
Come on, the computer shouldn't be your life!
Who is more important? Human beings or computers? The computer exists in order to entertain and help you, not vice versa!
You can swear me now, if you want, I don't mind! But I have FUN, I meet my friends very often, and I'm riding my bicicle very much! If I were you, I would think your situation over, and maybe decide not to fully become a "computer idiot".
There are programmers out there, who are advanced WITHOUT sitting the whole day in front of the computer (like me)...
That's all what I had to say now...SIGH...

...
Ok, I'll quit now, that's enough, I think

No, there's another thing:

If you don't talk to any people, how -the hell- do you want to work in a team??? I don't think that programming alone is enough for a job...you should be able to work in a team too...

Yours,

Indeterminatus

Edited by - Indeterminatus on June 13, 2000 8:59:29 AM

Indeterminatus--si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses--

Average age of Game programmers and the speed of technology

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