I've been pondering my career lately and where I am now in comparison to where I'd like to be in the future. As a 24 year old, I'm contemplating looking for work in the Game industry as a programmer. Programmer roles seem to be fairly different, with people offering Junior Programmer roles, Programmer roles, Senior Programmers and various degrees of different area specialisation (Engine, AI, Graphics, etc). The thing I'm most interested in now is what differentiates the Junior roles from the normal Programmer roles? How do responsibilities differ? Is the level of expected education and experience different? How about the salaries; what is one to expect for either position? In order to start looking at the Game Industry I understand that I'd need some example work. What does this typically entail? Do you have to show off anything in particular? Does a run of the mill game work for this, or does it need to be special and have something that's not typically on offer? What size should the example be; a game demo, or a fully complete game? Now being UK specific, what is the competition like in the UK game industry? How about key areas of the country for GD jobs? Thanks for your help and ideas :)

click for salary info.

And here is more info to answer your questions.

Quote: Original post by evolutional
The thing I'm most interested in now is what differentiates the Junior roles from the normal Programmer roles? How do responsibilities differ? Is the level of expected education and experience different?

Junior roles are generally entry level. The level of education would be the same (many places require education to degree level). A programmer generally has industry experience already (though not always).

Quote: How about the salaries; what is one to expect for either position?

The link provided above is for US salaries not UK. Pay varies greatly depending on where you are and the size of the company. Check out the various recruitment web sites (http://obscure.co.uk/directory_rec.shtml) for example salaries.

Quote: In order to start looking at the Game Industry I understand that I'd need some example work. What does this typically entail? Do you have to show off anything in particular? Does a run of the mill game work for this, or does it need to be special and have something that's not typically on offer? What size should the example be; a game demo, or a fully complete game?

If Tom Sloper (www.sloperama.com) was answering this he would say "Sounds to me as if you are asking how little you have to do to get a job. Of course I am more of a softy so I will just say that the quality of your demo should depend on how much you want to get a job. If an employer has to choose between "run of the mill" and "went that extra mile", which do you think they would choose?

Quote: Now being UK specific, what is the competition like in the UK game industry? How about key areas of the country for GD jobs?

The competition is tough all over, especially for entry level people like you. As for key areas - check those recruitment sites I mentioned earlier. Reading the ads will allow you to build up a picture of the hotspots.