Interview for School Project

i get payed for programming, though i wouldnt call myself a professional (im studying for associates).

1)
nick, i am employed by a college
2)
C++,VB,Asm, sometimes 'netty' stuff (html and friends)
3)
learning apps/ systems; i do more theorizing than programming.
4)
i thought it was a good idea at the time...
4.5)
robotics and ai.
5)
extremely important. develop in teams, sometimes; critique in teams, always.
6)
2pm-10 m-th, and, i can basically decide not to show up sometimes.
7)
yep, sometimes. before i made a last minute decision to study programming, i was planning to study fine art. i think that art is the ability to alter the state of mind and inspire thought. if your first learning assembly, or pushing your concept curve, then yes, programming is defininatly an art -and an exciting one too. if your programming, and your brain is tingling, and everything makes since, and your head is spinning, and maybe you got a hard on, then your doing art!

8)
minimal, sometimes need to look stuff up/ check with math pro.
in ways, programming is a second sort of math, it takes input, and produces output through a process over time. 'Math' skills, being logic and organization, are heavily used in programming.

9)
high, given microsoft word/ spell checker. without it, dont bother.
10)
not really.

ive went back through and expanded slightly.

Edited by - evilcrap on January 6, 2002 7:03:28 AM

0) Simon O'Connor, Creative Asylum Limited.

1) Video/computer games.

2) C/C++, Assembly language (x86, PowerPC, 68k, ARM, MIPS), BASIC

3) I wanted to make games, I like the mental challenge of problem solving, also like producing a form of entertainment. The output of the programs I write is fun - if I were producing business software (I have in the past), the results are 'boring'.

4) *VERY* important - you have to deal with many different people on a game project, other programmers, artists, business people from publishers. Everyone on a project depends on things from other people on the project. In the run up to a deadline you have to be able to work with those people under extremely stressful situations. The totally reclusive geek stereotypical programmer tends not to do so well in the games industry.

5) They can be. Milestones for the project are much more relevent than hours of work and the times you work. As long as milestones are met, the hours tend to be very flexible. Generally though in the middle of a project for me it tends to be 10:00-18:30 sometimes later.
At the start of a project the excitement and enthusiasm for the game means everyone wants to get something playable as soon as possible so we tend to work longer hours (say until 8-9pm). At the end and other important later milestones for the project, the push is on to get the game ready. The longest single session I've done for a deadline has been 20hours straight (a few food breaks), and that was immediately after having to fly out to the office of the company we were developing for were.
I also do some R&D at home, but the boundaries of that blur because programming is also a hobby!

6) In itself, no, it's a science. Having said that there is an art to effective programming. Sometimes you have to think of extremely ingenious solutions to problems, also making programs graceful can be quite an artistic thing. [edit]Since I specialise in the graphics engine side of games, I suppose there is some art to what I do - concentrating on code which is going to produce results which look "nice" - there's no scientific grounding to making a nice looking cartoon shader for example, you just play until everyone is happy it looks right.[/edit]

7) You don't need to be an egghead mathemetician, but the more linear algebra, calculus etc you know, the more tools you have to solve problems.

8) This ties in with #4 - you need to be able to communicate your ideas to people - this can include writing documents describing approaches to problems, writing standards documents, writing code documentation, can be writing e-mails to client companies, partner companies and gaming hardware manufacturers etc. You don't have to be excellent at writing - just competent in getting your ideas across in a clear form (much of what I write on these forums though isn't properly thought through and considered so isn't as clear as it should be).
For me personally, I also write a regular column for a UK based magazine aimed at developers (Develop - published by MCV Media) so I do need to be able to fit thoughts into a concise & interesting (hopefully) form.

9) It probably "looks" fairly formal, in that its a typical looking office with typical furniture and decor - the clutter, toys, TVs & devkits on peoples desks being the things which tell you its a game development office.
In terms of rules etc, then no it's not at all formal - I can turn up at variable times (within reason), wear what I want, go out to the shop when I want etc. Also as long as I meet deadlines, the order of the jobs I tackle (apart from bugs and features for deadlines) are up to me. (Officially on our current game the producer has made us plan daily schedules, but quite frankly that doesn't fit at all well with the process of programming games - we're only using them as *very* rough guides for him).

--
Simon O'Connor
Creative Asylum Ltd
www.creative-asylum.com

Edited by - s1ca on January 5, 2002 8:40:39 PM

0) Ann Arbor Computer

1) A 3-tiered Windows based software program designed to manage inventory for warehouses

2) C++

3) Because I love the being able to create something out of nothing, and because it''s so challenging

3.5) Playing old Dungeons and Dragons games on an IBM XT computer. I decided back then I was going to become a computer programmer, although I work on the application side because I don''t want to relocate away from my friends and family.

4) Yes, I work on a team, and IMO, it''s one of the most important aspects of programming. Finishing a large program is hard, and requires many people. If they can''t work on a team, the project will most likely fail.

5) They are almost never irregular. Being an application programmer, I''ve almost never been required to work overtime, and even then it''s usually just a few extra hours a week.

6) Definately.

7) Not important at all for the applications I''ve developed.

8) Somewhat important. The only writing I''m really required to do is high and low level design documents.

9) Semi-formal. I usually wear khakis, but I can get away with wearing jeans and a tee-shirt. Hats are not allowed.

Thanks a lot everyone! No more replies are necessary.