Newsgroups: alt.lang.asm,comp.ai.games,comp.lang.asm.x86,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.java,comp.programming,comp.sys.ibm.pc.programmer,rec.games.programmer
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!rutgers!venus.sun.com!cs.utexas.edu!howland.erols.net!netcom.com!gmandel
From: gmandel@netcom.com (Glenn Mandelkern)
Subject: Re: QUESTION- JOBS IN COMPUTERS
Message-ID: <gmandelDww3B2.2zJ@netcom.com>
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
References: <32201177.359088@metro.ucc.su.OZ.AU> <3221C1F4.161D@cris.com>
Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 07:54:38 GMT
Lines: 89
Sender: gmandel@netcom14.netcom.com
Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.ai.games:6096 comp.lang.asm.x86:26290 comp.lang.c:204039 comp.lang.c++:209516 comp.programming:31756

In article <3221C1F4.161D@cris.com>,
Ed 'Austin' Averill  <eaverill@cris.com> wrote:
>Serpent wrote:
>> 
>> Hi, Sorry to post this here, but I got a big problem and have to ask
>> you guys something. Any reply is appreciated.
>> 
>> I'm currently a second year medical student but after 2 years, I find
>> I hate it...
>> 
>> My real passion is in computers, programming in particular but I find
>> giving up medicine a big decision.
>> 
>> Everyone tells me what an idiot I am to give it up...think of all the
>> money and privelege betowed upon doctors they say (especially my
>> family) and that programming is hard way to make a living.
>
>[snip]
>
>** This is a statement of opinion, YMMV **
>
>Well, you're not likely to make the kind of money in programming that
>you would as a doctor, unless you become a consultant or get in with
>a small startup that goes public in a big way.  You had also better
>_love_ to program, because you'll be doing it for 50-60 hours a week 
>(or more) when you're fresh out of school, it's kind of like 
>"paying your dues" in the music business.  If you've already invested
>two years of your life in medical school, you're likely better off 
>looking for a computer-related medical job (medical imaging, etc.) 
>rather than throwing all your education out & starting on something new.
>I've been programming since high school (wow, it's been 18 years!
>My God!) and I've _just_ _now_ managed to (a) get into the games 
>industry and (b) make a six-figure income as a consultant on video
>programming.  You'd better be persistent, love being up late, and be 
>prepared to spend a great deal of what some people call "spare time" 
>keeping up on the latest on your own (unles you work for an enlightened
>company that will pay to keep your skills sharp).  

I would like to preface my comments by stating that my use of the word
"you" is generic.  Having said that . . .

Not meant to criticize, but why must so many games programmers
express the love for their profession in such negative terms?
Sometimes I wonder if it's purposely worded this way to serve
as a means of discouraging.  

Many people do get breaks, like in the music business as well--not everyone 
needs to nor has to go through countless struggle and strife to make it.  
Others who have gotten breaks sometimes feel, "I guess I'm not really 
that great after all, I did not pay my dues like all the others did.  
I feel so guilty!"

If you are doing something you love, doesn't the clock cease to
exist figuratively and you are able to meet and exceed deadlines
and expectations?  You then do not even need the Jolt cola or other 
forms of caffeine to keep you formulating your dreams into action.

I have never understood this forewarning about being willing to put in
the long hours, especially as I read in Next Generation Volume 16,
the issue about getting a job in the games industry.  If it is something 
somebody is forcing me to do because I do not like it, then it is drudgery. 
That's the time to reevaluate my needs, the profit I am hindering to
bring to the company.  If it is something I voluntarily do because I love it,
why does the clock on the wall matter, especially when my work is done 
long before the shipment date?

But then again, as others have pointed out, if I am taking more than
40 hours to do my work, it may also raise the following suspicions:
	--I do not know how to organize my time effectively.
	--I am doing the work of too many people.
	--I am incompetent that I cannot do my work in 40 hours.


>Of course, I love to
>program, I'll probably die slumped across my keyboard waiting for One 
>Last Compile....  ;)

My sincere hope is that between your death and the games you write,
you find whatever truly brings you happiness; the money should just
be an avenue to help you get it.

But then again, if you read my article on the Indian Doctor Philosophy,
earlier in this thread, may you indeed die at the console.

-- 
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Glenn Mandelkern                     "Hee, hee, hee, hee!" -- Questor the Elf
gmandel@netcom.com                   "When passion runs deep,
San Jose, CA                         you're playing for keeps" -- Keith Emerson
Games, GUI's and Entertainment    What does Motif sound like in the key of C++?

