Switching Career Paths

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    • Switching Career Paths

      Hi All!

      I've been a lurker on these forums for several months now, but I'm finally making my first post!

      A brief background: I got my undergrad degree in physics and went straight into a PhD program. I have recently decided to depart with my MS in physics (which I will finish in December). Most of my actual coding experience is in (research-oriented) physics simulations. I am currently going through GCC4 and some of the stuff at the gameinstitute (thanks for the tip, mholley!). My goal here is to switch careers into game coding.

      My first task is getting a game demo up and running. In the mean time, I'm considering finding a software engineering job just for the work experience. Is this a good idea? Or should I focus on getting a game demo up and hope for the best? I guess one option I have is to try and find a group of indie developers here in town to work with. I've thought about taking a few CompSci classes, but at some point, enough education is enough. I'm also concerned with the prospect of too large a gap in my resume.

      As an aside: I've spent my whole life thus far in academia. I haven't a clue how to write a resume! I only know how to write a research-oriented CV. Any pointers or good websites anyone knows that might help me write a job resume? I've searched google but didn't find much use in the results.

      Thanks!
    • RE: Switching Career Paths

      Physics is a perfectly valid degree for programming, as long as you have the chops to back it up. It's a highly technical degree and both fields have similar thought processes.

      I would concentrate on getting a game demo up and running. This will serve as proof that you know how to actually write code. Finding a software engineering job is also good because it proves you can work on a programming team, but don't let it draw you away from actually creating the demo. That's the most important part.

      As for resumes, it's a bit of an art. When I was writing mine, I would look at the resumes of people I respected and emulate the things I liked.

      -Rez