Computer Graphics carreer prospects

[Carl Jokl]

I don't know that this post fits really into any specific area which is outlined. It does fit into being a developer question.

Having been working with 3D graphics intensivley only the last few months, I am still only a novice. It seems to me that there is so much involved in writing an optimised 3D engine that I wonder if I will ever get my head around it all.

I am thinking about the future. I enjoy working with 3D graphics but now wonder if the line of work I am likely to get be getting into would afford any opportunity to use these skills. The path I am on is towards being a Java Enterprise Edition Developer involved in the development of large Enterprise Applications.

This kind of path does not look to provide obvious opportunities for using skills in 3D graphics. I imagine 3D graphics is more "fun" that enterprise applicaton development. However I also see a more stable carreer path in Enterprise Application development (JEE or otherwise).

I think that usage of 3D graphics makes me think mostly of Games though it is certainly not limited to this alone. My perspective on Games development is that it is probably quite fun and exiting but as a carreer it is not very stable (a bit like being and Artist vs. being an Accountant). I look at organisations like Ion Storm who made the Deus Ex series. These were highly successfull games and yet Ion Storm ultimatly was disbanded. It seems no amount of former success can guarentee a stable future.

As there are a number of developers on this discussion forum I wondered what kinds of work you are involved with as regards making use of 3D graphics. Also perhaps your thoughs on carreers in 3D graphics.

[drbeermann]

Personally, I have had a lot of success finding jobs that require experience with 3D graphics. However, there seems to be an assumption that these jobs must be in games industry. This overlooks a significant number of (very stable) job opportunities, including medical imaging and several areas in scientific visualization. Furthermore, my past three positions have all involved coding for OpenGL in Java.

It's true that you'll probably find more positions for an Enterprise Java developer, but if graphics is what you really want to do, I think that there are a lot of positions out there for you.

[k_szczech]

Yeah, it seems that game content creators get more job opportunities than programmers. Especially now with more engines ready to use for a price that is far smaller than cost of developing own engine.

I personally work full time on software for stock market but in my spare time I do game development on my own.
I'm releasing my first game now. Hopefully it will pay back for the time spent on it. Time will tell.
I'm allready planning next 2 games. Can't promise I'll ever finish them but with proper motivation - who knows?

[Carl Jokl]

I suppose that as a programmer I have reached the point where just about any project I want to work on which I think is worth doing is such a large project that I don't feel I could realistically complete it (at least in a reasonable time frame) on my own. The other problem is that I don't have the benefit of currently having friends with complimentory development skills with whom I could work together on something.

Back in the 80's there were successfull games produced by single individuals. Now it seems that games have budgets, development times and teams of staff which would be more like making a film than a piece of software. I suppose it is one thing to create something for my own amusement. One thing I might quite like to do is perhaps remake some classic but now very dated games from the 80's. I did think about doing a remake of Tau Ceti. Before I could do that I would have to have improved my skills quite a bit though. I need to learn how to do such things as colision detection. Then there is the game AI which is a whole subject all in it's self.

Anyway. I am in a bit of a tricky position at the moment. University is almost over. I have an interview for a position as a developer for a company which produces a JEE document management system. It might not be the most exiting thing in the world but right now I think I would just be glad of a Job. I did a placement year (U.S. Internship?) and those of my friends who went straight into the final year, many walked away with first class honours degrees. For all that these same people had a very hard time finding jobs. I heared of one being stuck working for a supermarket. I can remember when someone from the University carreers department gave a presentation to my year group and said that the Computing graduates had amongst the highest post graduate unemployment rates. Apparently a lot seemed to end up working at Domino's Pizza.

I am waffling a bit but the point I am trying to make is that for me, as much as I would be encoraged to get a job doing "what I really want to do", I don't want to risk not getting a computing job at all by being too picky. Once I have a job I can still persue my intrests as a hobby, even if I don't get use it for my job.

[k_szczech]

More less the same situation with me, but I live in city where's a few reasonable software companies so I can get a job.
10 years ago if you were a programmer they took you right from the street and payed you 3-5x more than our country's average. Today programmers get payed our country's average or a bit above.

Unfortunately majority of companies in Poland produce software for a specific customers and that requires cutting costs. Customer doesn't want to pay 10000 euros to get just one small feature added.
There aren't many companies producing software for market. That's mostly educational software so it's actually not real software development.
The most advanced software produced here are ironically games.

The thing is that most companies don't need good programmers - they just need additional workforce that's capable of making software that will search a record in a database.

As for developing something on your own - I'm in similar situation. I could create an advanced engine but without an actual content (models, textures, sound etc.) it would mean nothing. There's one game I have on my mind that could be created by a small team - little artist work required.

But first I need to finish my framework. I'll get on it right now

[Kumar K]

As there are a number of developers on this discussion forum I wondered what kinds of work you are involved with as regards making use of 3D graphics. Also perhaps your thoughs on carreers in 3D graphics.

when i have started learing 3D graphics long back i started with an assumption that 3D graphics is more about extending your thinking from 2D to one more dimention. However after entering in depth , i came to know that its not resticting myself to 3-D but think in n-dimentions. I have started with virtual Reality projects using SGI Cosmo3D/Performer in R&D labs for CAD applications, and then moved into specific OpenGL visualization, and image processing and now into multi-dimentional data graphing. However i am still 1% in the overall graphics. In India where i belong our software Industry is more focused towards meeting customer services rather than creating any product base with Innovative vision , however we have also started building our own IP's but with a snail pace,I am sure India a software gaint will some day come up with some suprise which will change the way the world's is living today, but for the moment it all about how quickly you can make money with lesser efforts.

Some times i dream of creating the matrix (movie.. ) which touchs all areas of 3D graphics in use, virtual reality, Engineering space, gamming, Data visualization, Image processing,....

My advise to you from this junior. Dream well and get lost in 3D space, this is where the Fun lies....

Thanks
Kumar.k