Hi,
I just want to ask for some advice as to how to start a career in OpenGL programming. I’m 30 years old and have a BS degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering. I have seven years experience in telecommunications. Now, I wanted to shift my career to OpenGL programming. I have read books about C/C++, OpenGL and Linux. What are my chances of getting a job as an OpenGL programmer? Do I need to get formal schooling? What course and what school? What else do I have to do to start a career in OpenGL programming?
Write some software using OpenGL that performs the same type of logic that you want to get a job doing, using the language you want your new job to be in, and show it to a company that employs programmers who write applications that do that stuff. Look presentable, be optimistic and hit up as many companies as you can find (that do the work you want to do.)
It sounds like you have all the other basic education issues covered. Unless you have some public history as a problem employee, or you live somewhere remote and you don’t want to relocate, you should find what your looking for after a bit of searching.
Good luck.
Having done much of the same change under much of the same conditions, I’d say that reading up so you know what you’re talking about, being able to show a proven track record of shipping quality stuff, and having a positive and down-to-earth attitude will probably get you far.
If you haven’t ever held a programming job before, though, it may be harder. Most places that use OpenGL want to cram the most possible cycles out of the available hardware, which means you need to know about sometimes arcane details of system architecture, in addition to professional-level comp sci type stuff.
Coming from EE/comm, at least you probably have the right mind-set in that “resources are limited” 