Since a lot of people have questions about how to get started in the industry I decided to post my experience. My industry career has only recently started to roll as well, and here are some tips on how to get started.

Practice makes perfect

This is the very basic but also the most important advice. Practice does make perfect, don’t just stick to reading and listening. Find interesting features or games and build them yourself.

Create your own projects

Create a small engine which you can expand every time you find a new topic.

I’ve started with a small engine which I used in uni, at first it started with an OpenGL renderer. Whenever I came across something I wanted to practice or was interested in, I implemented in this engine. Currently it contains a Job manager, Sound player, OpenGL renderer, object factory, AI pathfinding, Shader pipeline, File parser for models, images, xml etc.

This project you can use to show off your work as well as a testbed for prototypes etc. I use it all the time to profile and test things I come across.

Practice everywhere

It is important that you learn different topics outside of your interest area and to learn about things you hadn’t even thought of. Ideal platforms for this are TopCoder and Stackoverflow. Register and use it, TopCoder has competitions with challenging assignments that take as less as 10 minutes or as much as hours to code. Here you can learn a lot about algorithms and speed up your coding and problem solving skills.

Stackoverflow is an ideal platform to expand your knowledge. Use it to ask questions but more importantly try answering questions. By helping other people and researching their problems you will learn about it too, about the language, the algorithm etc. While browsing you might come across a topic that interests you and already has an answer, click on it and read it! You will see other people’s perspective on the subject.

Social media and networking

This ties in with Stackoverflow which I’ve mentioned before. Use social media and networking to expand your network and find a job. get on twitter and follow your favorite developers and stay up to date. Blogging about your latest work or experiences helps a lot too, since it forces you to recap the events and make sure you really know what you are talking about.

Get your ass on LinkedIn and twitter and build a network, you never know what you will need it for in the future!

There are always conferences, parties in your neighborhood which you can attend. Grab a beer and catch up with developers, exchange experiences and knowledge. Don’t just run in there with your autograph book and harass every developer you can find for a Job, just relax talk and collect the business cards.

Attend game conferences like GDC, Breakpoint, E3, Dutch game garden, London game conference or many more. They often have workshops, talks and a lot of knowledge in one place.

Stay innovative

It is important for everyone to stay innovative and explore new fields. Even when you have a job, don’t sit back and just stick to what is in front of you. Try to learn new things, even if it is just superficial it will still help. Try to learn a new language every year.

For example, things I’ve been looking into lately: using QT, learning C#, using the Unity SDK, and making Android apps.

By exploring new tools, SDKs and technology, you expand your knowledge and mindset. You will have different viewpoints on how to tackle problems. This means quicker implementation of features, better architecture and using the correct tools for the job at hand.

Conclusion

Build a network using social media like Twitter and LinkedIn. Keep your eye out for conferences and events. Internships can be a great way to start your career, even if you are not in University you can still start as an intern. You can start by making mods and get experience with an engine like UDK, Unity or CryEngine3.

Practice a lot. make small projects to show of your work or build an engine. Join Stackoverflow, Crydev or UDK forum and help other people.

Good luck!