Careers, People•
on January 21st, 2010•
From analyzing the contours of the ocean floor to protecting our financial systems from hackers, software is a vital part of the global economy. The men and women who understand the science of computers — computer scientists — will be critical to every industry for the foreseeable future. The career of computer scientist is crosscutting. Computer scientists can work across any of the in-demand fields, from biology to space science.
The general public sometimes confuses computer science with vocational areas that deal with computers (such as information technology), or think that it relates to their own experience of computers, which typically involves activities such as gaming, web-browsing, and word-processing. However, the focus of computer science is more on understanding the properties of the programs used to implement software such as games and web-browsers, and using that understanding to create new programs or improve existing ones.
Computer science deals with the theoretical foundations of information and computation, and of practical techniques for their implementation and application. Computer science has many sub-fields; some, such as computer graphics, emphasize the computation of specific results, while others, such as computational complexity theory, study the properties of computational problems. Still others focus on the challenges in implementing computations. For example, programming language theory studies approaches to describing computations, while computer programming applies specific programming languages to solve specific computational problems, and human-computer interaction focuses on the challenges in making computers and computations useful, usable, and universally accessible to people.
While some computer scientists work for universities, pushing the theoretical boundaries of the science, others become Master Coders. Master Coders write software code with grace and beauty, mastering languages no less elegant than Chinese or Russian. They rule a world that is beyond the imagination of most. Their code and algorithms power all of the hardware that we touch: cars, smartphones and computers. It is their code that brings the greatest animated movies to life and makes our video games seem so real. Even floating digital clouds are brought to life by elegant algorithms.
When I was in high school, we had two choices if we wanted to study a “foreign” language: French and Spanish. Today, there is a new set of languages that should be studied by all students. “Students need to study programming languages to be literate in our increasingly technological society” commented Roderick Weldon Woodruff, Executive Director of the Urban Video Game Academy. Certainly not all students will become Master Coders, but some will be inspired at an early age and go on to push the boundaries of the science, protect us from hackers, and design the software that communicates with life across galaxies. It is a good idea to get your son or daughter involved in a digital arts, video game or computer-oriented summer camp at an early age.
If it isn’t obvious, I am humbled by what Master Coders can do. This article was inspired by a few Master Coders, who I am fortunate to count as friends: Alan Zander of TomoTherapy and Bill T. Becker of SiTEL. In the months to come, I will be interviewing each of them as they are role models for future generations of Master Coders.
If you want to get a glimpse into how they think, there is a great book that was published a few years ago by O’Reilly Media. Beautiful Code answers the question, “How do Master Coders solve difficult problems in software development?” In this unique and insightful book, leading computer scientists offer case studies that reveal how they found unusual, carefully designed solutions to high-profile projects. You will be able to look over the shoulder of major coding and design experts as they work through their project’s architecture, the tradeoffs made in its construction, and when it was important to break rules.
Written by Todd Borghesani
Careers•
on January 8th, 2010•
Imagine having a boss who encourages you to play games during the workday. It’s a reality for many people in the video game industry, including Todd Howard. At midday on a recent Friday, he was playing Fallout 3 in his office. When Howard, 39, first started at Bethesda Softworks in Rockville, Md., 15 years ago, his parents told him to have a backup plan.
He didn’t need one. Now he’s the company’s game director. Howard oversaw the creation of Fallout 3, a popular coming-of-age video game. As he demonstrates the game to a visitor on his Xbox 360, his avatar, a 10-year-old boy, is treated to a birthday party.
“For our company, there are certain areas where we are hiring very aggressively because we are growing rapidly,” Howard says. The recession forced some game studios to close or make sizable layoffs. But ZeniMax nearly doubled in size during the past year, growing from about 250 employees to more than 400, in part owing to its acquisition of iD Software. Finding a job in the video game industry is a dream come true for many people who grew up playing games on computers and consoles. And the field is swiftly expanding as people turn to mobile devices like the iPhone and social networking sites like Facebook for entertainment.
Emerging From Adolescence
Analysts and developers point to a common thread: The entire video game universe is maturing.”I’d say game industries are sort of coming out of their adolescence,” says Drew Davidson, the director of the entertainment technology center at Carnegie Mellon University. “They’re in their late teens and so there’s still a lot of growing to do.” Game Developer Research says there are about 45,000 total employees in the U.S. video game industry, with an average salary of close to $80,000. Salaries can reach into the six figures, and programmers are among the highest-paid. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment for computer software engineers, some of whom develop video games, will grow by nearly a third in the next decade.
Video Gaming Degrees
Davidson says colleges around the country are tuned in. “We’re seeing a huge upswing in terms of universities trying to offer degrees that focus around games or interactive media … just because they’re so popular.” More than 200 institutions from MIT to DigiPen Institute of Technology are offering courses or degrees in video games, according to the Entertainment Software Association, a trade group for the video game industry.
“The U.S. is the No. 1 video game market in the world,” says Michael Gallagher, the chief executive officer for the ESA. “So, here at home we have a very strong market for employment in video games.” The hubs for the industry include Austin, Texas; Boston; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Seattle; North Carolina; and the Washington, D.C., metro area.
The job market is growing because of mainstream demand. Just look around — you can see people of all ages playing games on mobile phones. Social networking games are also wildly popular on Facebook. Some of the companies focused on this niche include Playdom, Playfish and Zynga, which created the popular game Farmville. Broadband access and new digital distribution channels for games have also made it possible for small teams to develop games by working out of a coffee shop or someone’s garage, Davidson says.
A Casual Culture
Howard, of Bethesda Softworks, says people also want jobs in the video game industry because a day at the office is casual — not corporate. “Sometimes I equate it to an organized fraternity,” Howard says. “We play games at lunch, we have a giant movie theater in the building, we have a pool table, [and] we have multiple video game setups.”
They also have their own chef. So, employees effectively live at the office. It’s an industry that values creative collaborations among artists, designers and programmers. The majority of jobs are full time with benefits, and it’s a fluid career with people moving across the country, or the world, to take on new projects. But recruiter Mary-Margaret Walker says these patterns may change. “I think we will see more consulting and more contracting and more virtual working,” Walker says.
That means video game development teams may no longer work and play in the same physical space. At the Bethesda Softworks headquarters, Howard works near his team of nearly 100 developers. With an Xbox 360 controller in his hands, he says, “The greatest feeling in the world is making a game and then going to the store and seeing somebody buy it. It’s very special.”
The journey from start to finish for a big console game can easily take about three years and cost more than $100 million. These high stakes — and new gaming platforms — are among the reasons smaller, independent companies are taking root to produce games for the future.
Adapted from NPR.org by Todd Borghesani