When I''m older and have worked in the industry for a while I would most likly want to move up into project managment etc and was wondering what kind of experiance I would need to get there and how would I even get into that position? trianing etc? Also what other positions are there? CEO Plunder Studios

(Almost) No one hires project management from outside the company. Those positions are (nearly) always filled from within the company.

In general, you need about 5 years of overall industry experience to be considered for Project Leader-type positions. In most companies, you would need 1-3 years experience *at that company* to be considered as a potential project leader. In game development, it seems most project leaders come from the programming side of things, but that could be shifting.

For just about any supervisory/management position in development, you have to work for it. And that doesn''t just mean you do your job. You have to actively seek extra responsibility, work small sub-teams, for instance, grooming yourself.

If you wait for the company to promote you from seniority/longevity, it could be a long wait. Even longer if you''re actually really good at what you''re doing. The logic for this last goes like this: If you''re doing a good job, you''re making your current boss/supervisor look good, so they''ll keep you right where you are. It''s in their best interest.

Of course, you could become a project leader in a less conventional way: By going "indie" and running your own projects...

Hope that helps.


DavidRM
Samu Games

Yeah I know that you would have to be promoted from withen the company, so would you like go to the head guy and ask him or something?
What about lead programmer?

CEO Plunder Studios

[edited by - elis-cool on April 21, 2002 1:09:59 AM]

quote: Original post by DavidRM
(If you''re doing a good job, you''re making your current boss/supervisor look good, so they''ll keep you right where you are. It''s in their best interest.

Have you ever worked for microsoft? I better shut-up or i''ll get myself in trouble....

Actually I disagree with David. I have worked for a number of major game software publishers and all of them hired from outside the company and in some cases outside the Entertainment Software Industry.

My first job in the industry was as a tester (I got the job by phoning up when I saw an advert). I was promoted to run the test department then left to go to a small developer as Producer/Project Manager, then moved to a publisher and then another publisher, ending up as Director of Development. All those companies hired from outside and in the case of Virgin we hired artists and producer from other industries (cartoon animation and business software respectively).

Dan Marchant
Obscure Productions