Java Game Programmer - Big Fish Games (Seattle, WA)

[John Cutter]

Big Fish Games is looking for programmers who want to create innovative browser-based games!

Applicants must have previous game development experience and be highly proficient in Java. Flash experience would also be a plus. Candidates need to be efficient with industry standard software packages, and be able to work as part of a highly creative team with other programmers, artists and game designers.

Job duties include:

Code and debug game projects in Java (and possibly Actionscript)
Help come up with inventive game concepts and game mechanics
Assist in the creation of design documentation
Write technical documentation
Integrate graphic, sound, and networking components
Provide accurate work and time estimates to Producer
Work with and facilitate efforts of deployment team
Interact with QA department to ensure bug-free game releases


The ideal candidate should have the following expertise, along with 4+ years of industry experience:

Creation of Java game applets
Experience with the full creative cycle on one or more software projects
Experience in Flash/Actionscript a plus
Game Development experience and a passion for games
Excellent teamwork and communication skills


Work Experience Requirements:

At least two years of experience developing high quality web-based games
At least two years of Java programming experience


Submission requirements:
If you meet all of these requirements, please send your resume and multiple relevant real-world examples of your work. Websites and interactive pieces are best, but attachments are acceptable. Please include a brief description of your role on past projects, the special challenges and goals of each, and how you met these challenges. Please be sure to include the job title in your email submission to jobs@bigfishgames.com.

Submissions without work samples will not be considered for the position. Acceptable samples include URLs of live projects, demos of games, CD-ROMs of interactive work, or PDF documents with screenshots showing key frames of interactive pieces and description of the functionality.

What's in it for you?
In addition to a competitive salary and a unique working environment, our benefits package offers vacation and sick time, 401K with match, gym access, FSA and other fantastic perks! What are you waiting for? Be a part of something really big! We are a thriving company with a very unique success story. If you wish to work in an environment where there is a common goal and happy employees to boot, Big Fish is the place for you.

[Dan MacDonald]

Some tips for those of you who may be applying for this position... As with any programming interview make sure you brush up on you traditional programming interview questions before you go in. Implementing itoa(), revesing a linked list, in-place reversal of an array, tree traversals etc. Most likely the technical people who are interviewing you will come from a C++ background, not a java background so prepare accordingly.

Good luck :)

[Escapist Games]

Thanks, Dan! That's excellent advice.

(We do most of our online development using Java, so I suspect that a majority of the technical questions will be about that language. But most of our engineers know C++ too, so you never know...)

[Dan MacDonald]

BFG has some of the best job postings on these forums, always well organized, clear, detailed. I wish they all were like this!

[princec]

Were I to interview a Java developer (hired 6 of t'buggers in the last 3 years) I'd probably not be asking those sorts of questions, but instead trying to gauge the prospect's depth of knowledge of the standard class libraries, 'coz most of the traditional problems have been solved in there already and no-one wants the wheel reinvented in every applet!

Cas :)

[Jesse Aldridge]

Must... not... sell... out...

[Applewood]

BFG has some of the best job postings on these forums, always well organized, clear, detailed. I wish they all were like this!Well, apart from telling you what the pay is ?

I appreciate its liable to vary with the applicant, but a realistic range would be useful to save time wasting on both sides. It's a pretty specific job description after all.

[luggage]

You mean like these job offerings? ;)

http://forums.indiegamer.com/showthread.php?t=7178

http://forums.indiegamer.com/showthread.php?t=7183

[Applewood]

Yup, just like them. :o

I thought about caveating this at the time but figured no-one would be that bothered to check. :)

The key difference with my descriptions is they they're too open-ended to write down anything firm. We'd offer a big share of the company for the right art guy and leave what he can bring to the table down to him (or her), then judge if the deal on the table is worth it for both of us.

The guy who filled the programming position started on 18K as a trainee grad with some decent demos. If John Carmack had indeed turned up, we'd find a way to afford him. Well, you know what I mean - we just wanted to see what was out there and didn't give any specifics.

The job offer above is so well specced out that I would expect an exact figure though, to be honest. Whenever I don't see one I always think "Ah, this'll be for "as cheaply as they can get me" which is a bad impression to make. I'll try not to be guilty of it myself next time :)