So, as some may know, I used to mod SC: Broodwar (the reason I say some is because I know there is a new member base for SEN since SC2 came out). I programmed plugins for it in C++ and made the GPTP source (C++) and GUI (C#). When I got to college, I immediately applied for jobs so I could get some extra cash to spend. When creating my resume, I realized I needed to put down my skills, but since my high school didn't have programming classes and I had no previous work experience, I was forced to put:


Within one day of applying to a Student Developer position for the Web Integration Team at my school, I was offered an interview. At the interview, all my interviewer did was ask about these plugins, how I made them, what they did, and etc. I was then immediately offered a job. After I accepted the job offer, my interviewer said: "We don't normally offer this graduate position to freshman... (etc)." She has failed to mention that part of the job description on purpose so that I wasn't scared during the interview.

Needless to say, I've been working as a Student Developer for over two months now and it is the best job ever. I work when ever I want to, I can telecommute when ever I want, and I can even work during my boring classes for some extra hours.

tl;dr:
Starcraft: It pays off.

Wow, awesome story! I wish it happened to me... just that I don't know programming that well.

That's... really cool. It makes me want to dive headfirst into programming...

Good for you!

I wouldn't say that Starcraft pays off in general, though. Perhaps high-end Starcraft modding, enough to demonstrate programming skill, can pay off if you're in a computer-related field...but if you don't do anything with SC that requires actual programming skill and/or don't work in a computer-related field, then I wouldn't expect SC to be helpful when it comes to finding employment.

I wonder if Heimdal talked about making StarForge when he interviewed and eventually was hired at Bungie. It's cool to think hobbies like this can get you somewhere. I've even heard of Blizzard hiring exceptional fan artists.

He better have.

You mind recommending some C and C++ references to learn from?

Where specifically did you learn from, and how?

I learned by getting some starter books from the library and pretty much reading it from end to end. After that, I just would start ambitious projects knowing I wouldn't finish them. O, and I learned as many languages as I could, my resume had the following listed: Java, C, C++, C#, Javascript, PHP, Python, HTML, CSS.

HTML and CSS are not programming languages...

Would have been really cool if whoever was doing the hiring knew of both the game and GPTP. I bet someone at bungie knew about starforge.
I once heard someone make the argument that html and css are harder, since you need to have artistic skill as well. Programmers just copy/paste code from somewhere else. I thought it was pretty funny.

Html and CSS are languages however, just not programming languages.

HTML is a mark up language >.> .

You forgot to tell him that you also know how to code in BBC.

html, css and js only got the challenge to keep being uptodate and creating code crossbrowser able.

However, awesome and congratulations.

Does learning how to code work the same way that mapping does? By that, I mean that you start it as a hobby and mess around with the program, and as you mess around with it more and more you eventually master it and learn how to do crazy things.

pretty much for everything computer and arts.

Yes, yes, indeed. Interacting with a server from the browser environment, writing quality code, using semantic markup for accessibility, following best practices to minimize filesize/memory usage/bandwidth... These are trivialities, and pathetically easy ones at that.[/sarcasm]

@OP: Congrats, indeed. Were I in your situation I would've given up rather than listing StarCraft; good job for actually thinking you could use it... and being right!

@DavidJCobb Thanks.

Here's a list of what I've done at my job so far that are based around html, css, and javascript:

Fix bugs and trust me, there are a shit load of them.
Improve visual quality of a web application using ajax.
Make everything look the same across browsers.

The current project I'm finishing is written mainly in Java (instead of using PHP). That was a huge learning curve for me since I've never done that before.

Edit: Full list of tasks:

Improvement NAS-47 Improve Left Navigation Functionality
Improvement NAS-45 Reports - Allow for Higher Level Roll Up
Bug NAS-44 Add Whitelist Mac Modals overlap each other
Improvement NAS-43 Clean up remove MAC confirmation
Bug NAS-41 IE list display
Bug NAS-40 Mac Edit Back Button
Bug NAS-37 partial search for mac search functions don't work
Bug NAS-35 set pages to not be cached
Improvement NAS-33 Add modals for Delete and Multiple Delete
Bug NAS-32 Add/delete function on macmanagement page returns successful always
Bug NAS-31 Mac Search breaks
Task NAS-30 Groups forms need post verifiers
Task NAS-26 modify scheduled job to send warning notifications for macs that are about to expire
Task NAS-25 Add box to edit contact email on group page
Bug NAS-23 Searching for Mac Address
Improvement NAS-17 Inform user of date formatting if input is invalid in mac search
Bug NAS-16 Search on mac page erroring out
Task NAS-15 add error handlers to jquery ajax calls
Task NAS-14 Add security check on mac register page for add mac page link
Bug NAS-12 Export to group function not properly tagging files as .csv
Task NAS-8 add post verifiers
Task NAS-4 View audit details for mac
Task NAS-3 Action results on add pages
Task MYAPPS-24 add in new ASU header
Task MYAPPS-19 Improve Error Text
Bug MYAPPS-17 Issue with Existing ASU Template
Bug MYAPPS-13 A-Z List hover over has jumpy affect

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Oct 20 2010, 8:16 pm by A_of-s_t.

I worked on Dawn of Fantasy for several weeks (then the latest version stopped working on my computer). I got the job because of mapping experience. I'm not sure, but I think Andy is still working for them (forgot his nickname).

Yea, SC does pay off. Even the experience I got from triggering gives me an edge when it comes to SAS programming in my current job.

A-of_s-t, I'm glad you've found a job you like! I hope it goes well.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Oct 28 2010, 10:14 pm by JaFF.

On at least three (soon to be four) occasions I have used SC machinima in school projects and gotten awesome grades on each assignment. <= seems relevant

Wait, so I can list all these random modding tools I've made, even though they were just amateur hobbies?

....