GP2X Work!

[foft]

My job sucks I'm working for an Investment Bank and am fed up with hacking through other peoples mess... Too many crazy poorly defined library stacks, too long hours and too much stress. Good pay, but I'm coming to the conclusion it just isn't worth it. I'm also fed up with London, far too many people around!

I'm wondering what kind of areas other GP32 or GP2X developers work in, what skills are needed and if you find them enjoyable?

Thanks,

Mark

 

[critical]

I live and work in North Yorkshire. I've never fancied the idea of living in London very much, although I enjoy visiting it. I do business process management and control stuff, along with more standard financial system work. It's all in C#/ASP.NET/Java.

Before that, I worked for a commercial RTOS vendor for 4 years writing development tools, which was much more enjoyable than my current work, it must be said. However, the company wasn't going in the right direction and I became frustrated, so decided to move on before it got too depressing. I'm getting a similar feeling again now.

For the love of god, don't stay in a job you hate. You can't buy years of your life back (yet).

It's really hard to decide these things, but I'd consider the contract market at the moment if I were you. If you don't have any ties to a particular place, there seem to be quite a lot of contracts for various things out there. Maybe a telephony startup or similar would light your fire? Have you considered working abroad?

Mainly, though, I'd identify what your specific positive aims for moving on are, as opposed to dwelling on the negative - I'm sure you know that many jobs, however initially appealing they look, turn out to be "same shit, different company".

 

[Squidge]

I work in car audio, which is fun as I get to play with lots of different stuff, loads of different mcu's, and generally start and finish all the software, so everything is written exactly how I want it

The only downside being the 3 hours of traveling everyday to get there and back.

For skills, you need a very good understanding of C, some knowledge of assembler (enough to learn the various mcu's specific implementation in order to write startup code/etc), and a decent understanding of electronics (ie. must be able to understand schematic diagrams, and being able to use packages such as Protel is a big plus).

Oh, and you should be able to trouble shoot your own PC problems (eg. typical Windows problems, drivers, networking, etc), as if it goes wrong you can't do anything. Of course there's an IT dept, but they have to be logged and appear whenever they have time (which could be a few days).

 

[BenScar]

Software Developer here, now working WELL outside London. In fact moved to this company end of last year (many reasons, although being paid more money and being closer to home were the main two )

The skill I use most of the time is talking with management (who here knows that it IS a skill to be able to talk to other lifeforms? )
Although programming in general, VB.NET, SQL programming, database design and general troubleshooting being most prominent at the moment.

As Critical said, if you're not into your job, look for something new (but also heed his warning about same shite, different company!)

 

[critical]

foft, I meant to mention before. If you fancy staying in a finance environment, but want a change of scenery and approach to life and work, you might be interested in a company called http://www.thecitysecret.com/

I don't work for them, but briefly pondered the possibility last month. I've heard good things about them, but I'm not looking to relocate to another part of the county and couldn't bear the thought of commuting much (I currently live under 10 minutes from work, and it'd be over an hour to that place).

 

[ldesnogu]

I'm wondering what kind of areas other GP32 or GP2X developers work in, what skills are needed and if you find them enjoyable?

I work at ARM, doing simulation models (what you guys call emulators ) in an engineering team that is working on next generation ARM CPU.

And I live on the French Riviera and I love my job

 

[rememberthe8bit]

I'm wondering what kind of areas other GP32 or GP2X developers work in, what skills are needed and if you find them enjoyable?

I work at ARM, doing simulation models (what you guys call emulators ) in an engineering team that is working on next generation ARM CPU.

And I live on the French Riviera and I love my job

Why would ARM have any interest in "simulation models"? :huh: I'm just curious... :unsure:

 

[critical]

Why would ARM have any interest in "simulation models"? :huh: I'm just curious... :unsure:

Well hopefully they don't just guess what the best design is, and ship that...

EDIT: laurent - is that at Sophia Antipolis? Je suis très jaloux

 

[gmiller1018]

I work in the US so my location is not as good as yours but I enjoy what I do. I teach Machine Architecture in the Game Development program at Full Sail and I write commercial software on Linux for another company. With both jobs I am quite busy and I enjoy what I do. I have spent over 30 years writing software for multiple platforms mostly in C but I did do 10 years in assembly hell (I enjoyed it but in the end I was mixing instruction from different platforms in the same code file) on multiple CPU's. I agree with "critical" if you hate your job find another, life is too short to work at something you hate.

Gary Miller

 

[rememberthe8bit]

Why would ARM have any interest in "simulation models"? :huh: I'm just curious... :unsure:

Well hopefully they don't just guess what the best design is, and ship that...

EDIT: laurent - is that at Sophia Antipolis? Je suis très jaloux

Oh, OK. So they emulate the model and optimize it, and stuff. OK. I was wondering as to how they did CPU design today... (I've only read about how the 6502 was designed... )

 

[telecoda]

Technical Architect based in London.

Code in C#, BizTalk now, used to do Java, RPG (AS/400 :blink: )

Been coding for over 25 years now.

Always regretted not getting into games dev and have dabbled about ever since. From Z80 assembler on spectrum, 6502 on C64 and 68000 on ST onwards.

Hence I'm now loving the GP2X.

Finally earning my C++ stripes after last coding in C back in 1995 under Windows 95/Dos.



As for work.

Hated my job last year but got promoted into a role I am now loving.

Don't get saddled with a job you hate, get a new job sorted then voted with your feet.

 

[yaustar]

Game Developer, mostly working on gameplay and level integration. Working in Guildford and generally need to be an all rounder. C++ primary, C# helps with tools, scripting languages, standard 3D math etc.

It is pretty fun despite the longish hours and also talking to other old/senior programmers about their past projects to get their experience with the industry.

Also seeing latest games, getting games for free, working with other people who like games etc are great perks of the job.

 

[foft]

Thanks, very interesting. I wouldn't say I hate my job, I was in a very grumpy mood yesterday though . Actually yes I guess I did hate it yesterday It can be frustrating at times due to the excess process added in recent years and dealing with global issues+politics. I'm considering a move, if only to move somewhere nice for better quality of life. Having some free time to play with stuff again would be awesome... If I did a 9-5 job with 10-15 mins commute I figure that would give me almost 3 times as much free time a day! Even better if its near enough to some hills to go walking at the weekend.

@Critical: City Secret certainly sounds interesting. I was thinking about somewhere like http://www.scottlogic.co.uk/, which is a similar idea thats run by one of my previous managers.

@Squidge: Your job sounds great! Does sound like a bit of a one off though, or is this typical for that kind of area?

@Laurent: I've got a friend who works on ARM simulator stuff in Cambridge. He seems to enjoy it and I was tempted to interview. Interested to have another vote in its favour. I'd also be keen to get into the hardware side, though I've not done any for years and my VHDL/Verilog skills are currently non-existant. Perhaps with working in a company like ARM there would be the opportunity to switch.

The whole "Same shite, different company" thing is a worry. I've only worked at this one place, for 6 1/2 years now. I'm quite keen to leave the city, which means a major pay cut I expect! So I want to be cautious in case I end up with "Same shite, different company, third of the income". Though I guess I can always move back if that happens...

Mark

 

[Squidge]

foft: Yeah, I guess it is a kinda one-off. Really down to earth with few formalities. Eg. There's not many jobs around where you can swear at the directors and keep your job (although I'm damn sure you wouldn't if you tried it with the chairman...)

 

[torpor]

Until a month ago, I worked for a company developing audio applications (embedded) for the synthesizer market .. but am leaving now to move to Vienna, where my wife is from, and raise our first child .. so I'm looking for work in Vienna.

Been programming for 25 years now, mostly in C on Unix systems (Linux mostly now) and loving it still .. but I sure wish I had the skills to build my own hardware. As a programmer I've gotten to the point where its just really not fun to be so reliant on hardware guys, and would rather be doing hardware-related stuff myself .. so maybe I'll try to go back to school and get some hardware under my belt .. until then its mostly hacking, and this is one of the reasons the GP2X is so fun I suppose ..

If anyone knows of any good opportunities in Vienna, PM me .. I'd be very happy to continue working on Linux-based audio and music applications, or even embedded ARM work too, if its possible ..

 

[Lazrhog]

I work on military solutions - namely software for cockpit avionics for helicopters and fast jets. I would love to get into investment banking software in the city Pay at my place is pretty poor in comparison to London wages ...

 

[Dr_Ian]

I work in an office reading over legal deeds and stamping them with a ink mark. At the end of the day, when nobody is looking, I secretly draw MSPaint art for my game.

 

[GP2X_Coder]

I am a martial arts instructor / full time dad / programmer.

 

[Micket]

I used to work as a painter (did for a few years) but now I'm studying mechanical engineering spiced up with some extra courses in mathematics and programming.
I have a few extra jobs tutoring in mathematics, programming and mechanics at my school (takes up ~17 hours a week)

 

[DeathSoul]

Wow ....... i'm like stupid compared to you people............. :blink:
Thanks for the advice

on

life is too short to work at something you hate.

For the love of god, don't stay in a job you hate. You can't buy years of your life back.

For me i'm just learning how to even start programing at age 21. on Java. for some reason they seem the same.