Bonfire Extinguished

I officially didn't get the Bonfire job.  Not a huge surprise, but a part of me was hoping I did get it.  I still think I'm really close though.  I think my portfolio is good enough to get me in the door now.  I need to work on patching up my technical expertise now so I can hold my own in an interview.  Here are the areas that I will work on before the next interview:

1. Memory management - I need to have a firm grasp on the best practices around managing memory in C++ and C#.  This was the area where I struggled the most in my interview
2. Review all my major works - make sure I can confidently discuss all of my code
3. Understand how objects work in c++ and c# - I need to know how objects are stored, passed as parameters and destructed for both c++ and c#
4. Shaders - I put on my resume that I am interested in graphics programming, but I have very little experience with shaders.
5. 3d math - Need to firmly know all the applications of math operations, not necessarily the formulas.

If I focus on the above, I should be much better off for my next interview.

Interview with Bonfire

I had an interview with Bonfire Studios this afternoon.  Bonfire Studios was founded by David Rippy and several other former management members of Ensemble Studios after that studio closed early last year.  Getting an interview was much like an oscar nom, its an honor just to have the opprotunity to interview.  It gives me confidence that I'm headed in the right direction with my portfolio. That being said, I think there are still areas I need to grow in order to be truly competitive for jobs.


I don't think I completely bombed the interview, but it did shed light on areas that I need improvement on:

1. C++ memory management - they asked several questions and proposed several scenarios around c++ memory management where the answers were not exactly top of mind.  I need to make sure I have a firm understanding of memory allocation, memory management, caching, and best practices in not only c++ but C# as well.
2. Know my own s*** - they asked several questions about my wind project and how the algorithm worked.  It's been about 3-4 years since I looked at that code.  I just happended to read the paper I wrote on it last night, but there is no excuse for me not to know exactly how that system works, be able to comment on the performance of it, and give concrete examples on how to improve it.
3. struct vs class - the question was asked "what is the difference between a struct and a class" and I wasn't able to diffinitively answer the question.  I need to know this in both C# and C++ and throw in union to that too.
4. what type of games do you like - I found myself unable to give a concrete answer to this question.  I need to sit down and really think about all the games that I've played, and figure out what I liked and didn't like about each one.
5. figure out the performance attributes of stl containers - In the solution to the linked list problem they gave me, I originally used a std::map as part of my solution.  That solution proved to be slow.  I need to know what about the map caused it to be slow.
6. document, document, document - I have a problem sometimes remembering details of the work I've done.  I need to make sure that I keep some sort of developer's diary that I update everyday detailing the work that I did.  I started doing that with this blog, but got out of the habit, but the days that I did write are the areas that I remember the most. 

All and all the experience was quite pleasant.  All the developers and artists that I met were incredibly nice and accommodating.  I really hope that I did enough to get them to give me an opportunity, but if not, I gained  invaluable experience that I should be able to take into subsequent interviews.