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.