STAFF PROFILE: BJORN, GAMES PROGRAMMER
What is your background?
I’ve been playing games all my life; a healthy mix of computer, board and role playing games. Watched my brother and his friend create their first computer game at the age of seven and was in awe. I couldn’t believe you could get the computer to do your bidding. From then on, I played around with computers and gradually taught myself how to program. After a couple of years in the army building bridges and clearing minefields, I took a degree in Advanced Computing in Denmark (where I was born). But as it was coming to an end, I realised I didn’t want to sit in a basement programming databases for a bank all my life, so I moved to Scotland for a four year degree in Computer Games Technology.
How did you get to work at Rare?
Although the degree was meant to be four years, I couldn’t wait, so I started looking for jobs at the end of the third year. Every time you flick through Edge, you’ll notice Rare’s massive ad, and given their back catalogue, I decided to apply for a job there, never expecting to hear from them. But, behold, surprise and wonderment, they called me up for an interview and must have liked what they saw (or rolled a die… in this place you can never be too sure!).
What do you do day to day?
I’m a graphics programmer in one of our top secret projects (actually, we don’t really have different levels of secret, but this sounds a little cooler). My day begins pretty early with a cup of tea (Free drinks! Free drinks!) and flicking through the industry websites. Then, slowly, as my brain begins to wake up, I kick in Visual Studio and before I know it, someone tells me to go home. Most of my time is spent developing or debugging, analysing problems with whomever I can grab that's smarter than me (so I have a wide selection). |
