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Job Opportunities
Raven Software
A division of Activision, Inc.
The Company:
Raven Software is an award-winning developer of great games, a
small company with all the benefits of a big company. We're a
facility of a bit less than fifty people, located in the city of
Madison, Wisconsin. (Madison just happened to be voted by Money
Magazine as the 1996 Best Place to Live in the U.S, hosting the
University of Wisconsin and the state's capital, in case you were
wondering). From here we run three close-knit teams in a casual,
social atmosphere that fosters creativity and enduring
friendships, and allows us to take pride in our employees' desire
to remain and grow with us. Beneath all this we are fanatic about
games and all there is to them, taking seriously every bit of
art, design or code we put in. Joining forces with the respected
publisher Activision and blessed by a fantastic relationship with
the powerhouse id Software, we are able to keep access to some of
the world's top technology. Finally, being a division of a
strong, larger company, Raven is able to offer great benefits,
including a competitive salary, Activision stock options, full
health and retirement.
Raven's just coming off of our most
recent run of awesome games, Hexen II, Mageslayer, and Take No
Prisoners, and we're ready to get cracking on some new ones!
We're looking to add a small number of exceedingly talented
individuals, who work well in a strong team atmosphere and feel
that they can bring with them ideas to help create the best games
imaginable. The positions we are looking to fill are as follows:
Senior (Lead) Programmer--Applications
Posted date: August 28, 1997
Job Description:
As a Lead Programmer your duties will be overseeing and
facilitating all the programming tasks for your game project. You
will be a member of a close-knit team of about four Applications
Programmers, with occasional contributions from the Technology
Department. Your responsibilities include scheduling, organizing,
code design and team management, but don't get the wrong idea,
because one of your primary duties will still be programming,
both at a high level and wherever your expertise may take you.
You'd better be ready to be creative, too, because you will have
to work in close contact with the Project Lead, Lead Designer and
Lead Artist to help make a game from the ground up. We'll expect
from all of you a product that pushes the limits of technology as
much as it pushes the limits of your imagination. Oh yeah, by the
way, you'll be working with the Quake II technology, so get
ready.
Qualifications:
If you want to even dream about being a Lead Programmer at Raven
you must be technically skilled, organized and highly creative.
This is no place for a database coder. We'll expect you to have
at least two years and two full products of experience developing
games as a member of a production team. If you've been in charge
of a team before, all the better. You're going to have to be
ready to deal with people, to meet with them and to direct them,
so office hermits need not apply. If you think you can
telecommute, forget it, because we value tight teams that foster
strong communication. We're looking for a real leader who is
interested in being a part of and growing with Raven. Of course,
at the same time make sure you're utterly adept at using
"C" at a high-level, able to structure and design large
frameworks. Even with all this, you're going to have to be able
to learn on the go. And if you don't simply love games, not to
mention play them, get outta town.
Some other things that might help you get
our attention:
--A B.S. or some other Computer Science
degree.
--Fluency and experience in using C++.
--Intimately familiar with Windows and/or DirectX programming.
--Familiarity with the ins and outs of PC hardware and assembly
language.
--Graphics or 3D programming background.
--Real-time network programming background (hardware-level or
high-level).
--Programming for or with Quake, either QuakeC or other work.
--Background with the sharing of code using some method of
Version Control.
--Game code you wrote on your own time, because you LOVE doing
this stuff!
General Game Programmer--Applications
Posted date: August 28, 1997
Job Description:
Welcome to your new job as an Applications Programmer at Raven
Software! Your duties will be to participate in the development
of a single game project from start to completion. Join your team
of four die-hard coders and help put out the single greatest
product the world has ever seen! This isn't some specialized
position where you're pigeonholed as the "Assistant
Programmer in Charge of the Upper-Left Corner of the Second
Inventory Screen", you'll be getting down and dirty coding
every aspect of the game. In addition, expect to be called on by
the Lead Programmer to help him figure out how to design the
code, not to mention schedule out how long this is all going to
take. Be prepared to be creative and take the initiative, because
we hate it when people can't think or act on their own. Finally,
all our projects are using the incredible Quake II engine, so be
ready to explore new possibilities with a proven technology!
Qualifications:
So you think you fill the shoes of a Game Programmer? Well,
you'll have to start off by being a competent coder, with at
least 2 years of professional or project-oriented experience
coding in C. You need to have experience with a company working
on a software product in the games, multimedia or graphical
realm. Some of this time should have been spent programming on a
team, involving contributions to a common code base or the
sharing of code. This position involves dealing with people:
programmers, artists and designers, so telecommuters are
automatically disqualified, and if you are an utter introvert,
you might want to reconsider as well. You should be able to work
independently and learn on the go, yet be able to easily take
coding direction from the authority of a Lead position. Finally,
you should love games completely, and have a grasp of what makes
them GOOD!
Here are some other things that might
help your case.
--College-level course work in Computer
Science or a similar degree program.
--Graphics or 3D programming background extremely helpful.
--Intimately familiar with Windows and/or DirectX/Direct3D
programming.
--Fluency and experience in using C++.
--Familiarity with the ins and outs of PC hardware and assembly
language.
--Real-time network programming background (hardware-level or
high-level).
--Programming for or with Quake, either QuakeC or other work.
--Background with the sharing of code using some method of
Version Control.
--Sample code or demo games that you have completed on your own
have the strongest impact, so if you really wow us we might give
you a chance...
Game Programmer--Technology (Networking)
Posted date: August 28, 1997
Job Description:
As a Technology Programmer, you will be working on the underlying
code base that can assist every game being made at Raven.
Assisting our other Technology experts, as well as the
Applications Programmers on specific game projects, you'll be
tackling the kinds of tasks that put your talents to the test!
Your duties in general will be to create sections of code that
can be used on a project-independent basis, as well as assist the
associated project leads in their design and scheduling. As an
expert in real-time networking applications, the majority of your
time will be spent working on the multiplayer aspects of various
technologies, including both id Software's Quake II as well as
other game engines. In addition, you will also be needed to
assist with the integration of project code and its optimization.
Finally, you'll have to make a point of keeping up with the
current state of technology, striving to bring to Raven new
technologies and techniques that will help us keep on the
bleeding edge of it all...
Qualifications:
To make it as a Technology Programmer, you're going to need to be
an awesome coder with at the very least 4 years experience with
C. You need to be familiar with working for a large project and
code base (at least 1 year of collective work in a single
project), and understand what it is like to work with and share
others' code. In addition you'll have to be familiar with
everything about the PC and its hardware. A college degree in
Computer Science or something similar is almost mandatory, unless
you've got a lot of experience to back it up. For networking,
you're going to have to have worked on some form of real-time
networking application, game or simulation. Finally, we're not
talking about being a social butterfly here, but we need somebody
that can work with another programmer to create specs for a given
code module, and then be ready to go forth and implement it
autonomously, fully featured and tested.
Some other things that come to mind when we think
"Technology Programmer":
--Complete fluency with low-level optimization and Pentium
assembly coding extremely helpful.
--Intimately familiar with Windows and/or DirectX programming
also very helpful.
--Fluency and experience in using C++.
--Solid understanding of all basic Computer Graphics principles,
2D and/or 3D.
--Programming for or with Quake, either QuakeC or other work.
--Background with the sharing of code using some method of
Version Control.
--Sample of a graphics demo completed by yourself to show off
your talents. Cited examples of (obtainable or familiar) products
you have participated in would be equally useful.
Remember, these positions are full-time,
and would involve living and working in Madison, Wisconsin. Your
current location is not a major concern. Again, if possible,
please provide a demo of your work and sample code. Raven is an
equal-opportunity employer.
If you think you're ready for Raven
Software, contact:
Patrick Lipo
Programming Manager
Three Point Place, Suite One
Madison, WI 53719
Email: [email protected]