Meet the Team

Alex, Graduate Software
Engineer

Tell us about yourself

Currently I'm studying a four year Games Software Engineering course at Sheffield Hallam University. Part of the course includes a one year work placement.

Prior to attending Sheffield, I had been a programmer at a financial company and in 2005 decided I wanted a change. I chose to study for a degree in an effort to open up my employment opportunities.

Why SN Systems?

Part of the course at Sheffield aims to familiarise students with console architecture in contrast to PCs. SN Systems suite of ProDG development tools were being used and the company had visited the university several times to talk about development in the games industry.

This relationship between the company and the university gave me the chance to talk to their staff and eventually apply for a work placement. Since I had been using ProDG it was a great opportunity to gain insight into the development of the tools.

What have you been doing there?

I am currently 8 months into the placement and have worked in several of the ProDG development teams; Tool-chain (compiler, linker and assembler), Tuner (performance analysis) and currently the Debugger.

The work itself is a mixture of new development and customer support, there is usually an increase in support after a release has been made. This mix of development and bug-hunting keeps the work fresh and interesting. During the 2 months before Christmas I was working on Tuner for PS3, helping to implement the highly requested hierarchical profiling view. It felt very rewarding to be working on this, knowing that it would be going out to developers who are working on the latest PS3 game titles.

Work is primarily in C/C++, but a good knowledge of assembly language comes in very handy, especially when debugging any target side code. Since working here, I have learnt C# and Python, which are used for in-house tools and scripting. My knowledge of every area of C++ has been pushed to the limit, especially when working with standards compliance and the dusty corners of the language that a compiler has to deal with.

Tuner for PS3

What is it like to work there?

SN Systems' new home

Located in central Bristol, the office is relaxed, with a friendly but professional atmosphere. Being open plan means everyone is approachable and anyone can discuss ideas/issues with developers who are directly responsible for the tools.

There's a good cross section of characters including recent graduates as well as more experienced and mature developers and there's a good social element both in and out of the office. I have been made very welcome by everyone during my time here and have been treated as an equal in each team. This has led to a real sense of responsibility for the work I have been doing.

The staff at SN Systems includes several ex-game developers to whom talking and working with has been very interesting and motivating.

Was the placement beneficial?

I will soon be returning to university to complete my degree and working at SN Systems has been invaluable experience.

It has confirmed my perception of the games industry as a challenging and exciting place to work. It has also broadened my view of the opportunities available in game development, making the position of Tools programmer seem very attractive.