Programming advice please

[Ein]

Hello fellow carbies,

I've been learning C++/C# and Unity for a few months now. My goal is to eventually develop software. I am almost done with my Financial Accounting undergrad. So the idea is possibly working on financial software. I've been told many times that it's a really solid field, few people working, lots of work availability, and great pay. On top of this, I've always dreamed of making my own games.

The actual question is about my first project. If I understand it correctly, I hand in my CV, on which, I'll have my programming portfolio. This portfolio links to a GitHub project that shows what I am capable of. The question is about what my first project should be. I have a few ideas, but am most keen on a simulation. I would program in unity, so it will essentially be a game. The idea of the simulation is a city, with closed borders. Initially it'll be very basic with blobs (people) moving around randomly. From here I want to add things. I want a simple main menu, where the user can change variables, like the reproduction rate or natural disaster rate, or later the type of government. I want to make the blobs more complicated, giving them the ability to reproduce, kill and go after specific things. When blobs bump into each other, or go near each other, they then have an interaction. Now this interaction can vary from it being just a memory for the next interaction, or they can be opposing blobs and kill each other.

Now, I don't want to waste time on projects that won't help out. Some say any projects help because it'll help me improve. Sure, but I want to have a project that will impress. So the theme is important. Will this simulation be fairly impressive for financial software development?

You can be harsh, I've got thick skin. Any constructive feedback is appreciated, DM or otherwise.

 

[Dom]

Hello fellow carbies,

I've been learning C++/C# and Unity for a few months now. My goal is to eventually develop software. I am almost done with my Financial Accounting undergrad. So the idea is possibly working on financial software. I've been told many times that it's a really solid field, few people working, lots of work availability, and great pay. On top of this, I've always dreamed of making my own games.

The actual question is about my first project. If I understand it correctly, I hand in my CV, on which, I'll have my programming portfolio. This portfolio links to a GitHub project that shows what I am capable of. The question is about what my first project should be. I have a few ideas, but am most keen on a simulation. I would program in unity, so it will essentially be a game. The idea of the simulation is a city, with closed borders. Initially it'll be very basic with blobs (people) moving around randomly. From here I want to add things. I want a simple main menu, where the user can change variables, like the reproduction rate or natural disaster rate, or later the type of government. I want to make the blobs more complicated, giving them the ability to reproduce, kill and go after specific things. When blobs bump into each other, or go near each other, they then have an interaction. Now this interaction can vary from it being just a memory for the next interaction, or they can be opposing blobs and kill each other.

Now, I don't want to waste time on projects that won't help out. Some say any projects help because it'll help me improve. Sure, but I want to have a project that will impress. So the theme is important. Will this simulation be fairly impressive for financial software development?

You can be harsh, I've got thick skin. Any constructive feedback is appreciated, DM or otherwise.

Not sure if I am missing the plot - how does your idea link to financial anything?

 

[H3LLSING028]

Hello fellow carbies,

I've been learning C++/C# and Unity for a few months now. My goal is to eventually develop software. I am almost done with my Financial Accounting undergrad. So the idea is possibly working on financial software. I've been told many times that it's a really solid field, few people working, lots of work availability, and great pay. On top of this, I've always dreamed of making my own games.

The actual question is about my first project. If I understand it correctly, I hand in my CV, on which, I'll have my programming portfolio. This portfolio links to a GitHub project that shows what I am capable of. The question is about what my first project should be. I have a few ideas, but am most keen on a simulation. I would program in unity, so it will essentially be a game. The idea of the simulation is a city, with closed borders. Initially it'll be very basic with blobs (people) moving around randomly. From here I want to add things. I want a simple main menu, where the user can change variables, like the reproduction rate or natural disaster rate, or later the type of government. I want to make the blobs more complicated, giving them the ability to reproduce, kill and go after specific things. When blobs bump into each other, or go near each other, they then have an interaction. Now this interaction can vary from it being just a memory for the next interaction, or they can be opposing blobs and kill each other.

Now, I don't want to waste time on projects that won't help out. Some say any projects help because it'll help me improve. Sure, but I want to have a project that will impress. So the theme is important. Will this simulation be fairly impressive for financial software development?

You can be harsh, I've got thick skin. Any constructive feedback is appreciated, DM or otherwise.

So I mean it really depends on what you want to really focus on?

Do you enjoy making games or financial software?

 

[smoKe]

If you looking to utilize your financial accounting background with your programming skills, then developing financial software is recommended. However, you just need to consider which are your areas of interest (game development or financial software development)?

Regarding projects, you could perhaps consider developing a game with financial implications or aspects. Any projects you work on improves your knowledge and understanding. If you looking to impress, then you need to simply consider your target audience.

Identifying your interests is key, everything else will fall into place afterwards or become the by-product.

All the best with your future endeavours!

 

[P1000]

For your simulation I can recommend looking at Sebastian Lague's Coding adventures like this one:

AFAIR it is mostly in Unity with the source on his github.

 

[mcv_za]

I interview a lot of people as part of my job. Lots of them have no portfolio at all and others have an insane amount of projects listed with github links, I'm rarely able to really go through everything in detail.

Here's the thing though, if you know what you are doing, its really evident when having a conversation about it. So many devs think their job is writing code. Its not. The job is delivering business value in a sustainable way. I cannot punt this enough. Hiring people is such a risk and the mythical man-month is becoming more and more relevant by the day.

A great way to understand the difference is to burn on projects and get into the detail about why certain things are awesome and other things aren't. I don't like admitting this, but a ton of our time is spent making mistakes and making sure we can't repeat them down the line. That's literally been the way we operate. Fail fast. Fail safe.

Instead of building a perfect portfolio with all the textbook answers, maybe consider showing iterations with some entries about why certain approaches failed in the current context and highlighting the context in which that would work. That would most likely impress me way more than gtihub repo I've ever seen on a CV.

That's my 2 cents on it.