[dkersten]

Disclaimer: I have no professional game development experience.

It sounds like you were working on shovelware for EA or someone like that. From having spoken to people who work in the games industry (though not just games per se, but middleware too: demonware and havok are two who are active in my area), I don't think this applies accross the board. Havok, for example, doesn't fall into the "code quality is atrocious" category (don't believe me? while you can't grab the source code, you can however use the library free of charge on PC's). From reading online forums and such, it seems to me that there are some really great game development houses who do have a lot of fun with what they do, do learn interesting and new things and so on. Definitely not all, but they do exist.

Sadly, I agree that a lot of games don't put as much effort into code quality as they should (which is why we have to put up with crashes and bugs and post-release patches...), but I really do believe that its not as bad as you make it out to be.

So, my advice would be to ditch the shitty money-crazed shovelware companies and find a small development shop which does it for fun and enjoyment just as much as for money.

Of course, even then the games industry might not appeal to you. At the end of the day, only you know for sure, so if you're unhappy, then by all means move on. As for where to - what have you worked on? (eg, 3d graphics? game ai? physics?) What do you enjoy doing/what areas would you like to work in instead? Its tough to give advice without knowing what your relevant skills and interests are. (Or, what in particular interests you about mobile platforms?)

As for C++, being good at programming in C and C++ is always a bonus. You make it sound like its dirty to have C++ experience! (I certainly hope not, I've written a lot of C++ code myself.. still do when it makes sense to). Everything you've been doing in C++ can probably be applied elsewhere.

[animosity]

> It sounds like you were working on shovelware for EA or someone like that.

direct hit.

> find a small development shop which does it for fun and enjoyment just as much as for money.

i thought i'd found that at my present company but it's the same crap. i was really naive about this place.

> As for where to - what have you worked on

this is the most worrying part. i used to focus on graphics, but what these operations need is someone competent to deal with a broad range of issues. and that's what i've been shafted into doing.

> You make it sound like its dirty to have C++ experience!

i didn't mean for it to sound like that. i worry that people who make hiring decisions won't see beyond their keyword filters though.

[dkersten]

Well, assuming you don't want to try again with another game development company, I'd say look around for something that interests you and just apply. Don't worry if your current skills aren't a perfect match - you're experience (C++, graphics/performance-sensitive code, teamwork, tight deadlines, etc - the stuff other people mentioned) means you can probably pick up whatever you need on the way without much trouble and a good developer (assuming you're not applying to a big company with a clueless HR team...) should be able to spot that.

I found that having a background in C++, before moving to other languages (Python at first, now clojure wherever I can get away with using it) actually helped me program better. C++ makes you careful about managing resources almost to the point of paranoia - at least manual memory management does that to me :) and the C++ performance myth makes me pay a lot more attention at making sure my code is fast, regardless of language (though thankfully I've managed to kick the premature optimization habit in favour of choosing appropriate algorithms). I don't think I'd have picked up Python and Clojure (and Java and...) as easily if I hadn't went through the C++ pains, so you're epxeirence should serve you well. With a bit of luck, whoever you end up interviewing with will recognize that.

[spitfire]

I'd hire a programmer with c++ experience long before I'd hire a ruby or python programmer. It's easier to stop them from using their bad c++ habits than it is to skill up a ruby or python programmer in basic cs/architecture.