Break Into the Visual Effects/Animation Industry as a Software Developer
Nimila Jayewardhana
Animation & VFX Student
With experience working at several visual effects and animation companies as a software developer, there are some disparities between this industry and the rest of the tech world when it comes to landing a job and preparing for an interview.
When entering your career as a software engineer, you may be at a crossroads of whether to apply to a big tech FAANG company (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google) or a company in the visual effects, animation or gaming industry.
The preparation needed for pursuing a career in the entertainment industry is quite different from that of a typical “silicon valley” computer science interview. The advice I’ve outlined below isn’t representative of all companies but is a general takeaway gathered from personal experience. Here are some tips to help you achieve your goal of jump-starting your career in the visual effects/animation industry.
You Don’t Need to Crack the Coding Interview Yes, that’s right. You can take a deep breath and put your “Cracking the Coding Interview” textbook aside. You no longer need to spend your nights and weekends practicing coding questions online.
