How To Become A Game Programmer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a game programmer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Expert

Brian Glas

Technological evolution has taken the art and field of gaming into a whole new level. And in the middle of this interesting and enjoyable area of specialization, the game programmer rules the battleground. They create and use codes that give life to video games.

Game development teams and companies grow drastically in the advent of artificial intelligence, and emergence of more complex hardware and software. As the product demand and the player expectations change and increase, it is the game programmer's role to join and ride the hype.

The game programmer works alongside the producers and other departments in relation to design, art, and animation, and transform their vision into efficient and engaging video games. They are responsible with the specifications and core features of the characters and the game's virtual world.

Pursuing a career in game programming requires a great command in the programming language, significant experience with engines, good communication skills, and strong analytical skills.

What general advice would you give to a Game Programmer?

Brian Glas

Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Union University

Build relationships: Different technologies will interest and challenge you, but throughout your career, you'll find that it's the relationships that are the most important. This is harder to grasp earlier in your career, but much easier to understand after 15-20 years.
Gain different perspectives: Spend time with people in other roles that your job interacts with, and gain a solid understanding of how they view things; this is most valuable for career progression and understanding of how your work fits into the big picture.

ScoreGame ProgrammerUS Average

Salary

7.3

Avg. Salary $94,000

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

5.1

Growth Rate -7%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.18%

Asian 19.40%

Black or African American 4.91%

Hispanic or Latino 8.68%

Unknown 4.68%

White 62.16%

Gender

female 10.23%

male 89.77%

Age - 48

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 48

Stress Level

5.1

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

7.3

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

5.7

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a game programmer

Explore game programmer education requirements

Most common game programmer degrees

Bachelor's

78.8 %

Master's

9.8 %

Associate

8.4 %

Start to develop specific game programmer skills

Skills	Percentages
Unreal Engine	12.15%
Game Development	7.86%
Math	7.39%
Object Oriented Programming	6.79%
PC	4.38%

Complete relevant game programmer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New game programmers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a game programmer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real game programmer resumes.

Research game programmer duties and responsibilities

Co-Design and lead 3-person programming team for Dizzyball, a 3D action game for PC.
Develop different VBA macro tools to automate reporting and assure information accuracy, overlapping avoidance and management control.
Act as technical liaison to medical equipment manufacturers on issues of system configuration, data management and data extraction.
Steam publish game written in JavaScript.

Apply for game programmer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a game programmer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do game programmers rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

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Game Programmer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2019

Pros

Improve every day, a good salary, a lot of job opportunities