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In America, some companies will employ military vets instead of "normal folk" as an appreciation for their service to their country.

The answer is still yes, but we make no distinction between vets and non-vets. We try to find the most competent person for each position regardless of previous military status.

If the position calls for someone with military experience, then it's a plus of course.

In Sweden there hasn't been anything veteran like until now really. I'm referring to ISAF in Afghanistan that are actually seeing combat. We've more or less never been in a situation where we can show appreciation for our vets.

Sweden's armed forced is very modest, even when considered per capita. When fully mobilized Sweden has about 2 battallions and 8 companies. About 500 serve in Afghanistan.


The US on the other hand...has more :)

I have to ask, do companies in the US show appreciation so much that they hire vets over others that might be more qualified?

/S
 
I have to ask, do companies in the US show appreciation so much that they hire vets over others that might be more qualified?

I would certainly say yes in many cases if it is a type of leadership position. The discipline, organizational skills, and leadership skills the military can instill in a person are usually worth more than qualifications you could get in a school or from being lower in the corporate ladder.

If it is a more technical job, companies will usually be chomping at the bit to hire former-military technicians. The training those guys receive is at the highest possible level, with the latest gadgets, and the training is continual. My brother (who is just getting out of the Marine Corps) and three of his friends (also just getting out) were all hired by the same place to do technical work that is identical to what they were doing in the Service. They picked those 4 over a couple other applicants because of their advanced training.

It's generally considered that if there is a civilian that went to school to learn something, and a service-man who learned it in the military, the military man will have better training and will do his job better than the civilian. That probably isn't true in all cases, but it is certainly a nice rule-of-thumb.

Edit: I just realized I didn't really answer your question...

It is unlikely that a company would hire a vet over a more qualified applicant simply because of their veteran status. It would have to be because of what they trained for while they were serving that would get them a nod over a more civilly qualified candidate.

I don't know if this is specific to America or if it is world-wide, but our veterans here get discounts on products almost anywhere they go if they just pull out a military ID card. That is another appreciation thing done by companies, but like I said, I have no clue if that is US-specific or not.
 
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Considering military service is still technically "mandatory" in Sweden, that is rather different. If you are above 30 you are basically assumed to have done you 7-10 months. Younger people are far less likely as the amount of people taken in each year has been reduced severly.
 
In the US, there's lots of disabled vets, and many were/are discriminated against, (mostly due to the Vietnam war era/orr) which is why in the US, many companies go out of their way to hire veterans to "show their appreciation"
 
When will Paradox step into the mobile gaming market?
 
Define mobile. do you include iphone and ipad in that?

I think i just answered the question.

/s
 
You think iPhone could support that?

Indeed, it would require a big iPhone: iPad! :p


Btw, I have a question to Paradox programmers: how did you start in software development business and
what is the best way into the business in your opinion? I mean, I'm currently a "junior developer" (working for
less hours than others and with less responsibility) in an open-source project and I also have two small projects
that I do on my freetime. Should I try to continue further in the open-source project and get to know more
programmers or should I focus on my own project (to have something to show in a job interview)?

I know it's important to know people in the business and get into more projects that way. But do companies
hire people anymore according to what they have to show, like as a proof of their skills? Is a self-made
software of any value in a job interview?
 
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Indeed, it would require a big iPhone: iPad! :p


Btw, I have a question to Paradox programmers: how did you start in software development business and
what is the best way into the business in your opinion? I mean, I'm currently a "junior developer" (working for
less hours than others and with less responsibility) in an open-source project and I also have two small projects
that I do on my freetime. Should I try to continue further in the open-source project and get to know more
programmers or should I focus on my own project (to have something to show in a job interview)?

I know it's important to know people in the business and get into more projects that way. But do companies
hire people anymore according to what they have to show, like as a proof of their skills? Is a self-made
software of any value in a job interview?

Basically I find that projects (your own or open source) will help you get to an interview, but once you're there you're on your own.

I would also focus on finishing a game as a project rather than doing yet another engine. Too often when I speak to people they talk about how good their engine is etc. but finishing a game is far more impressive. I don't trust people that haven't worked with games professionally for at least some years to even remotely know what makes a good or bad engine(there are exceptions of course).

If you really want to work and show engine details I would implement them as small projects that can be demoed(like a cool shader demo or something).

From personal experience from the 2 game jobs I have had, I would say that what got me the job in both cases was intricate knowledge about C++. Without that, I would not have been considered. If you get past that part, I'd say you're done with something like 70% of the interview :)
 
Regarding the game following Vicky 2, when would you guess that would be out?

I don't need anything concrete :)
 
this decade
 
Basically I find that projects (your own or open source) will help you get to an interview, but once you're there you're on your own.

I would also focus on finishing a game as a project rather than doing yet another engine. Too often when I speak to people they talk about how good their engine is etc. but finishing a game is far more impressive. I don't trust people that haven't worked with games professionally for at least some years to even remotely know what makes a good or bad engine(there are exceptions of course).

If you really want to work and show engine details I would implement them as small projects that can be demoed(like a cool shader demo or something).

From personal experience from the 2 game jobs I have had, I would say that what got me the job in both cases was intricate knowledge about C++. Without that, I would not have been considered. If you get past that part, I'd say you're done with something like 70% of the interview :)

Thanks for your reply (and thanks to Kallocain too). :) I think I will now focus on finishing my own project and learn more that way. Have had some difficulties before with actually finishing something. Most projects have usually been left unfinished and slowly forgotten.
 
Out of curiosity, when it comes to developing new games, like EU1, HoI1, etc, what is the bigger task? The programming, or the balancing time, counties, etc?