The PS2’s backwards compatibility from the engineer who built it (2020)

They were because sega was, at the time, an arcade manufacturer first. The Megadrive is the console version of the system 16 after all.

No worries, as the OP I added the old threads simply for my own curiosity.

The golden age is always behind us.

I personally believe that we are in the golden age right now: literally anyone can pickup and make games. Game dev is actually something you can learn on your own and do.

Back in the 90s it was all locked up in licenses, expensive books or a handful of companies.

Now you can open up Unity and make a game in a weekend.

I think there’s some rose tinted glasses here. And I say this as someone who loves Final Fantasy X, Devil May Cry, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. The PS2 was still figuring out 3D cameras and jank was a real issue. I’d say it took to the PS3 era where the console had enough power to truly render 3D worlds and have a controllable camera that worked well, especially in action games.

Now I’d say the PS2 games themselves were way better than the PS3 era, even with that jank ;-)

I think this is a bit of a myopic view. There’s a world of difference between the Aron games of 2024 and 2002. We didn’t really nail third person camera controls until Xbox 360/ps3 era, and the multiplayer landscape has changed massively - marvel rivals and hell divers 2 being two great examples of the last 12 months. The indie or AA scene is booming again - that certainly wasn’t true in the ps2 era and early days of steam, something like Balatro being a perfect example again. You’re also forgetting g the vast, vast amounts of absolute shovelware and drivel that came out and was tolerated on those platforms too.

> hiring inquisitive, energetic juniors who didn't know shit about software engineering but wanted to learn everything about it

the modern management culture has warped the apprenticeship/mentorship model (which is what's being described).

The management do not want to risk investing in someone junior, lest they become senior and move to a different company. So the strategic thing to do is to hire someone already senior, and not pay the cost of the education/training.

Never had that experience, and I have seen a lot as I am approaching 50 years old, Software Engineering hiring has always been with an Engineering degree through HR, on my part of the globe.

As a Computer Science student, what should I be focusing on in order to get a job in this market?

I can see that happening. However, I also believe that college or some form of structured education will step in to bridge the gap. Historically, education has played a role in transitioning people from knowing little to becoming workforce ready. With AI changing the landscape, the gap will undoubtedly be wider, but education systems may evolve to accommodate that shift. By the looks of it, AI could itself fill that gap.

I don't see this future coming, companies are made and will be made by people, if such level of productivity will be reached it will only increase the demand for more people doing it. Going from assembly to higher level languages didn't shrink the workforce, actually required more developers. Productivity improvements(given i don't believe it will be that much of an improvement) don't necesseraly map to few people doing it

I thought the same, but then I came across a post asking what happens when all the seniors retire?

thats exactly what they want, then they put on their sad face and tell congress "we just can't find anybody!" and voila, in rolls the H1B drones who work at 25% off.

It's not necessary true. Not hiring juniors doesn't imply burning out the employees.

I think so, it's common for large businesses in Japan to rotate employees through departments at the beginning of their career, and to hire people for engineering with a degree in another field. In the English language FAQ for instance: https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/Careers/japan/en/faq/major....

> Can I still apply even if my major and job course are not related?

> Please do! Around 40% of our new recruits work in positions that are different from their university majors. Instead of narrowing your options by focusing on your major, please expand your thoughts and ideas to what you want to do at Sony. Pick job courses that excite you and motivate you to take on a challenge.

In the Japanese website they mention that 300 engineers act as in-house instructors.

I agree that many engineering orgs did not give boot camps proper chance, but I do think it is important to be realistic regarding them. Generally speaking, Someone coming with a computer science degree is going to be a lot more well-rounded with much more breath and depth then someone coming from a boot camp.

It's not really a great comparison though in my experience. Typically, a good boot camp graduate will come away with a better ability to build real apps, but has a serious lacking in understanding algorithms, OS fundamentals, and many other things That important for Back-End development, especially.

I'm not sure what the solution is to the junior engineer crisis, but I don't think the solution is boot camps. Those have a great place, but if anything a junior coming from a boot camp is generally even more Junior than a junior coming from a computer science degree.

My hypothesis is that The computer science degree route is what will be most useful for juniors in the future. In a world where AI can do the basic coding and build the apps, I see the qualities in appreciating overall design and architecture, especially with regards to scalability. There could definitely be boot camps that teach that sort of stuff, but I am not aware of any that exists currently.

Isn't the end result exclusive?

<< Trainings? That is for us to do at home instead of watching TV, lets not diminish company profits, someone has to keep their audis, volvos and bmws for management roles.

The 2nd hand expression of this I heard was along the lines of: you should already have a portfolio of projects to show, github with stars and/or significant FOSS contributions.

I read the article and it made me realize how far we moved from that model. Apart from everything else, my own company's training is generic training intended to check the box..

Every senior developer is still a junior developer depending on the domain at hand. If you want a lateral move into another job, imho it is ok to take a pay cut and become a junior again, e.g. webdev into C++ games. I don't see why people are scared of temporarily taking pay cuts but it has always been the nature of being a dev.

I'll work for minimum wage if you're going to offer me the kind of training described in this article

Almost the same, but very different from XT/PC.

Yes.

Probably just knee-jerk downvotes from people who misread the title and assumed you were confused. Honestly, the PS/2 vs PlayStation naming overlap is fair—Sony could’ve picked a more distinct name!