Greg Tinga is using software skills he learned at 糖心vlog传媒to develop new games, as seen in this screenshot from the now-released title Magic: The Gathering Arena.
Greg Tinga鈥檚 love of gaming goes back to elementary school, when he would sneak over to a friend鈥檚 house to play the new Halo X-Box game.
Now, the former Comox resident is a software engineer at a leading, Vancouver-based gaming software company and says his time in NIC鈥檚 Mobile App Development program was instrumental in getting his start in the industry.
He recalls getting hooked after building his first software application while at NIC.
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 anything special, but it was a deep feeling of accomplishment,鈥� Tinga said. 鈥淭hat was the realization for me that I really loved this and wanted to go further.鈥�
And go further he did. Tinga graduated from the program in April 2016, armed with new programming and application development skills as well as specialized technical knowledge needed to work in the software development industry.
A few months later, Tinga was accepted into Vancouver Film School鈥檚 respected Game Design program, a one-year immersive program for aspiring game architects.
Once again, the training he received at 糖心vlog传媒placed him in a position to succeed, he said.
鈥淲hat it enabled me to do was have that framework to apply myself and use that knowledge,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 was ready, I was prepared. Because I had a good grounding in software development from NIC, I didn鈥檛 encounter the problems other students sometimes run into. I got a 100 per cent grade on my first programming course at Vancouver Film School.鈥�
Tinga graduated from VFS in 2017 and immediately got a temporary job at Beyond Capture Studios, which shares physical space with VFS at the VFS Cordova campus and maintains a partnership with the school.
A few months later, Tinga鈥檚 programming skills were noticed by award-winning children鈥檚 gaming software company Biba Ventures, named by Time Magazine as one of the Best Inventions of 2019 for the company鈥檚 free app, which blends gaming with outdoor playground activities. Tinga was hired as a game tester initially, but took initiative and, with his employer鈥檚 blessing, began seeking and destroying bugs in the software.
Within four months, Tinga was promoted to the company鈥檚 development team. By October 2019, he was named lead game developer.
鈥淚 learned so much from working at that company,鈥� he said.
In early 2020, Tinga left Biba for a new job with SkyBox Labs, one of Metro Vancouver鈥檚 fastest-growing games studios. The company has developed and co-developed popular games alongside some of the world鈥檚 best-known publishers, including Xbox Game Studios, Wizards of the Coast and Electronic Arts.
He鈥檚 currently working on the in-development title Magic: The Gathering Arena. The company is also working on a new Halo installment 鈥� a future sequel to the original game that started it all for Tinga.
Now living in Vancouver and working in an industry he loves, Tinga鈥檚 advice to others is to invest in training.
鈥淎t NIC, I gained the tools to be able to work through problems and learn on my own,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a huge benefit in programming. You can take your own initiative and use those building blocks to adapt to any situation.鈥�
糖心vlog传媒offers a total of five DIGITAL Design + Development programs. To learn more or to apply, visit .
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