My brother is an AI programmer working in the games industry. He's worked for three companies, two of which have folded under him (one of them owing 3 months wages). He has an MSc in AI and is quite remarkably smart.
His last job was with a bunch of ex-Bullfrog programmers in Guildford (For those not in the know, Bullfrog was the company that produced Populous, Dungeon Keeper, Magic Carpet and some of the other best games of all time. It was led by Peter Molyneux, until it was taken over by EA. At that point he left to form Lionhead, who then produced Black and White, another amazing game. Many, many programmers worked for Bullfrog over 15-odd years, and then rich from royalties, started new companies nearby. Guildford is pretty much the Mecca of the UK gaming profession). When they sank, he sensibly walked 6 doors down the road and offered his CV to the Lionhead people. They said "cheers", interviewed him, and told him they'd get back to him in a month.
Today, they asked him to come in for 3 days, to see how he fits in. He's been potentially offered a job writing AI for the best games company in the world (other people might say Epic or ID were cooler, but it's definitely a toss-up).
It's quite reasonable to say that he's one of the happiest people on the planet right now. Mind you, they've asked him to do a small project when he comes in, to see how he does. He has a choice of "a program that starts out crap at tic-tac-toe, but gets better as it plays", "a navigation system for a 2D grid world" or "a program that has an output of itself" all of which would be tough to write quickly. I have faith though. He is, after all, as smart as both Hugh and I am, and has been programming for a good few years now...
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