In this 2019 GDC talk, Unity's Mike Acton presents some broad, sweeping, and perhaps unfair generalizations about programmers in the video industry, and discusses what it would mean to be among the very best programmers in the field.

Specifically, Acton shared his thoughts on the technical, individual and team skills required for any programmer to solve the hard problems before them.

The whole talk was pitched as being specifically for those programmers where good enough just isn't, folks who want to take control of their own learning and careers, but just need to know what their next steps should practically be to have a bigger impact.

It was a presentation that inspired a lot of strong feelings, and it was packed with interesting insight into what high-performance game coding might look like, so take advantage of the fact that you can now watch Acton's talk for free over on the official GDC YouTube channel!

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or XRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.