How do I become a programmer?

How does it feel to become a Game Developer/Programmer when coming from a competitive programming background?

• I've been into competitive programming for almost 7 years now, I'm not a good competitive programmer but decent enough ( somewhere around bottom Div1 ). I've always wanted to become a game programmer and I did program a few games, but most of my friends told me that with time I will get bored with game developing. Can anyone tell me how awesome is game dev compared to competitive programming ? :D

• Answer:

  I can't recommend it if you have a competitive attitude, at least at large game companies. Game development is teamwork like no other teamwork, bringing together people who have widely varying talents: programmers, writers, musicians, audio engineers, artists, animators, researchers, project managers, testers, and so on. It is imperative that you be able to get along well with all these people. As far as other programmers go, the object is to write solid, robust, maintainable code that works with the code others write. If you're working on anything bigger than a mobile phone game, cooperation is paramount. If you're better than another programmer, you don't beat your chest and cheer; you ask if you can help.