HDi in a the Job Market (HD-DVD)

I worked at Technicolor in Burbank as a Senior HD Programmer for about 1 1/2 years in 2006 to 2007.

For those of you who do not know about HDi, its the programming language used in HD-DVD. Its a strange mix of Javascript (262 with 327Rev), Xpath, and XML. The best things about it is its pretty straight and forward Javascript/XML using Microsoft HDi DOM. The problems with it, is the poor documentation and lack of real development environments.

Now you might be thinking, Wow that Cool I want to do it. Well there is really no job market for it besides working at Technicolor, Deluxe, 1K Studios, or GDMX (all within 30 miles of each other in glendale, Ca). And don't expect to be payed at the same standards as the web world as these are media companies and not used to having to compete for programmers.

My best guess is that there are 2-3 Programmers at Technicolor, 5-7 at Deluxe, 4-6 at 1K, 1-2 at GDMX. And these companies make 90% of the worlds published HD-DVD Disks. So I have 15 or so HD-DVD titles under my belt and one of maybe 20 Developers out there with Studio Level work.

I left my position at Technicolor as I looked into the future and guessed that the development world for HD-DVD was going to be the same companies for the next few years, and that meant very little chance of advancement or competitive job pay. Its just to small of a job market for a person to be able to play one company against another or to advance in a company.

I do miss doing cutting edge development in a new media but I can also do that in Flash and the
the web world brings a much larger audience to the table ( I hope!)

Welcome

Hello to All!

My Journey of an Interactive Developer has been an interesting one.

Started as a Lighting / Sound Designer at Grad School.

Act of God (Northridge Earthquake in 94) changed the direction of my life to add Multimedia to the Mix.

Since 1996 when I graduated with my MFA, I have stayed in the world of Internet and Computers to make my path in the world.

For a more in depth view of my job path please look at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/clivehenrick

And now to the Good stuff - Interactive Development!