Meet Araib Saleem, Senior Programmer

16 Feb 2022

How did you start at London Studio?

I moved from Canada to the UK to join the PlayStation London Studio team. At that time, I was looking to move to the UK because my wife, who is a doctor, wanted to come here to practice. When I saw the job post on LinkedIn, I applied in a heartbeat. The whole team was really helpful, from the time I applied for my visa through to the time I started my job here.

What does your role entail?

I’m an Animation Programmer. I implement engine features that help designers and animators to create awesome animations. This involves programming and 3D mathematics knowledge.

What do you find most exciting about your work here, and what are things you’re passionate about getting the chance to do?

I love mathematics, so working as an Animation Programmer gives me the opportunity to work with it. I’m so excited to contribute to a game that will be a part of PlayStation Studios! The company has a history of producing great games!

What has your career path looked like over the years?

I have been in the games industry for more than 5 years. I started at Ubisoft Montreal. Then I moved to WB Games and now here, at PlayStation London Studio. Over this time I have held different titles like: Gameplay Programmer, Generalist Engine Programmer, Audio Programmer, Physics Programmer, Research Programmer and Animation Programmer. There are so many areas to focus on when making the games we love.

How do you become a programmer working in the games industry?

First and foremost, to work in the gaming industry you need to be passionate about games! And, if you want to be on the technical side like me, you will need knowledge about programming (specifically C/C++) and mathematics.

I did a Bachelors of Computer Engineering from University of Toronto. Some of the subjects that really helped me in my career are:

Programming basics (C/C++)
Advanced programming techniques (like computer system programming)
Algorithms and data structures
Computer graphics programming.

Apart from programming, some mathematics courses that helped me include:

Linear algebra
Calculus
Quaternions.

Mathematics is a critical skill for my role in game development. I don’t exactly know when I fell in love with mathematics – but I do know that it’s absolutely amazing and such a beautiful subject! I believe that mathematics organises nature.

For example, something used a lot in games is rotation. It’s a simple concept, but hard to understand. Mathematics provides a tool called quaternion that explains how this process is done – and that’s just one example!

Working from home has become a big part of our lives recently. How have you found this has worked with your team at London Studio?

The pandemic has changed quite a lot of things. Especially work. My direct team is mostly remote, and I’m really satisfied with this. London Studio has provided all the things needed to work from home without any hindrance and it’s felt like a pretty smooth process. A lot of that is down to the applications that allow us to communicate easily too!

If you could describe London Studio in a few words, what would they be?

An awesome and fantastic place!