Who Works With ‘Creative Coders?’

I agree with all of the sentiments in the article, but the one small thing that I do disagree with is the conflation of the word "creative" with what the author seems to indicate are artistic or graphical/visual disciplines.<p>I believe that all programming, whether or not it's graphical or "artistic" in nature, is creative. Development is just as much a craft as it is a logical discipline. Learning algorithms, data structures, and software engineering techniques is only half the battle. As "coders", we are knowledge workers. Our job is to solve a problem; the discipline of computer programming is nothing more than a tool that we use to solve our problems. And creative thinking can be utilized any time someone needs to solve a problem.<p>Most truly great programmers and/or computer scientists, at least in my opinion, held on to some level of creativity. Dijkstra never developed a single GUI in his life, but saying that the work he did wasn't "creative" would be insulting. You could say similar things about people such as von Neumann, or even more concrete computer scientists like Kay, Stroustrup, etc.<p>The idea that creativity is inherently tied to "emotional" pursuits like art, design, music, etc. is a little reductionist. Creativity, like programming, is a tool. It's the ability to enter a creative mindset and use creative thought processes to approach a problem, and it is also a refinable skill and not a trait. Creative thinking is just as approachable and general as critical thinking, but so often people who aren't "artistic" reduce themselves to also being not "creative", and I don't think that's very correct.<p>One of the best descriptions of creativity I've ever heard was in a talk delivered by John Cleese. If you have 30 minutes, I highly recommend watching it: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VShmtsLhkQg" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VShmtsLhkQg</a>

Thanks for this! I'm among the new batch of students that are the subject of this article and currently looking for jobs in NY. I've been maintaining a similar list, but yours contains a number of additions for which I'm grateful.<p>Some advice: I've applied to a lot of these places and haven't gotten replies – it's my understanding that it's much better to approach through personal connections.<p>A few companies not on your list that that focus on creative coding:<p>– Moment Factory<p>– ESKI Inc.<p>– GSM Project<p>– United Visual Artists<p>– Light Surgeons<p>– Tangible Interaction<p>– Drawing and Manual<p>– Kimchi and Chips<p>– Jonpasang<p>– Hybe<p>– DinahMoe<p>A few more traditional agencies that appear to hire "creative coders":<p>– Sid Lee<p>– Rockwell Group<p>– Invisible Light Network<p>– Obscura Digital<p>– Razorfish<p>– Wieden + Kennedy<p>– Big Spaceship

This is a very exciting trend, and I'm glad more designers are jumping into code. As an art school dropout who later finished a CS degree, the combination of skills is invaluable.<p>I honestly believe that the most difficult work in creating something new/innovative is skewed to the design side, so I hope we see a corresponding trend as well: programmers becoming more interested in design.<p>I like to think of 'creative coders' as great chefs - not only can they dream up a great tasting dish, they can also roll up their sleeves and turn it into an actual meal. A (web/app) designer who shies away from code is like the visionary chef who needs to rely on others to do the cooking, while a programmer who is not concerned with design is little more than a line cook following instructions.<p>Edit: spelling.

I'm happy to see this thread on front page. Some of those projects seem to be very challenging and interesting. I would be careful however with the <i>creative coder</i> concept. Most of the work done in interactive installations is highly unusual and takes from graphics programming, computer vision, physics programming and sometimes integration with social media. Solid programming background is a must - I don't really see how knowing processing or three.js suddenly makes you a <i>creative coder</i>. I would rather define it as a all-round developer with loads of ideas on how to make unconventional combinations of technology work together.

I got a degree like this from the art institutes international minnesota. It was far more frontend-web centric but we did have the chance to dive deeper into things like processing, arduino, and openframeworks. However most of the students werent that bright, but the faculty was fantastic and curriculum was solid.<p>I think the bigest difference between 'creative programmers' and programmers from a traditional computer science background is the perspective in which they look at code, and engineering problems. 'Creative programmers' approach things with an emphasis on the discovery process which, I think, allows them to understand the things they are working on in more of an organic context. Whereas people from a traditional computer science background tend to approach things with a systematic view of the things they are working on.<p>The difference can look sublte, but it is real. I think having an organic understanding of a product enables 'creative programmers' to build an end to end product (from user interaction to the inner workings), whereas traditional computer science programmers will specialize on a single aspect.

I find this interesting because as a former artist, the reason I love programming is that it scratches the same creative itch.<p>I'm not sure if I fit in the 'Creative Coders' category, since though I was an aspiring artist prior to getting into development, I was never commercially successful at it, and I'm really not a good designer since I find commercial art pretty tedious.<p>Programming, however, is another thing altogether; within about a year of beginning from scratch, I got a job at one of the companies in this list (Mirada) leading development on an interactive storytelling app. One thing that I think gave me a good edge was some development experience in the entertainment realm -- I had made an iPhone app to help screenwriters organize their thoughts, and got a chance to make an app for a comic book trying to get off the ground.<p>I also know that we're currently looking for more iOS developers (especially with OpenGL experience) so the development side is only growing.

an upvote would probably be sufficient, but wanted to say thanks to the author for making a great list. i've been looking for this!

I wonder if any places like hacker school, et. al. have creative coding projects? I would be inclined to think that hacker school is probably the one that would be closest, as the other places seem more focused on web development.

In my experience, 'creative coding' work opportunities happen in the follow ways:<p>- Personal connections are huge. Agencies, especially those connected with advertising, are likely not tech-savvy enough to understand the specific contribution that you can bring to a project. They will often rely on someone who already has rapport and knowledge of creative coding within their organization to recruit more talent. Its to your advantage to know those people.<p>- Have presence in the community of your creative coding platform(s) of choice as an expert. Answer question on the forums. Teach workshops. Write tutorials. Or simply just share work. To that end, you might be able to build rapport with the people mentioned in the first point.<p>- Create compelling projects using creative coding platforms, whether its a <i>useful</i> data visualization or just a thing of beauty. It doesn't have to be a paid project. Then promote the heck out of it. Invite people to blog about it, critique it. Absorb the critique. Share the code on github. A lot of work gets created in these communities that goes unnoticed because it doesn't get to the right channels.<p>- Build a compelling portfolio that non-tech/creative types can appreciate, but at the same time doesn't remove you of your hacker cred--it should be obvious that you coded this stuff in the written language that you use and the images that your present. In grad school, you might have been able to present each project as fun or research, but now you need to shift the presentation in a way that offers value to the outside world. Consider the practical applications of what you've created (even if practical had originally been the last thing on your mind) and list those (e.g. "this kind of dynamic 3D data visualization could be used to visualize data x more effectively because..." ). The other option is to have a portfolio that only the creative coding community will appreciate. But than it will be up to someone else to convince business-minded folks to work with you.<p>- It may be to your benefit to take a standard gig as an Engineer or Interaction Designer before attempting to do something like this professionally. A creative coder who has engineering, graphic design, or interaction design professional experience can be a huge asset to a project. It may also be an entry point for discussion with the people that you are working with, who may not really get what you are doing otherwise. Also, you may choose to (or financially need to) do other work between these special projects, so doing something complimentary could be a good use of your time.<p>- It's important to keep coding. Don't wait for paid projects to fall into your lap. The people who do this well live and breath this stuff, and sometimes after a full days work on a commercial gig, go home and work on an art project project or even putting together their own library or framework.

have a look at the job board at creative applications net: <a href="http://www.creativeapplications.net/job-board/" rel="nofollow">http://www.creativeapplications.net/job-board/</a>