Select your current position
Pick a role and level — we'll show the growth path, skills and gap analysis.
Development path
Junior
0-2 years
Responsibility: Completing tasks under the guidance of senior colleagues. Learning the codebase, standards, and team processes. Writing code to spec, fixing simple bugs, writing tests.
Key skills:
Middle
2-5 years
Responsibility: Independently developing features from decomposition to deployment. Participating in code review. Optimizing performance. Mentoring junior developers. Taking part in architecture discussions.
Key skills:
Senior
5-8 years
Responsibility: Designing the architecture of components and services. Solving complex technical problems. Managing technical debt. Code review as a quality gatekeeper. Mentoring middle developers. Choosing technologies for new tasks.
Key skills:
Lead / Staff
7-12 years
Responsibility: Technical leadership of a team or area. Designing system architecture. Coordinating with other teams. Establishing standards and best practices. Participating in hiring. Planning the technical roadmap.
Key skills:
Principal
10+ years
Responsibility: Technical strategy at the company or domain level. Cross-organizational influence. Solving systemic business problems through technology. Mentoring lead engineers. Publicly representing the company.
Key skills:
Gap analysis: skills to develop
To reach the next level you'll need to develop:
Manages Asset Pipeline in Unreal: Asset Manager for async loading, Streaming Levels, Data Layers. Configures asset cooking for different platforms. Optimizes pak files and DLC content.
Develops complex systems in Unreal C++: Gameplay Ability System, custom AI controllers, async operations. Uses delegates, interfaces, subsystems. Profiles C++ via Unreal Insights.
Conducts deep review of Unreal C++ code: memory management (GC, shared pointers), thread safety, replication correctness. Verifies Blueprint integration and performance implications.
Develops network systems in Unreal: relevancy, dormancy, conditional replication. Optimizes bandwidth through replication graph. Implements client prediction and server authoritative logic.
Develops physics systems in Unreal: Chaos Destruction for destructibles, Vehicle Movement Component, custom physics sub-stepping. Profiles physics via Unreal Insights.
Develops testing infrastructure for Unreal: automated gameplay tests, performance regression testing, screenshot comparison tests. Integrates testing into Horde CI pipeline.
Applies advanced VCS techniques for Unreal: stream-based branching in Perforce, shelving for code review, automated workspace setup. Configures triggers for validation.
Develops GPU-optimized solutions in Unreal: custom compute shaders via HLSL, Niagara GPU particles, custom render passes via RDG (Render Dependency Graph).
Develops production-quality levels in Unreal: World Partition for open world, Level Instances, Data Layers. Optimizes streaming and LOD. Uses PCG (Procedural Content Generation).
Develops complex Blueprint systems: Animation Blueprints, Material Blueprints, Widget Blueprints. Optimizes Blueprint nativization and performance. Uses Blueprint Function Libraries.
Deep knowledge of Unreal Engine: GAS, Enhanced Input, Common UI, Niagara, MetaSounds. Develops Editor extensions and custom tools. Understands engine modules and plugin architecture.
Develops VR functionality in Unreal: hand tracking via OpenXR, haptic feedback, spatial audio. Integrates platform-specific SDK (Meta XR, SteamVR). Optimizes VR comfort.
Develops advanced XR interactions in Unreal: two-handed physics manipulation, gesture-based controls, haptic-driven feedback. Creates custom interaction components.
Applies medium-complexity algorithms in Unreal projects: navigation algorithms via NavMesh, spatial queries via Octree, EQS for AI decision making. Evaluates complexity when working with large Actor volumes.
Develops complex animation systems in Unreal: Animation Layers, IK via Control Rig, Linked Anim Graphs. Uses Anim Notifies for gameplay events. Optimizes LOD for animations via Skeletal Mesh LOD.
Develops complex UI systems in Unreal: Common UI for cross-platform input, Rich Text, data binding via ViewModels. Optimizes Slate rendering: batching, invalidation, retainer boxes.
Ensures Unreal C++ code quality: SOLID principles for GameplayAbilities, smart use of UPROPERTY specifiers (EditAnywhere, BlueprintReadOnly). Configures static analysis (PVS-Studio, clang-tidy).
Automates cross-platform Unreal builds: BuildGraph, Horde build system, cooking pipeline. Manages platform SDKs and devkits. Optimizes package size through chunk management.
Designs multiplayer systems in Unreal: matchmaking, lobby management, team assignment. Implements authoritative game logic. Integrates Epic Online Services (EOS) for cross-platform play.
Applies advanced XR optimizations in Unreal: VR forward renderer, mobile multi-view, dynamic resolution, Vulkan optimizations for Quest. Profiles via OVR Metrics Tool and RenderDoc.
Designs medium-complexity game systems in Unreal: save system with versioning, economy system with server validation, progression system via GAS attributes.
Applies advanced Unreal patterns: Gameplay Ability System (GAS), Data-Driven Design via DataTables, Async patterns with Latent Actions. Uses Gameplay Tags for flexible categorization.
Conducts deep profiling of Unreal projects: Unreal Insights Timing/Memory, RenderDoc, platform tools (PIX, Razor). Creates automated performance benchmarks in CI.
Applies specialized Unreal containers: TSparseArray, TBitArray, TResourceArray. Uses custom allocators for optimized memory usage. Creates Unreal-compatible custom structures.
Develops materials in Unreal: Material Functions for reuse, World Position Offset for vertex animation, custom HLSL nodes. Optimizes shader complexity and instruction count.