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Getting a job in the Game Industry. Any tips plz.
lomax006
Member Posts: 6
Hi everyone, I just wanted a little bit of advice from anyone who currently works in the Industry or who may know a lot about it. Currently I'm going to school at Westwood College working on a bachelors in Computer game software Development. I still have 2.5 years left but I was wondering what I could possibly do in the meantime to help make myself more appealing for a job when the time comes. Interships? Personal Projects? My main focus is programming.
Thanks
Comments
Contact Planeshift development team.
Planetshift is an open source MMORPG, you will have the chance to help the team and also you will get some invaluable practical experience
I don't work in the industry, but let me give you some personal observations about what gives a newly-graduated student the greatest probability of getting greater responsibility and opportunity in business.
1) This is business and not school. The world is a harsh place, where doing "what's right" is far less important than "getting things done". You're going to be asked to do things that are downright stupid and often a complete waste. Get over it. The bottom line is the ledger line, always. If the ledger's not in black, nobody gets paid...that's reality. Every kid I've seen come out of college has a terribly hard time coming to terms with this.
2) Say "Yes!". This isn't to say "be a Yes Man". You can question authority, but you must always put compliance as a higher priority than righteousness. Raise your objections thoughtfully, but always affirm your willingness to participate with whatever you're asked to do.
3) Take ownership. Boss asks you to do something that's "not in your job description?" Do it. Don't even stop for 10 seconds to think about it. The more you can be relied upon to solve the "dirty" problems that your boss (and management as a whole) has the more likely they are to rely upon you to take on a greater challenge.
4) Be assertive. Passive employees get nowhere. Active and assertive employees go everywhere. Please note that I am not talking about aggression. Aggressive employees end up in the Aloha Room.
5) Challenge yourself, don't challenge others. Push the envelope of what you know and are willing to know. If your boss asks you "do you know how to do X?" Tell him "no, but I'd really like to learn how." If that means you have to spend the weekend reading technical manuals to try to get a head start, you damn well better do it. Stay ahead of the curve, and realize that as you improve yourself you will naturally be setting the bar higher for everyone else...thus, don't further piss them off by putting them on the line.
6) Don't make enemies. A great piece of advice I got from a veteran employee at a company I worked at 10 years ago was: "don't make an enemy of anyone...they may be your boss tomorrow." I can't tell you how many times I've see this come true.
7) Be flexible. Boss told you to do a whole bunch of work yesterday and he says drop it all and do something else today? "OK!" Things change...that's the nature of life, and management is constantly rethinking their approaches to the problems they are faced with. Don't weigh anchor somewhere along the way or you'll end up drowning.
8) Pace yourself. This is probably the most understated advice I've ever heard. Working hard is good, but working to the point that you are worthless is terrible. Burning yourself out will murder your long-term career, not to mention probably destroy your relationships and burn bridges with your boss and coworkers. It's better to be running at a constant clip of 80% and be able to burst to 100% than to constantly run at 100%, burst to 120% and collapse. Ignore all that leadership rah rah claptrap about "I need 110% to get this done"...you'll hear it every weekly meeting, because the current priority is always the critical priority. Just pace yourself below your fullest ability so that you can pull out the Superman cape every once in a while and look like a Hero without killing yourself. Consistent behavior is far more important than bursts of brilliance.
9) Most importantly: have fun! Theoretically you enjoy what you do for a living or you wouldn't be doing it. Keep that in mind
You might need to adjust if you find it's not true.
I prefer the following:
1) Do just enough work to stay in good stead with your superiors, and less than you would have to do to have other responsibilities foisted (sp?) upon you.
2) Realize that success is in the eye of the beholder, and get out of the rat race before it eats your soul.
3) If your boss wants you to do something which violates your value system, tell him so. If that's not possible, just quit... it's better to be true to yourself than to sell yourself off and become something that you hate.
4) Work for yourself. That way you don't have to worry about 1-3. Also, you can be a hard worker and still do 1-3.. Success doesn't have to be what "they" tell you it is. Your integrity is more important than what the average (corporate [or otherwise]) "successful" job will do to you.
(This was mostly in response to #1 & 2... Just offering another view on it.)
_______________________________________________________________________
Looking forward (cautiously) to: Age of Conan, Dark Solstice, Armada Online.
Will soon try: Guild Wars
Overall: Amazed and bewhildered at the current sad state of the artform of gaming.
Hi Lomax, I guess I'm in a similar boat as you, I'm rounding off my 2nd year in a Computer Arts and Eng. BA. If I take my extra credits this summer and next, along with full semi's of course, I could be done in about 1.5 year from september coming up (UGHH SCHOOL !!).
Anyways, here's a few things I've done so far as my ultimate goal is to of course end up in the gaming industry.
- I familiarized myself with local companies and companies near by. Now since I live in Ottawa, Canada we're not exactly exploding with Gaming Production or Development teams but there are a few. Right away I sent in a CV to companies in BC, Toronto, etc... with current experience, expections and where I'd like to see myself in the future and asked in my cover letter if I could continue sending updates. I've received some good feeback from PM's, Productions staff and the like and it's been worth the time I've put in.
- Online projects, I actually can't stress this enough, there are so many good projects going on out there today that it's really hard to imagine. Sure most of them aren't the most professional set up's out there but I've actually learned at least the same amount from speaking with people in projects I'm involved with then I have in class. This has given me some direction I'd like to take in my career also, I've found out that I really love the character development and custimization process in mmo's, and it's something I would like to specialize myself into in the future. There are some very smart people out there and many of them are willing to pass on their knowledge.
- Read, read and then read some more, there are so many good books on game development out right now, if your like me your probably bogged down with enough reading from school but if you know what everyone else is reading out there also, it makes you a candidate worth looking at for projects.
- There's alot more to game development then most peopel think, when I was looking for a part time job, which I would need either way, I went out looking for anything possible relating to the gamind industry. I seriously didn't care if it was working at a blockbuster renting games, working in a retail store (<-- which I did) or coding, I just wanted in. I got really lucky and ended up landing a 25 hour a week dealy with a QA firm where I get to test games in semi production. It's nothing glorious but it's a foot in the door.
- Support, I know it sounds lame but from personal experience getting to know people that are going through the same things you are is really important. There are lots of websites out there dedicated to youngling game programers, coders, story developers and the like and all based around helping each other get ahead. As a female I've found alot of road blocks already, so I've joined a couple of groups, GirlGamers and LinChicks to help me along, and the advice I've received many times has been invaluable.
Well I hope my small amount of experience helps somewhat, this is just a few of the things I've done, deosn't mean it's all for you but I really hope it does and very best of luck in the future to you
Shae.
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Great advice. It's important to remember the obvious fact that developers make games for money over pleasure. I can see with the seemly corrupt way of businesses doing something you love can easily turn into something you hate. Such is the 'nature of the beast' and you have to be open minded and adaptable.
assuming you wish to be a "developer".
get modding.
If you are going to be an artist for example...
build yourself a portfolio of stuff you have created for games. Level design, model making textures, the whole lot.
get some experience with maya and 3d max.
learn the unreal engine and unrealed perhaps. thats a good place to start.
Take an intrest in console games. If you are intending to work in the U.S.A. for example, 7/8 games sold are for consoles. This is likely what you will be doing.