|
Everyone bombs an interview from time to time. Is the recruiter an independent third party recruiter, or in-house HR?
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 16:16
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 4, 2024 08:54 |
|
|
BizarroAzrael posted:Okay, this is going to seem like a weird leap in the conversation but I'm going back home and will have limited access to the forum/not going to feel like writing on my phone. Technical artist and designer are fairly disparate (although I know a guy who went to Valve because he more or less fit that description). I think you should figure one out before you start thinking of "minimum" requirements. I'm not sure where you are going to find money to start your own company but I wouldn't invest in a guy who can't maintain a QA job because he's as nasty as you. I think everyone in this thread, myself included, has been kids gloving you until now because they didn't want to outright say it, but dude, you're the problem. The guy blaming everything else and everything but himself is always the problem. You got a bad case of the dunning-Krueger. You need to get away from the game development fantasies and figure out where your actual competences lie, and you need to fix your attitude.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 16:30
|
|
|
Feeling inspired by the valve handbook today. I've decided to move my desk from systems design area to the level design area. Now I kind of wish we had desks with wheels. I'm considering brushing up on my art or programming skills, and was thinking about trying to get the company to help pay for classes or something. Has anyone else done this before? Any pro tips for convincing them that it's a great idea to support me improving myself?
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 17:12
|
|
|
Diplomaticus posted:Everyone bombs an interview from time to time. It was an in-house HR person that got me set up. I was recommended by someone that works there, so I sent in my resume and they almost instantly contacted me.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 17:20
|
|
|
There's some Real Talk going down in this thread.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 17:30
|
|
|
I guess technically it is possible that everyone you ever worked for and with across all those companies was staggeringly incompetent and didn't deserve the breaks you should have had. It doesn't seem very likely though. I vote start your own company (set up as a sole trader and it's free), build up and release some of those Flash prototypes. Nothing will focus your mind quicker than being the guy in charge, and I've known more than one person where the shift in perspective has done them the world of good. Or you'll just end up as a kind of Derek Smart figure, raging against the idiot public who fail to see your genius.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 17:37
|
|
|
FreakyZoid posted:I guess technically it is possible that everyone you ever worked for and with across all those companies was staggeringly incompetent and didn't deserve the breaks you should have had. It doesn't seem very likely though. Either way, we all win.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 17:43
|
|
|
SynthOrange posted:Uhm, holy poo poo. I was just hitting up any jobs in graphic design, illustration and game art that came on the market but I just hit the jackpot. Literally. And by literally I mean in an appropriately figurative manner, since I'm now doing artwork at a video poker company. Reasonable 9-5 hours, low pressure, no crunch time, a new project every few weeks, and an absolutely ludicrous salary for a job advertised at junior level, especially compared to the survival wages I'm used to in animation/film. I still get to spend most of my day doing what I love, drawing, art research and working on 3d, interfaces and typography. The people there every day love doing their work, making the art or working on the coding or the networking guys or the mysterious cubicles doing stuff I havent figured out yet, it's all a pretty good environment. I've talked to some people who ended up working in capital G Gaming, on slot machine programming and stuff. They all love the pay, and they love the hours and light workload. Not a bad choice for a lot of people, and Gaming companies always seem to be hiring, they can't make slot machines fast enough.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 18:09
|
|
|
Akuma posted:We totally need a new office. Naked Gun totally needs to be a runaway success.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 18:10
|
|
|
Kitten Kisses posted:I used my 12" cintiq as a dedicated hulu screen and just used a mouse to make textures for four months when my 21" cintiq was broken and in the shop. That's how useless the 12" felt for painting in photoshop. Could at least have used it as an indirect tablet, Intuos style, if that's even possible? Not being limited to the 1:1 ratio on the tiny screen kind of helps. Turn off the screen and just draw on your main monitor.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 18:16
|
|
|
Jan posted:Could at least have used it as an indirect tablet, Intuos style, if that's even possible? Not being limited to the 1:1 ratio on the tiny screen kind of helps. Turn off the screen and just draw on your main monitor. It's very possible- and not unlike having a ridonculously expensive 6x8 Intuos (which will make you wonder why you didn't just get an Intuos).
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 18:44
|
|
|
Has anyone used that resume to interviews guy in the SAMart? I'm thinking of using it because I've sent a few resumes to some places and didn't get any hits and I felt like I met the qualifications extremely well, so it has to be something I'm saying / not saying in my resume.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 19:12
|
|
|
SynthOrange posted:Uhm, holy poo poo. I was just hitting up any jobs in graphic design, illustration and game art that came on the market but I just hit the jackpot. Literally. And by literally I mean in an appropriately figurative manner, since I'm now doing artwork at a video poker company. Reasonable 9-5 hours, low pressure, no crunch time, a new project every few weeks, and an absolutely ludicrous salary for a job advertised at junior level, especially compared to the survival wages I'm used to in animation/film. I still get to spend most of my day doing what I love, drawing, art research and working on 3d, interfaces and typography. The people there every day love doing their work, making the art or working on the coding or the networking guys or the mysterious cubicles doing stuff I havent figured out yet, it's all a pretty good environment. Oh poo poo, I just had an engineer friend leave his high paying (non-game) job for a job programming poker machines, and I couldn't figure out why. Now I know: video poker jobs are some of the best jobs in the software industry.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 19:26
|
|
|
My friend works at IGT as a programmer and he says he likes the working environment and everything in general, even if he doesn't care much for slot machines.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 19:30
|
|
|
A games recruiter just called me. I told her I was happy where I am and hung up, and I'm wondering now if I made a mistake. Does anyone really use recruiters to find anyone?
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 19:34
|
|
|
Irish Taxi Driver posted:A games recruiter just called me. I told her I was happy where I am and hung up, and I'm wondering now if I made a mistake. Does anyone really use recruiters to find anyone? Yes. Tons of places. Also, CrowdStar just laid off about 60 people.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 19:37
|
|
|
Comrade Flynn posted:Yes. Tons of places. Companies use Recruiters ALL THE TIME. Especially if they're staffing up for a big project or opening a new office, they'll often go to a recruiter (or three) first and say "hey we need to fill 5 programming spots, 3 artists and 12 manager spots" then the recruiters blast their huge lists of hundreds of potential candidates and go from there. Then two months later when they've only filled 3 programming spots, the company then posts their 2 programmer positions on their site and the public finds out about it. So yeah, be nice to your recruiter and have a good relationship with them. They can REALLY help you out.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 19:40
|
|
|
dunkman posted:So yeah, be nice to your recruiter and have a good relationship with them. They can REALLY help you out. Yeah I just sent her an email and apologized, clarifying that I wasn't looking for anything right now but having a relationship could be good for further down the line.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 19:41
|
|
|
Is is Game Recruiter or Von Church? 
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 19:46
|
|
|
dunkman posted:Is is Game Recruiter or Von Church? Marcum Search.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 19:52
|
|
|
Yeah it's very good to have a healthy relationship with a recruiter. Especially the ones who tell you they will call you regardless if you got the job or not. Better than waiting 3 weeks knowing you didn't get it. 
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 20:25
|
|
|
xgalaxy posted:Has anyone used that resume to interviews guy in the SAMart? I did once, when I didn't have a lot of time and needed some things updated. I was not impressed at all. Lots of typographical errors, formatting errors, and the product was not really what I wanted in the end. Superrodan posted:It was an in-house HR person that got me set up. I was recommended by someone that works there, so I sent in my resume and they almost instantly contacted me. I'd say it can't hurt then.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 20:30
|
|
|
Irish Taxi Driver posted:A games recruiter just called me. I told her I was happy where I am and hung up, and I'm wondering now if I made a mistake. Does anyone really use recruiters to find anyone? I'd stay away from anyone giving you unsolicited calls when you don't already have a working relationship with them. Double so if they aren't employed by the company they are recruiting for.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 20:39
|
|
|
Jaytan posted:I'd stay away from anyone giving you unsolicited calls when you don't already have a working relationship with them. Double so if they aren't employed by the company they are recruiting for. She sent me an email about a week earlier and I ignored it. So I guess my question then would be what would I be looking for in a recruiter?
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 20:40
|
|
|
I'm phone posting so I can't post the direct links for future archival thread readers, but my buddy Keith headed up the GDC art director/lead round table this year and is posting the notes for it on his blog - hyphenatedkeith.blogspot.com . There are some good bits of info in there and the session I attended was interesting despite being a bit discombobulated due to it being the first day and the first time it had been given by him. The scope management section mentions that one team has regular baby killing meetings. Which is awesome because rampant babies wrecked a project I was on pretty badly.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 20:42
|
|
|
Sigma-X posted:Which is awesome because rampant babies wrecked a project I was on pretty badly. I can't be the only one who saw artists pushing babies off their tablets, programmers coming back to find out a baby just reverted all their changes, designers unable to print things out because of a baby jam.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 20:51
|
|
|
That's actually all a very good read. Are most GDC panels that useful?
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 21:00
|
|
|
Superrodan posted:I know the reasons I messed up the interview were my fault in the first place, but I also feel like it wasn't a 100 percent representation of who I am or who I would be if I was working for them, and instead was sort of a more pressured, less solid-answers version of myself. I was basically in this exact position a week or two ago. I quickly moved through the early stages and was then flown out for an interview. I started feeling a sore throat on the flight, and had a horrible thrashy night of sleep in the hotel as my cold kicked into gear. A combination of that and, like you said, not quite being in the correct mindset for that particular interview, led to me not doing so well. I had brought textbooks to read through based on questions I had been asked on previous interviews, and they ended up being useless. I was asked to whiteboard a couple functions, pretty normal, but they were looking for 100% complete, compiling solutions that accounted for edge cases. Previous interviewers had been more interested in pseudocode "let's chat about how you would work this out" kind of stuff. So I got anxious and rushed right into trying to write code, it was stuff I could have done easily if I had slowed down and worked it out like normal. Anyway, I knew I messed it up, and I decided to send that follow-up on the basis that I didn't see how it could hurt. I avoided making excuses and rambling, I said something to the effect of "I feel like I didn't accurately represent myself and my abilities." I sent it to the programmers/directors who had interviewed me. Shortly after, I received an email from HR saying I didn't get the job. In the back of my head I had known it was over, and that email was a futile attempt to save a sinking ship. It's just so draining to put in that effort and emotion for a few weeks and then be dropped right back to square one. After a few near misses like that over the past few months, I'm nearing the end of my rope and I'm starting to look outside of games. Funny thing, IGT is a big employer in my town and so many people mention it when they hear what I do. Thus far I've staunchly refused to apply there for a few reasons (a strong distaste for the casino industry, wanting to leave town, and not perceiving much of a connection between the two types of "gaming"). I'll probably bite the bullet pretty soon though. nibe fucked around with this message at 21:13 on May 2, 2012 |
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 21:01
|
|
|
Irish Taxi Driver posted:A games recruiter just called me. I told her I was happy where I am and hung up, and I'm wondering now if I made a mistake. Does anyone really use recruiters to find anyone? I've had pretty good experiences with em' in the UK, particularly Amiqus games as there's one guy who's always piped up opportunities for me and has been really friendly and helpful. I've even gotten one through LinkedIn, as I've got a contact who works for GamesRecruit, however I've not gotten much luck through Aardvark Swift as they don't seem very responsive, I'll have to bug them again this week to see how to company I applied for is doing. Superrodan posted:I know the reasons I messed up the interview were my fault in the first place, but I also feel like it wasn't a 100 percent representation of who I am or who I would be if I was working for them, and instead was sort of a more pressured, less solid-answers version of myself. Well you're not alone there, given lots of reflection I can come up with multitudes of reasons where I think I went wrong with interviews! In some sense I suppose it's a good skill to step back and critically analyse your mistakes and how to learn from them. (I've still yet to break into the industry myself) Crytek: Games Designer - Built up a good rapport with all the staff - However I was freezing cold wearing a shirt so I was having trouble writing during my written design test - Completely forgotten about the stack of blank paper I should've drawn my concepts and designs on and instead used what space I had in the booklet! - Leaned over to look at the Head HR lady's collection of documents about me, might've appeared like I was scoping out her cleavage.  Traveller's Tales Fusion: Games Tester - Let the cat out the bag that I intend to progress to Level Design Ninja Theory: Level Designer - Babbled a bunch of panicked bullshit about the mechanics of God of War 3 for what made it a good game Playground Games: Level Designer - While the discussion was about my time at University, I was asked "What kind of environments have you made?" to which I answered "Actually I kinda copped out there and mostly made things in space" (COMPLETELY missed the chance to bring up my outside mod work, other personal works and the fact and I can actually make poo poo! Stupid stupid stupid)
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 21:39
|
|
|
nibe posted:After a few near misses like that over the past few months, I'm nearing the end of my rope and I'm starting to look outside of games. Funny thing, IGT is a big employer in my town and so many people mention it when they hear what I do. Thus far I've staunchly refused to apply there for a few reasons (a strong distaste for the casino industry, wanting to leave town, and not perceiving much of a connection between the two types of "gaming"). I'll probably bite the bullet pretty soon though. There's no need to be overly masochistic just because you envision yourself as a certain kind of software developer. Find a job at a well-funded company that's not in danger of closing with each project cycle--one that pays well and provides good hours so you can make the kinds of games you want or whatever in your spare time*. No one is going to care that your name is in a credits list among hundreds of other names in a market with hundreds of releases a year anyway, so there's no point in passing up a good opportunity because it's the wrong type of "gaming". * Trust me, when your developer friends are working 12 hour days grinding away on some DLC that they know won't be that great, they'll be jealous that you get to make dumb poo poo in your spare time. emoticon fucked around with this message at 21:47 on May 2, 2012 |
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 21:40
|
|
|
Irish Taxi Driver posted:She sent me an email about a week earlier and I ignored it. In my experience, you want a recruiter who understands what your skills are, and what YOU want, and also works specifically for an agency that works in games. You don't want a recruiter whom you have to explain the difference between your skillset, and another different kind of guy in your same department. For example, you're a UI artist and the recruiter keeps sending you animation jobs. Also, a good recruiter spends like 30-60 minutes on the phone with you the first time just talking about who you are, what you want to do, where you want to work (both companies and geography), life style (kids, mortgage, etc). A good one will get really nitty gritty with you, and your previous experience. And they get to know your personality and passions, so they can truthfully find you a job that you want and the company wants you. This is all so when they get a job that you're a good fit for, they can accurately pitch you to the company with confidence. Imagine the recruiter being your "friend" who knows you are looking for a job, and they randomly meet somebody who is hiring in your field. The random person might be like "well do they know Java?" and your recruiter will be able to say "yeah, he's done it for 4 years AND shipped 3 games written entirely in Java. Also he said your city is where he wants to work, and he's available for an interview this week." That's how much your recruiter should know about you, and your goals. If anyone has a few years of experience, and is not entry level, I would be happy to introduce you to my recruiter, she's great and always looking for solid people. She is super communicative and worked really hard for me to get me a great job.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 21:46
|
|
|
dunkman posted:In my experience, you want a recruiter who understands what your skills are, and what YOU want, and also works specifically for an agency that works in games. You don't want a recruiter whom you have to explain the difference between your skillset, and another different kind of guy in your same department. For example, you're a UI artist and the recruiter keeps sending you animation jobs. Any recommendations for companies/recruiters who work with junior artists? I'm up to 15 months experience, so not the usual "3-5 years", but not fresh out of the box either. I should hopefully be getting a part-time position where I'm at now (29 hours per week) which will work fine for me for a while, but you're selling me on this recruiter stuff. mutata fucked around with this message at 21:53 on May 2, 2012 |
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 21:51
|
|
|
mutata posted:Any recommendations for companies/recruiters who work with junior artists? I'm up to 15 months experience, so not the usual "3-5 years", but not fresh out of the box either. I should hopefully be getting a part-time position where I'm at now (29 hours per week) which will work fine for me for a while, but you're selling me on this recruiter stuff. Check out Game Recruiter and Von Church, they both have applications on their site you can fill out. They should email you within a couple days to schedule a phone call. I've used both, but GR is who got me this job and they were pretty awesome. BTW, it's completely free to you to use a recruiter.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 22:05
|
|
|
dunkman posted:Check out Game Recruiter and Von Church, they both have applications on their site you can fill out. They should email you within a couple days to schedule a phone call. Cool. Would you recommend signing up with them even though I'm not (yet) actively looking for a new job? That was kind of mentioned already, but it still seems... weird to me to sign up with one and then be like "oh, yeah, but I'm planning on staying here for now." Mind you, the suits could come down tomorrow and say "no, we're not renewing you" so things could change for me that quickly...
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 22:11
|
|
|
mutata posted:Cool. Would you recommend signing up with them even though I'm not (yet) actively looking for a new job? That was kind of mentioned already, but it still seems... weird to me to sign up with one and then be like "oh, yeah, but I'm planning on staying here for now." Mind you, the suits could come down tomorrow and say "no, we're not renewing you" so things could change for me that quickly... My studio (Baltimore - social games) is looking for 2D/3D artists and I think we pay pretty well for the area. I e-stalked you a little bit and I think you'd have a drat good shot at a full time position here, probably as a mid-level artist. I dig your portfolio. We're working on a real time 3D Facebook game (so a lot of low poly things with painted diffuse maps). Hit me up if you're interested~
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 23:10
|
|
|
emoticon posted:There's no need to be overly masochistic just because you envision yourself as a certain kind of software developer. Find a job at a well-funded company that's not in danger of closing with each project cycle--one that pays well and provides good hours so you can make the kinds of games you want or whatever in your spare time*. No one is going to care that your name is in a credits list among hundreds of other names in a market with hundreds of releases a year anyway, so there's no point in passing up a good opportunity because it's the wrong type of "gaming". It's not about the credit and I haven't refused a job offer or anything, I've just been reluctant to broaden my search. I've started sending out non-games applications in the past week though. I've actually really opened up to the idea of just working on games on the side and making some good money for a while. As far as "gaming", though, I've lived around casinos and gambling a lot and it's not an industry I want to be a part of.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 23:18
|
|
|
mutata posted:Cool. Would you recommend signing up with them even though I'm not (yet) actively looking for a new job? That was kind of mentioned already, but it still seems... weird to me to sign up with one and then be like "oh, yeah, but I'm planning on staying here for now." Mind you, the suits could come down tomorrow and say "no, we're not renewing you" so things could change for me that quickly... It's fine to not be actively looking. They will mark that down in your file, but you can say stuff like "Well, I'm not really actively looking yet, but if there are any really great opportunities you think I should know about, I'd be very interested." Things like salary bump, or relocation to a place you want to go. Like if your recruiter called you TODAY and said "hey, there's a job with a 20% salary bump on top of cost of living bump, in [favorite city], as well as a promotion, you interested?" would you really say no? That's why they're great. It's also good to be in with them BEFORE you need to start looking so they're ready to rock when you need them.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 23:23
|
|
|
Exactly 3 hours after getting laid off I got another job offer. Unreal.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2012 23:24
|
|
|
Comrade Flynn posted:Exactly 3 hours after getting laid off I got another job offer. Unreal.  I sent my resume into GR just now too. I think I sent one to them a while ago and a few days later I just got "we couldn't find anything for you sorry". I also sent Obsidian my resume for a programming intern position, though I don't got any HR contacts there since it seems Jim Rivers is not at Obsidian anymore. I had a class with Colin McComb as the teacher that I did quite well in, but I don't know if/how he could help me out but I messaged him on facebook anyway NextTime000 fucked around with this message at 00:17 on May 3, 2012 |
|
#
?
May 3, 2012 00:14
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 4, 2024 08:54 |
|
|
NextTime000 posted:I also sent Obsidian my resume for a programming intern position, though I don't got any HR contacts there since it seems Jim Rivers is not at Obsidian anymore.   I'm still in pretty regular contact with the obsidian people, but I thought their internships were only for active students? I remember hearing something about "If you can't receive class credit for the internship you're not even in the running."
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2012 02:10
|
|
