I’ve been working in the games industry for about 8 years now, and I’ve had quite a few people ask me “How do I break into the games industry?” and other questions in a similar vein. I’ve helped quite a few friends into the industry as well. A job in games can be a lot of fun, who wouldn’t want to work on the next Gears of War or Final Fantasy? Sure beats optimizing SQL queries or something equally mundane. Getting into the industry can be a little tricky though, so here are some of the things that I (or other interviewers) often look for.
picture by vancouverfilmschool
1. Have a Demo
I can’t stress how important this first point is, many studios won’t even consider a candidate with no demo. It doesn’t have to be some epic year long project, something thrown together in a few weeks (or even a weekend if you’re quick) is probably enough to satisfy most prospective employers. Of course, be on topic as well. If you’re a rendering programmer, put some fancy graphics in, etc… You can get into the industry on a demo alone, so spend some quality time putting something together.
Before you ask, no, your HTML5/Lisp/Prolog/whatever school project does NOT count. Most studios want to see a C/C++ game demo.
2. Clean Code
Make sure any code you submit is very clean and commented well. If you submit some convoluted spaghetti-tastic mess that looks like it was written by a homeless man, with variable names like “foo”, “a”, “b”, “c”, please don’t wonder why you didn’t hear back.
Take a look at the Google guidelines for their developers -> http://google-styleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/cppguide.xml
3. C/C++
Most studios use C/C++ these days for the vast majority of their technology, although occasionally you’ll get C#/Java or something else. It’s important that you’re knowledgeable in the language the company uses, because more than likely they won’t even consider you if you don’t have some sort of background in it. This is especially true of C/C++ developers.
4. Game Architecture
Get familiar with the basic architecture of a game. There are quite a few open source engines on the internet (Ogre 3D, etc…) Take a look and get familiar with how they’re structured.
5. Books and GDC Slides
Get a copy of the latest Game Programming Gems (or all of them, it’s a good series) and read up. Also check out the latest GDC slides, fantastic stuff and extremely relevant to what developers are thinking about right now. If you’re a rendering programmer, be sure to check out anything from Frostbite Engine or Naughty Dog guys.
6. Be Willing to Relocate
I shouldn’t have to say this, but unless you’re lucky enough to live in a city with a thriving game development community, you should be willing and able to relocate to another city (or country). In North America, the vast majority of game development takes place in California and Texas (in the US), and in Vancouver and Montreal (in Canada). If you’re willing to relocate, not only will the sheer number of options for studios open up but you’ll actually be worth a lot more. Local talent’s pay is often undercut (because management knows they probably won’t go elsewhere). When I started my career, Toronto only had a handful of tiny developers barely scraping by. If I had chosen to tough it out there, I’d have missed out on working for some of the top AAA developers in the world.
7. Be Confident
This is probably a tip for any interview, but try to be confident when you go in to interview. They’re interviewing you because you’ve impressed them sufficiently that they want to meet in person and assess your skills further. So don’t be shy and don’t be intimidated.
Just don’t confuse being confident with being arrogant. That will lose you the job very quickly.
8. Proper Attire
Dress for your interview properly. While a nice suit may be the right thing to wear for an interview at a bank, I’ve actually seen people turned down because they were over dressed for their interview. Most game developers show up to work wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Wear something appropriate to the interview, nice but keep it casual.
Suggestions would be khakis and a dress shirt, no tie.
9. Learn from your mistakes
Getting into the industry can be extremely difficult for some, but with time and patience you can learn from each interview and get one step closer to landing a job. If you don’t get the job, think about what you may have done wrong, what you may have answered wrong, etc… and make an effort to fix up that weakness. It took me a few interviews before I got my first job because I had no idea what studios were looking for. It was a bit of trial and error, learning about architecture, tools, etc… so that I could “talk the talk” in interviews.
10. Play Games
Most developers believe one of the qualities of a good candidate is that they play a lot of games themselves, after all someone who plays a lot of games will probably create great games (or that’s what many believe anyway).
By Mison, Senior Programmer.
Other reading: Top 10 Things To Do in an Interview
