Dark Souls III is a game about tenacity.
If my inbox and questions I get at events are any indication I guess it's that time again. "How do I get a job in the game industry?" Alright... Well this time I'm done with the marketing answer, it always felt like a lie because it is, so let me get the hardest thing for me to do out of the way, which is honesty.
Here is the answer to how to get a job in the game industry, the answer is you don't "get" a job in the game industry. You make one yourself.
To see why you have to look at the big picture. Computer science and information technology have entered the platinum age in our lifetime. It doesn't seem like it at the moment but companies like Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon, Valve, the people involved in digital entertainment and technology, and the events occurring right now in tech will be discussed in books for centuries on.
Video games are the entry point to this world because the barriers are low and the value is high. A generation or two from now it will be far and away the number one entertainment source for the world. It's the wild west, and everyone is planting stakes. The competition for jobs in gaming is unbelievably fierce, and I'm talking about for gaming industry veterans with launched titles under their belts to get ground floor gigs at medium size studios. No to mention the legions of QA/GM/CS folks in those studios waiting for the opportunity to move up and fighting tooth and nail for it.
So having said that here is the truth, to HR and resume reviewers your degree means nothing when compared to those people. It just isn't. It's a check mark that means you have the heart to finish something. Those people have been through the gauntlet and are asking for more, so they are first in line because they are proven soldiers. The average lifespan of a person in this industry is two years, and the day to day is really that hard. If a person persists in this industry we come together to make sure they are ok.
So that's why it's damn near impossible to get a job at those places and and I wouldn't get my hopes up about working on your favorite video game right out of college. By the way, if you have obligations that have to constantly be attended to, if you have a ceiling to the hours you are willing to work, if you are allergic to stress, I'd advise you think the decision to do this job through.
Ok, so if you absorbed all that and said, "So? I don't scare easily, tell me how to succeed." here is how you make it happen for yourself. Thanks to this platinum age of tech no longer is there anyone or anything keeping you from making a game, by yourself or with friends today, right now. If you have to ask how then listen... If you constantly ask that question and haven't typed "how to make a video game" into google and followed those steps then I have to just say it, you aren't ready for the job yet. You have to shake that entitlement and get used to the idea that the Calvary isn't coming, you are the Calvary.
There is no degree in the world that trumps a interviewer being able to click on an .exe or go to a website you made. And you doing that on your own tells them everything they need to know about your character. Because here is the dark little secret of game industry hiring, technical acumen is a dime a dozen these days, recruiters hire on character, the passion for the field, and the hunger to learn more and grow. Straight the fuck up. So download Unity, check out some YouTube tutorials, and start to make something today. Best time to plant a tree.
Anyway, the squad at D:T is working on a more efficient way for you to make that goddam... "War and peace" cell shaded Rougelike brawler MMO you have in your head but we all have day jobs so it is what it is, in the meantime you know how to find me (or one of the nicer members like JT or Burnout) and if you don't, refer to the paragraph above the above paragraph, take those steps, and get at me. And for the record we are not the Calvary, we are co-workers at the company you are making.
Also shouts to the SDCC folks, thanks for having me and I hope I wasn't too... me.. I guess. And also Black Mamba, wow, what a game. Salute. Also Jobs.
The Protoculture Mixtape : Issue : People : Penny Stock
