lafs svgi session 10 - managing your career

MANAGING YOUR CAREER

Session 10

David Mullich

Survey of the Video Game Industry

The Los Angeles Film School

READ

DAILYCurrent events will impact your work one way or another. Know what they are. Strive to understand the world and use that understanding to make your games more interesting, accurate, insightful or challenging. A myopic world view limits creativity.

Networking

Most jobs are filled internally – through friends or friends of friends.LAFS Game Production Facebook groupLinkedIn.comMeetup.comAlumni AssociationsIGDA.orgMessage boards

Networking at GDC

How to Network at a Conference - Rated E (5:43)

Go to GDC! March 2-March 6, 2015 Moscone Center, San

Francisco

http://www.gdconf.com

Go to E3! June 16-18, 2015 Los Angeles

Convention Center

http://www.e3expo.com

Go to IndieCade! October 9-12, 2014 Culver City

http://www.indiecade.com

Go to GDC Next! November 3-4, 2014 Los Angeles Convention

Center Promo Code GDCN14EX

http://www.gdcnext.com

Other Conferences

LA Games Conference (Los Angeles) ComicCon (San Diego) Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) (San Antonio) Serious Play Conference (Los Angeles) ACM SIGgraph Conference on Motion In

Games (Los Angeles) SXSW Gaming Expo (Austin)

Electronic Entertainment Expo

G4 Icons Episode #27: History of E3 (20:59)

Professional Groups

IGDA/LAhttp://legacy.igda.org/lahttps://www.facebook.com/groups/231368329464 /

Blacks in Gaminghttp://blacksingaming.orghttps://www.facebook.com/groups/blacksingaming /

Women in Gaming International (WIGI)http://www.womeningamesinternational.org

Volunteer!

Great networking opportunities Looks great on your resume

Advice From An Intern

It’s a small world, after all Don’t go for a big splash Fixers, not moaners Cultivate mentorships Don’t watch TV during working hours Open yourself to opportunities There’s more to life than videogames

Global Game Jam

Global Game Jam 2013 Keynote (11:43)

Self-Publish!

http://www.indiegames.com/

http://forums.indiegamer.com/

Monetizing Indie Games

Portals – Share of ad revenueKongregate.comNewgrounds.comMiniclip.comAddictinggames.comMany, many others!

iOS, Android – Direct sales WiiWare, PSN, XBLA – Direct sales Web self-publish – 100% of ad revenue

Outside Box

How to Get a Job in Video Games - Gaming Jobs - Tips from the Game Industry (10:34)

Read Job Listings Regularly

Who’s hiring

What qualifications are needed

What portfolio pieces / software is desired

Job boards

You can find many jobs through specialty job search sites.http://jobs.gamejobs.comhttp://creativeheads.net/http://www.gamasutra.com/jobs/http://www.indeed.com/http://www.wiredtalent.comAnd, yes, Craigs List

Basic Terminology

You really should know this:

Q&A:

Questions and answers

QA:

Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance

A completely viable way to get your foot in the door in a games company.

But be aware that not all companies have a path to dev from QA.

Ask first.

Look Beyond Indie and AAA

AdvertGames Educational Games Serious Games Kid’s Games Gambling Games

Be Open Minded

All games are valid games to work on. You can learn just as much working on an advergame for cats as you can on the latest bazillion $ mega‐title.

Each title shipped is one step closer to your ultimate goal of dream‐game awesomeness.

If an advergame for cats is your dream‐game, then congratulations, you’re going to achieve your dreams much quicker than most. Also think of the LOLcat opportunities during user testing! People get PAID for doing this!

Recruiters

Digital Artist Management Premiere Search Prime Candidate Mary-Margaret.com GameRecruiter.com Individual agents

Recruiters Don’t Get YOU Jobs They’re paid by companies to fill

open positions They’re paid by those companies

based on a percentage of your starting salary

They often hear of job openings that aren’t listed on job sites

When Are Recruiters Useful?

> $55,000 / year(Producers, but not APs)

When you have specific skillsCode LanguagesArt SpecialtiesAnimation Specialties

Resume Disclaimer

*The following material is the opinion of the instructor based on his years of experience as a hiring manager and resume reader. These opinions may not reflect the stated policy of LAFS or its professional career counselors.

Resume DOs

Permanent e-mail address (Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, etc.)

Reverse chronological order Describe accomplishments List skills (software tools, programming

languages, etc.) Link to your portfolio site Spell-check and proofread your resume

Gameography

List of every game you’ve worked onReverse order (newest first)List platform(s)Update always

Resume Length

One-page rule: early career ONLY Additional Sections as you get older

Teaching EngagementsSpeaking EngagementsWritten Works

○ Articles○ Books

Exhibitions and Competitions

Reference List

Minimum of three people who know you professionally and who will vouch for youBosses better than co-workersCo-workers are fineInternship supervisorsInstructors

Keep this list up to date throughout your career

Proofread Your Resume!

Everyone loves creativity by typo.

“You can customise your character with scaring.”

“To scare your character, press DELETE! Trololol!” laugh the developers at your job application.

Resume DON’Ts

List your hobbies Include a picture of yourself Include a career objective Include so much detail that you lose

the story

Resume Sites

Gamasutra.com

Monster.com

Dice.com

CreativeHeads.net (newsletter)

Create a Portfolio Site!

Art Programming Design Softography w/ pictures / screenshots

Your portfolio is only as good as the worst piece of work in it.

If in doubt, leave it out.

Portfolios

Do not make the viewer do this when looking at your work online.

Create a portfolio website to showcase your work!

But…

Portfolios

Share your content with potential employers.

That’s how communities work.

Trust me: No‐one is going to steal content from your mailed portfolio, and good practice belongs to everyone. Stealing the work of others is the mark of an amateur. No professional would ever stoop that low. For shame!

Portfolios

If your work takes longer to load than it does to view, you’re wasting everyone’s time.

Including your own.

Portfolios

If your demo reel uses an obscure codec and can’t be viewed by a developer, do NOT reply the following:

It works fine on my PC I thought a cutting edge technology

company would have been able to overcome a minor issue like that

What's a codec?

Most developers work in shared spaces and use headphones.

Even Leads & Managers.

Keep the volume on your demoreel consistent.

And try not to assume that everyone <3s Skrillex.

Portfolios

Portfolios

Be inclusive: Don’t assume the developer reviewing your portfolio is male.

Or white.

Or straight.

Avoid: Porn elves. Undressed or under‐dressed women. Unfeasibly large or gravity defying breasts (on anyone).Brutalized or dehumanized women with sexual overtones. Any and all over‐used, limiting and frankly borderline racist stereotypes of criminal men from non- white racial backgrounds including triads, yakuza, mafia, bloods or crips (especially if they are also rappers), insurgents and/or terrorists, middle‐class British villains as voiced by Alan Rickman, working class British villains as voiced by Jason Statham, French mimes as voiced by no‐one, impoverished Mexican villagers with strong regional accents and apparent limited access to grooming products, education or any kind of empowerment.

All of the above still applies if the characters are in zombie form.

Portfolios

A good rule of thumb for selecting work for your portfolio is this:

“If someone who didn’t know me saw this work, would they think I was a serial killer?”

Portfolios

If an applicant’s portfolio is bad enough, developers will save the work to a GALLERIE ABOMINATI*.

When they need cheering up they will gather round to look at it and laugh.

Do NOT be that applicant.

Portfolios

Know where you’re aiming your efforts at any given time. Ideally it should be here.

Portfolios

But you should aim here if you are nearing the job interview stage.

Especially as your interviewer may not have a degree.

Some of us are waaaaaay older than game degrees, or didn’t want or need a degree to get

where we are today. And that’s OK!

Portfolios

If you’re aiming here, that means you don’t know enough about the industry to get a job later. And you’re probably just trying to pass.

Manage Your Public Profile

Prospective employers will Google you. What will they find?

While it is not possible to completely control your Google results, you can help yourself by keeping your personal and professional life separate. Use privacy settings on your Facebook pages and picture tags by friends, and keep your Twitter trail professional or make it anonymous.

Never use your personal social network profile as a portfolio: No‐one wants to trawl through embarrassing nightclub photos of you while searching for your work.

Contacting An Employer

To: Recruitment @ A Games Studio

CC: Every games studio in the nation

Subject: I love what your company does, and am a perfect fit for your studio.

ORLY? I feel *so special*

Contacting An Employer

mailto:ilikeboobies@email.com

Do you really want this as your identifier for job applications?

Get a professional-looking email address!

Cover Letters

“Dear Sir or Madam,

I’m a recent graduate and am very keen on getting a job in the games, animation, visual effects, pre‐visualization or web industries...”

Signed by reject #732

Target each application to that job only: Cover letter CV / resume Showreel

Cover Letters

“...im willing to provide my services to improve the animation industry level”

You do realize this implies you think you’re better with 0 years of experience than they are with ∞ years?

That’s not just ignorant. It’s downright insulting.

And grammatically wrong, too.

The above remains true even if you were “kidding” and was posted on your social network site. Because prospective employers can see that too unless you’ve set your privacy settings accordingly. Well? Have you?

Job Interviews

At a job interview, remember that you’re being interviewed by a professional <insert discipline here>, not a professional interviewer.

You can distract them from any awkward moments with shiny work!*

* This does work. “I’ve brought my sketchbooks, would you like to see them?” is like baubles to kittens.

Interview Questions

“What is your greatest weakness??”

Bad answers:  “I haven’t got any”  “I am a perfectionist” “You are!” “Chocolate” *

Good answer: “From your perspective, I guess it’s the fact that I don’t have

much work experience. But let me tell you about the projects I have worked on in and outside of college...”

Don’t Badmouth Anyone

There is only about 1 degree of separation between pretty much all game developers, world wide.

It will come back to bite you. Even **years** down the line.

Interview The Company

You should be interviewing the employer as much as they are interviewing you.

Learn to tell a good employer from a bad one.

All games companies have good times and bad times. The trick is to work out the differences between “Bad times” and “Bad employer”.

This is easier with hindsight.

More Interview Tips

Learn about the company first Dress appropriately Don’t arrive late or too early. If you are late, call. Talk about things of interest to the interviewer Use questions to talk about your strengths and

past accomplishments Don’t lie Find out what’s the next step Write a “thank you” letter (or email) afterwards

Mock Interview

Watch a Job Seeker Interview with Game-Maker Turbine (14:03)

Employee

Work-for-hire Social Security & other taxes (“withholding”) paid by employer Some level of benefits:

○ Health Insurance○ Retirement Plan

401k ESOP

○ Profit Sharing○ Paid Holidays○ Vacation Days○ Sick Leave○ Employee Discounts / Free Games○ Parking

Temporary Employee

Company contracts with Temp Agency

You are employee of Temp Agency Temp Agency pays your SS & taxes Generally no benefits until

assignment becomes long-term http://www.wiredtalent.com/ http://www.volt.com/

Independent Contractor (Vendor)

All terms negotiated up frontLess micromanagementYou must pay your own SS & taxes

There is no shame in freelancing.

As long as you’re working on games, you’re a game developer. Even if you’re an impoverished freelance, outsource or indie dev who isn’t exactly living the dream right now. You’re still one of us and we <3 you.

Now What?

Always be thinking about your next job

Always have your resume up to date

Always have some money saved up

Tokenism

The practice or policy of making no more than a token effort or gesture. Token effort. Token changes. Token comments. Token QA practice. Token documentation.

Does NOT belong in game development practice ANY kind.

Do not aim to do the minimal required. Aim to exceed expectations.

Personal Hygiene

Is not a “lifestyle choice” when working in teams.

Body odor is NOT a viable way of keeping managers away from your desk*.

* No matter how tempting that can be during crunch.

AlwaysBeCreating

Course Evaluation

Go to this URL and answer information about this course:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DLRBNXS

Gaming Is Miraculous

Modern Gaming is Miraculous (4:36)

Good Luck!