Keeping Connections may be the Most Important Tool to Job Security

If you ever find yourself unemployed, which is not uncommon for any industry in the current era--especially creative ones such as video game development--then you may wonder what steps you can take to find your next position. It has been more and more clear that network=net worth, and the quality of the people that you know and associate with on a daily basis determines the quality of your life. If you want to be able to find a job quickly after having been laid off from a studio, then look no further to your direct circle of industry peers: the people who you get along with at work are also the same people that will most readily give you a raving recommendation. In order to find these kinds of people, constantly offer to take them to lunch and also join other coworkers' lunch outings. Find a group that you can really associate with--which will almost always be those that are in your same department. Then, keep up with them and make it a point to attend parties or lunches or other social events that those people are part of.

Many of my colleagues, especially the less social ones, like to save money by budgeting their lunch and bringing in their own meal from home. While I also do this as well, I make sure to not go one whole week without eating at least once or twice out with my colleagues. It may save you a small amount of money in the short run--say, $30-40/week--but it will most certainly cost you more money in the long run: when you are having trouble finding a new job because nobody at work really got to know you and connect with you on a deeper emotional level. That's right: people are creatures of affection and need social interaction. So, if you want to get ahead in any industry than you'd better learn to have friends in your industry because they are the network that supports each other and starts new studios together. Most studios care more about referrals than any other type of application submission. The only other way around getting a referral is by attending networking events such as conference and job fairs and meeting the HR department, or other team members, directly. You will have far less chance of getting a test or an interview, but at least you will have better chances than the luck-of-the-draw for the other applicants who are merely submitting their application from the company website. So remember: doing your work at your job is great and will keep you at your current job. But, if you want to transition to other companies or excel your career, you will not want to spend all of your time working but balance it by adding a fair amount of interacting with fellow colleagues and building your reputation as someone who is easy to get along with and who is not labelled as a "complainer".

If you would like to know more on the subject, there is an interesting book out there that covers the topic more in-depth. I still have yet to read it but it has been on my wish list for quite a while:

Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time
http://www.amazon.com/Never-Eat-Alone-Secrets-Relationship/dp/0385512058

-Ken

Non-Sense of Entitlement

This is an interesting topic: people who become very successful also seem to be the most entitled people around, no? Have we not all heard of how demanding actors and actresses are when in their trailers. The food selection has to be right, the color choices of the decorations have to be right, etc, etc. As a society, we have just come to accept that those in extremely successful situations are allowed to get away with being more than just a little full of themselves. But this is more of a weakness for them, than a strength. In an article posted by infochachkie.com (http://infochachkie.com/nonsense-of-entitlement/) It has been proved that even great people such as Babe Ruth are not entitled anymore than some average person on the street, for getting a new job. We should treat each new job and opportunity as something that we are willing to fight for and put all of our effort into. If restaurants started watering down their drinks do you think that they would be in business much longer? Just because they have the reputation as a successful establishment, that means that now they have to uphold that status more than ever or they will lose it just as quick as a hot stock loses value during a down market. It is the same as babies having less freedom to mess up than teenagers: the larger and more mature someone's career or business becomes, the easier it will be to mess up majorly. Sure, one could argue that they now have a safety net to fall back on whereas when they were getting their start in their career every choice had to add up perfectly in order to grow. I can see both sides of the spectrum. I will say, though, that being cocky and feeling entitled is not something that game development employers will be looking for so, even if you have a spectacular portfolio and have worked for tons of great studios in the past, you will still need to put in the work to prove yourself to the new team that you will be working with. Since you had been working at the top studios, they will expect even more from you and will be ashamed if you are not able to live up to your perceived value as a team member and an employee.
  A good part of the article says how Babe Ruth thought that he would have an instant coaching job based on his reputation. He was not used to selling himself and charming others and really convincing others to want to use him as a coach. He just waited and wanted the managers to come to him with new jobs. But they didn't come and his career in baseball ended there. If you think that you are going to get a job based on your portfolio alone, you are wrong. It may help to get your foot in the door, but your personality and your willingness to work with others will be displayed during your interview and it is something that teams will be looking for just as much as the talented work that you provide. So remember to have pride and passion in any job that you partake in, even if it is in QA or some small no-name studio and you are just starting out your career. The dedication you give to each job will build your reputation and open new doors for you in the future, but remember: you still have to be the one who makes the effort to walk through those doors!

-Ken

Salary Negotiation Tips & Tricks

Salary Negotiation. Probably the most feared aspect of the job application process for introverts aka most game developers. As a result, most game developers do not negotiate their salary and will take whatever the company offers first. I have a friend who is a programmer at Sucker Punch who told me that he does not negotiate his salary but he tells the prospect studio that he is applying for his current salary, and let's them figure out a new salary for him. This may not be the best strategy to get the highest pay, but it definitely seems like the best way to have job security as the company is offering you what they want to pay. Most studios in current times will always ask your previous pay anyway. It used to be a good strategy to not disclose this information--perhaps back in your parent's generation--but the new process of hiring absolutely requires you to list your previous salary. It is seen as being non-compliant if you don't. You also don't want to lie, because good HR managers will contact your previous employer to confirm this information.

Remember that at the end of the day you are providing a service that others are able to provide also, so the competition and supply and demand of the position dictate the market price for your salary. You can't expect to make more or less than around $5,000 of that average figure, for your level of experience and based on your previous salary. For instance, if you were getting paid $45,000/year in Seattle and the same position paid $65,000 in Los Angeles, you can expect that the most the employer will be willing to pay is $70,000, no matter how good you are. There will always be someone nearly as good as you who is willing to accept the average pay for the position. Don't let this discourage you: in fact, you should be researching average salaries more than ever because an employer will want to know what salary you expect and you do not want to be too far outside of that figure when giving them your estimate.

When an employer asks for your desired salary, give them a range of around $15,000-$20,000. If a job pays an average of $50,000 then you should tell them you expect $45,000-$60,000. You want to start lower than the average just to show that you are flexible, and then pivot the average of your range slightly higher than the average pay for the position. The average of $45K-$60K is $53,000--$3,000 higher than the median. The employer will most likely not pay you the bottom figure in your range just to show that they care more about you, and they will want to pay somewhere in the middle.

How do you find average salaries for an area? You could try simplyhired.com and click on "salaries," although I have found this to be wildly inaccurate and gives you a very rough estimate of what you can expect. You can also try a cost of living comparison (if you already have a job), such as CNN's http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/cost-of-living/. These are also inaccurate because housing is such a big factor and the sad reality is that game developers usually live in the nicest cities in the USA but they do not own homes in those cities. Another website that is more accurate, because it relies on actual user data and experience level, is Payscale.com. It takes a while to fill out their report, though, especially if you are looking for quick estimates and in different cities. 

Want to know a little secret that I discovered recently, that is the best of the best for figuring out a fair salary for your position? Glassdoor.com

Glass door is users inputting their own anonymous data about how much money they are making in their current position. You can search by studios and all of the big names have good data: Blizzard, Naughty Dog, Rockstar, etc. I highly recommend this website and encourage those in the industry to share their information with others. This is the best defense that we as employees have over HR departments exploiting us and trying to charge too little for our valuable work as game developers. I'm sure that studio owners and publishers hate this, as they would want to keep more profit for themselves, but there is such an unfair advantage right now of how much publishers are profiting from the hard working developers--who are doing the real work in making video games.

Even if you are shy it is worth it to practice negotiating your salary. You will probably have less room to do this if you are just starting out, as I didn't negotiate my first couple of jobs because I was so eager to start working and didn't want the opportunity to pass me up. I don't know if I would change that if I could go back in time, so you may want to do the same. But, if you are getting more experience, then studios are expecting you to negotiate and you will feel more valuable as a person for being able to charge what you feel you are worth.

Good luck getting the most pay for your hard work!
-Ken

http://www.glassdoor.com/blog/salary-negotiation-tips-tricks/