Video Game Studio Career Day at Your School

If you happen to be in school right now and are majoring in a game development degree, then you will probably notice that you will have some events where some major industry studios will come to visit your school. Usually, the better location and prestige your school is in means the better and more frequent the visits from major developers. I would strongly suggest that you attend these career functions, whether they be a presentation, mock job interviews, or some sort of career fare.

When you are in the midst of the industry insiders, I recommend that you talk to each and every one of them--even if you are shy. You may never know what sort of opportunities a simple connection like that may foster in the future. If you are at a career fare, talk to the person as long as you possibly can to show that you are really interested in learning and also to get some quality feedback about your portfolio. Ask tons of questions about their studio, and not just the easy-to-answer and frequently asked ones.

I will admit, that usually at these functions only the human resources department will be present so you may not get any quality bonding with actual developers. HR is the gatekeeper that prevents pesky and needy students from talking the ears off of normal industry professionals. But, I have been at career fares before, back when I was in school, and was able to talk to an Art Director and some other developers of other studios. I followed up with the Art Director and he remembered me--it almost got me an internship at the time. So, make sure you are making the most of networking and showing your work and getting real feedback, as you may not get many chances to see what the actual industry thinks of your work.

Even if HR is the only one present at this career day and it seems more like a marketing effort and sales pitch about how awesome their studio is, try to get on the inside: ask your professors if you can meet the representatives outside of the normal presentation. After the presentation, go up and introduce yourself personally. This is all the more reason to have polished your portfolio beforehand and print out your own business cards. Even though you may think that HR is generally uninterested and can't really help answer many technical questions you have, the most important aspect of a conversation with them is to be polite and friendly. They are masters at analyzing people and this is mainly based on their behavior. You want to look the part and act the part. Make sure you seem like someone who would be employed at the studio and, by being polite, you are showing them that you will be able to handle the stress of every day life at the job and also will be able to get along peacefully with other developers. You'd be surprised how important this is. There is still a general misconception that all that matters is your work, when developing video games, and that you can be as shy and introverted as you want. That's what separates it from a typical jobs in sales or business, right? Well, there seem to still be a good portion of shy introverts in the industry but they seem to be a dying generation. If you are shy, that's okay--it is being unwelcoming or uninterested in the other person, or feeling entitled, that becomes the problem. So, make sure to "be yourself" on max-friendliness and max-extroversion. Give HR your business card and it may eventually get back to the developers and then you'll be getting contacted for an interview!

-Ken