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/

A Free Sample Referral Cover Letter

I have already mentioned in my book, How to Get a Job in Video Games (available on amazon.com), the importance of referrals in the job application process. Numerous publications claim that 80% of the job market is unlisted (http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500173_162-7167784.html). This "hidden job market" is something that you are absolutely going to need to have access to. The best way to gain access is by networking: building your relationships with people who matter in your industry and your peers. You want to be seen as someone who is reliable and a hard worker. The only way to do this, most of the time, is by actually doing a good job--but, a large majority of it is going out to lunch with coworkers and attending social events (ex: drinking at a bar or going running together or a movie watching night, etc.) or stopping by your manager's desk just to say "hi." All of these tactics make you more likable and more memorable. If you do a good job only, then you will not be remember as much as someone who did an okay job but was very friendly. I know that this is a problem that I had: thinking that I would impress everyone with my work alone and that it would speak for itself. I was WRONG! People crave emotional and interpersonal connection! It is at the core of our existence. You must learn to love people and make friends with your coworkers, or else they will not trust you or give you referrals as much as you would like.

Now that you have your referral, how is the best way to utilize them? Well, you will want to have a referral from a game development studio that you are planning at working for. How do you get a referral from a studio that you haven't worked for before? Well, this is where experience is key: you will meet people at your first studio and they will move to other studios. The same goes for classmates at your university. You must keep in touch and then they can help you get a job and you should do the same when your colleagues need you. Another method to try is to email someone at a studio who has a high online presence and makes their email readily available: try to gain a relationship with them and show them samples of your work and ask for their advice on how to impress the studio that they work for. They may end up being able to serve as a referral, but most of the time referrals are between people who know your track record and don't expect one from a quick acquaintance.

Once you have your referral and they work for a studio that you want to work for, use their name in an application email or cover letter sent to that studio (as some studios accept online applications only and the only spot to add notes is in the "cover letter" section. I just saw this on the Sucker Punch website). You are basically using your existing cover letter but adding the very important first line with your referral name (you do not want to beat around the bush!). For example: "John Doe works for your studio as a programmer and referred me of the open programming position that you have available." You better believe that the HR manager will check with that employee to make sure that this is correct, so don't lie about this.

If you need more information on how to construct the cover letter with opening the referral line, check here: http://www.quintcareers.com/sample_referral_letter.html

-Ken

Having the Psychological Advantage During Interviews

I was listening to NPR this morning and heard a story about the interview process and how not all candidates are viewed the same by the interviewer. This is the bias of the human mind. A couple of key points:

1. You are the best candidate if you've followed after a candidate who had a weak interview. 
2. You are automatically interpreted to have 2 extra years of experience simply by being the last interview candidate of the day, but only if all of the other interviews for that day were disappointing.

This is an interesting study and the most helpful part that I found is a theory of the "gambler's fallacy:" people who gamble lose so many times that they think that one time must be a winner, or vice versa: if a movie critic has seen 10 movies for the week and they are all great, they will subconsciously feel that this is not possible and be extra critical on a few of the movies.

Listen to the article, it is interesting and shows that at the end of the day we are all human and understanding human thought is essential for having the advantage in the job world. None of the results of the study are predictable, by the way, so even if you are able to know that these findings are in effect, there is really nothing you can do about it (except be the last interview of the day, because you are at the most risk).

https://www.transitionconcierge.com/tc/customer/smartStrategy/transition/evaluating_and_negotiating.do

A Follow-Up Call Wins the Interview

Signs of the changing times. This article talks about following up your interview with a call, but most companies do not give you their phone number anymore. This is especially true in the video game industry. So, what do you do?

Don't make the mistake of letting your interview go a couple of days without sending a thank you email. That's right--and email. If it is the only link in communication that you have, so be it. The longer you wait to send the thank you email, the more comfortable you will be without sending it.

This is referring to a follow up email after the initial application. After an actual interview, if you have not heard back from the hiring department within a week or two, then--now you have a phone number--you can call to check in and ask them how the process is going.

A sample call should sound like this: "Hi, my name is Ken Flemming. I had an interview with John Doe last Tuesday and I am checking in to see the status of my interview. I feel that I am a good fit for your studio. How soon will you make a decision in whom you plan to hire?" They may have just forgotten to let you know, and may have already chosen someone else. It never hurts either way, as if you show interest and initiative you will separate yourself from the competition who will appear to not care about the position as much.

http://career-advice.monster.com/job-interview/following-up/a-follow-up-call-wins-the-interview/article.aspx

The Dilemma of Modern Games

With the latest reviews on Gamespot.com being sub-stellar, I have come to ask the question: are gamers changing their minds as to what they want to see in video games?

We all know that social and mobile games have been picking up steam lately, and console games seem to be nitpicked more than ever. Graphics do not matter to people as much as they used to, it seems. I also believe that smaller-scale and more digestible games are getting better reviews than larger games. It goes to show that it is not how large your game is, but the experience you provide within that time-frame  Portal and Super Meat Boy are perfect examples of these: shorter games, which probably did not take long to develop and also has less overhead with smaller teams. The games did outstanding critically.

Clif Bleszinski furthered this claim by a recent statement that he made, referring to the release of the Game Dead Space 3: "In the 60$ disc based market horror doesn't fly." http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/02/13/cliff-bleszinski-horror-games-dont-work-in-disc-based-market
He is saying that it's a struggle for certain genres to even think about being successful on traditional consoles, because of the high expense costs to develop them and the high turnover rate of the games that are resold back to stores. I know that I wouldn't watch The Shining just for fun on a Saturday evening. Horror itself is a very one-time thrill that loses it's appeal once it has been accessed.

A recent review of the Gearbox game Aliens: Colonial Warefare also didn't fair to well: it received a 4.5 out of 10 review on Gamespot.com, yet it is at the top of the popularity chart right now (http://www.gamespot.com/aliens-colonial-marines/). Will this hurt sales? It can't help them, that's for sure.

With a smaller-scale game it is harder to get the exposure of a big budget game, yet when one can, they tend to be more lucrative than the bigger ones.

My theory is that smaller games are naturally good games and are poor at marketing. When they start getting more players, the games market themselves though. Then, the game is already good and a snowball effect of sales is created. Take Minecraft, for instance. I knew nothing about the game until it became popular on PC. Then it exploded with console releases and merchandise.

It feels that reviewers are even giving support to the smaller games now and helping them combat the larger studios. Larger studios are then answering by closing down, as has been happening lately--with Vigil Games and Junciton Point Studios of Austin, TX to name a couple.

It truly is an interesting time and it seems that the gamers are making the choice more than ever whether a game studio will be successful or not. With the current rate that markets are going, the future feels like Youtube and user-made content will be more popular than large-scale movies. Commercials are already turning more to Youtube stars than to better known athletes to help brand their products.

If there could be a title to this dilemma, I would call it the Abstract Expressionism of Gaming (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_expressionism).

-Ken