I feel bad it’s been so long since I last posted. To be frank, it was kind of because I forgot my password x_x.
Last week I attended the annual Game Developers Conference out in San Francisco, the city of rainbows, for the first time. The year before I scheduled meetings for GZ and helped plan shoots, but I turned down an invite to go. So I had a little bit of experience in what to expect, but having never actually been there, I was a bit nervous. The reasons for that are simple; rather than going there to do some press interviews and talking casually with developers like I have before, I was there to sell myself to them. That didn’t seem so intimidating at first, until I got there and saw what was going on. I looked down upon a crowded hall filled with sweaty men and a few females desperately attached to some man for fear of their safety (I don’t blame them, I get nervous around sweaty men too, especially ones who like to critically look at games <_<). At that moment, I realized I was in a crowd of thousands of people, and all of them have some reason to be there, because they were in some form associated with game development.
After meandering through the crowds, luckily avoiding getting sweat all over my shirt from rubbing against the throngs of people, I ended up at the career pavilion area. Ah, my home sweet home, the place where I was going to meet some guy who could tell me he’d absolutely love to have me work for them over the summer. Yeah, I knew that wasn’t going to happen. My honest expectation was to talk to some people and hopefully get some cool people who’d be interested in talking later about getting jobs. That…sort of happened. You see, on the show floor you’re surrounded by hundreds of people who all are qualified for the same job you are. It’s extremely hard to stand out in this area, and it’s very nerve wracking. What makes me better than these people, some who’ve spent years in the industry? Luckily, I wasn’t walking into the professional lanes, and instead sticking to the student area. Unfortunately, I was still surrounded by people from USC and the Guild Hall at SMU. To be honest, I view those two schools as the top of the top in this fine country of ours (speaking of fine, what the f*** is going on in WI, screw Walker). Just being next to those people I didn’t know what I could do.
At this point, I made my first mistake. I got in line for Blizzard first, behest of a friend of mine who is obsessed with the company and wants to work with them. I ended up going up there and talking to a senior software engineer for them. Did I mention I am going into production? Oh yeah, also I’m not graduating this year. Oh, and Blizzard’s internship deadline occurred four weeks previously, literally a few days before I had all my materials together (this means I didn’t apply for those of you who need a bit more direction to follow stories). So let me break down how this went, because I pretty much bullshit this whole thing.
I walked up to the desk, breathing heavily, wondering how I was going to introduce myself to this titan of development (notice the pun? eh? I’ll give you a hint: “Titan” is the codename for Blizzards upcoming MMO). My eyes locked onto his battle-worn hazel eyes, boring into his soul and looking at his inner most desires. This man had seen action, and he wasn’t the same man coming out of it. I walked up, with a stride that tried to portray confidence and strength, but I could tell he wasn’t buying it. Damn this guy was good, I thought. I rose my youthful hand up over the counter, extending it to catch his.
Speaking softly, I said looking into his eyes, “Hi, Maxwell Zierath.”
He tipped his head forward, a look of confusion across his face, “Excuse me,” he shot back.
Damnit, he’s trying to throw me off guard, this guy knows his interview techniques. I brush off his rebuttal, trying to avoid his attack, and respond, “Maxwell, nice to meet you.”
Oh that got him good, he nodded in approval, but still looked down on me and introduced himself. I continued, “So…I know you guys aren’t doing internships anymore…” and continued to explain how I knew I couldn’t apply for it, and that was the only way I could work for them this summer, but started asking what they were looking for in graduates so I could take it back to everyone else at the school. He seemed annoyed, but explained calmly despite my naivety that they ideally wanted to see completed works directly embedded onto websites. Anyone that could do that would instantly move to the top of his list of potential hires. Good info, I thought, I’ll pass that along. With that knowledge now in my slightly less naive brain, I nodded to him in approval, said thanks and we parted ways. Some day Mr. Senior Software Engineer we will meet again, and I will prevail.
So now that my introduction is out of the way, lets get on with this typical post-mortem of a convention that houses way too many developers all specializing in way too many different things.
The Good –
- Despite the Blizzard guy being very judgmental, most other people were incredibly nice. I was able to talk to some people who really directed me in na good way on how I can improve and prepare myself for graduation next year.
- There was a man I met at Microsoft, codenamed Rick (actually, his real name is Rick…I just won’t share his last name), who I talked with for about 30 minutes about the internship program there. I must say, it instantly moved to the top of my list. Rick was incredibly friendly and seemed very interested in me as a potential candidate. He ended up handing me a private e-mail to get in touch with their University Relations program and get my resume and portfolio in the door. I’m extremely excited for that one.
- I heard from a lot of people at our school about the lack of professionalism and experience from most other students. On one occasion in a seminar a friend of mine told me how the speaker asked who were designers in the audience. A good portion had raised their hands, then the speaker continued and asked how many had completed projects. Most lowered there hands except our student and about two others. This student had completed 7 games in the past year. That right there shows students from our school have far more trench based experience then other schools. On another occasion, some students from another school (I won’t name it) came up to our school’s booth and said to our student’s there, “So you’re our competition huh?” That was lowly and sad. Anyone like that does understand the concept of collaboration and co-operation. The fact our students didn’t even bother to respond to the statement I think says a lot more about us.
- I ended up getting the chance to meet up with some old colleagues of mine at GZ and spent a day with them shooting some interviews for fun. Got to meet some cool people that way, and through them got into some more private parties. I was expecting that because I know how GZ rolls, but it was nice to see they still were interested in having me around.
- Swag…not as much as I was hoping, but I got enough to bring back to my game team and hand out to them. They were working their butts off back home and I wanted to reward them, so I got them some stuff. Pretty cool.
The Bad –
- Independent Games Festival – Now I do not mean in any way to say that it was bad. The IGF was unbelievable. The amount of sheer talent and genius I saw in such a concentrated area blew my mind. The reason I’m putting this on the bad side is because while talking to a lot of the people there I found out most of those games were made by teams of only a few people. I was working on a game with a team of 9 and I didn’t think we had any way of being this good, yet here smaller teams were accomplishing these incredible feats. It was extremely humbling to see these games, and it was also a kick in the ass. I think it would be an unbelievable honor to get a game into the IGF and I want to get a team of very skilled people together to try that exact thing.
- Career pavilion vs Parties – I must say, standing out at the Career Pavilion is extremely hard. It seems a much better method to get out there would be to find some people and go to parties after the show. You’re far more likely to run into people and meet cool developers who can help you get your foot in the door. A recommendation from a guy within the studio goes a lot more than being in a stack of portfolios.
- Not being 21 – I’m not 21, so going to parties is hard. I can’t get into clubs, I can’t go to a bar to meet with people. Despite that, I got around it a bit, and went into places that weren’t carding at doors, only at the counters. This allowed me to be into a place at least, even though I couldn’t drink. The goal was just to be able to network, and I needed to do what it took. However, next year I will be 21, so it should be a lot better. Because of this however, I really don’t think GDC is worth it as much if you’re not 21.
- Carrying a resume with you – Our career services department told us not to bring paper resumes because people didn’t want to collect them and have so much paper. They were woefully wrong. Almost every person on the floor had resumes with them and people at the counters were looking over them telling them how they can improve them and sometimes keeping hold of them. I know I ended up printing a few out and giving a couple away at the floor. Honestly, it’s the quickest way to get across your experience. One thing I think I might want to do next year, just for fun, is take a single resume and go to each counter asking the person there what they would change or adjust on there and then keep doing that at each counter with the same piece of paper. I’d explain to them I’m trying a little game and seeing what the most popular edits are with it.
- I’m out of ideas for a fifth
Well everyone, that was my GDC. It was a fun experience and I learned what to expect for next year when I go. I got a tip to apply for being an assistant at the convention, which nets you an all-access pass in exchange for overseeing some sessions and what not. I also heard it’s the best way to meet people. I’m gonna take that opportunity up as it’ll save me some money and get me some names. I have to be honest, I didn’t think the career area was the best place to meet and get your name out, especially in an industry so tight nit.
So with that, I’m ending this like an M. Night Shyamalan film missing its twist.