Getting a job in the game industry (part 1)

I haven't been writing on my blog for a while and the main reason for that is that I found a job. My first job in the game industry and I couldn't be happier, but before I tell you a bit more about that I would like to talk about how I got this job that means going back a few years back.

I was always interested in games and not only playing them, understanding their mechanics and how the people behind them work. But when I was younger, the opportunities to work in the game industry were really scarce and there was very universities that offered diplomas related to game development, so I decided to study another are that interested me, physics. A few years later, after graduating, I started working at the CNRS which is a national lab run by the french government and even though it was interesting indeed, I also realized that it would take year, even decades, before any of my work would actually be used by the population, which for me was a bit of a deception.

I then decided to go back to school and learn business with the idea that I could eventually create my own business if a million dollar idea came to me overnight.

After graduation from business school I tried different ventures: business developer in Italy and restaurant manager in Ecuador. Every time it was new and exciting at the beginning but I would quickly feel like this wasn't what I wanted to for the rest of my life. So after a lot of thinking I decided to go back to my first love: video games.

It wasn't an easy road and it took me 8 months to find my first job. More than one time I felt like I was never going to find what I was looking for and that getting a job in the game industry was impossible.

Then I started receiving answers from various companies, most of them negative and some of them saying that they would be interested in knowing a little bit more about me. That's all it took to lift my spirit up and push myself to keep on applying.

In the end I had several interviews with 3 majors companies of the industry, I even flew over in two of these companies to have personalized interviews.

Looking back, I think that there was 2 reasons why I managed to get my first job:

1) I didn't give up, even if it was sometimes really hard and it felt like a long time being unemployed. Everyday, I would have a look at the available ads on linkedin and Games Jobs Direct. I also found the website gamedevmap very useful, I would just go through the list of studios and contact them one by one. Perseverance was definitely key.

2) I put a lot of time and creativity into my cover letter. I didn't have any background or experience in game design, so if I wanted to get a job as a game designer I had to show that I was more original and more creative than other candidates on the market and one of the best ways to do that was to make a really good cover letter to get the interest of the recruiters.

Here is an example of what kind of cover letter I would send, obviously, every time the letter would be personalized and some details would be changed but that should give you a good idea of what I mean by "creative".

"Dear Gatekeeper, let me tell you a story that started not that long ago,

From the far and unknown land of France he comes, seeking thrills and adventures in the new world of Video Gaming. A lot has been said about the dangers he might encounter during his journey to work as he will have to find his way through the swamps of unemployment and the burning hell of empty stomach. But he has come prepared, his shiny blades sharpened with a stone from the mount of Economics and his magic scroll carefully written by some of the most powerful wizards from the University of Nice. He can clearly remember the sound of their voice echoing in his head: "If the Universe of Video Games to reach you wish, all the knowledge and abilities we taught you, you will need." The hero could remember all those years at the academy learning everything there is to know about Project Management and the secrets of the Quantitative Analysis. He remembered all those initiation quests, when the old scholars sent him to the four corners of the world to open his mind to other cultures and discover new tribes while pursuing further his understanding of the arcane of Marketing. All this time at university, he held one of his passions hidden from his teachers, his love for the dark arts of Video Gaming. And in the corner of his dusky room, far away from the sight of his classmates and tutors, he kept practicing, hours after hours, perfecting his mastery of this forbidden art. Then finally the day came when his masters announced to him that he was finally ready for something greater... Hard work...

And there he was on the road, ready to unleash the fury of his mind on every obstacle on his way to glory. And this road is crowded with adventurers and heroes from all over the world, but our hero has a special asset he never told anyone about that might prove to be crucial to the success of this quest... his creativity...

If you wish to join our hero and know more about his special skills and abilities, or help him throughout his quest, you can join him by e-dragon at xxx or via a magic mirror of Skype at xxx."

#GameIndustry #Job #GameDesigner #CoverLetter